Right I have a Edge 305, great bit of kit, love it.

Everyone says if you can convert a .gpx file into .crx or .tcx files it will read them and tell you a preset distance from the next turn that your approaching it and to get ready.

HOW?

Could someone walk me though it step by step? I just can't get it to work! My last attempt seemed to map a route at swimley, then transpose it to upstate new york!

I've tried/used mapmyride, bikeroutetoaster (got quite close with this one I think, just couldnt figure out how to use the actual GPS unit), gpsbable (doesnt do crx files?)

I have someone elses .gpx file and I'd like to follow it tomorrow, please STW help me out?

Oh man I feel your pain, went through this myself, still can't get other peoples tracks to work properly. Mine is a 605.

They come off gamin connect as .tcx yes? I convert them into .gpx via TCX Converter (it's free) and then into the gamin. It doesn't always work well though Ive been hake way round a trail only for it to go crazy on me.

Bikeroutetoaster I can get to plan my own routes, it does work but again only for me as gpx.

There is a huge gap in the market here for someone to produce something that a human being can use. For a so called market leading product it is pretty ghastly to use and crashes a lot.

If you are used to using say an iPhone a gamin edge is not going to fill your life with joy.

Garmins are useless for navigation. Brilliant for training. If you want a navigation unit, buy something else.

Don't you mean a .CRS file…a garmin course?
anyway this is how I do it..
1, convert .gpx to .crs using Clicky
2, locate converted .CRS file on your PC and upload into Garmin training centre
3, synchronze garmin with training centre, sending the course to the GPS
4, navigate to training/courses on your GPS
5, start

BTW – Garmin's 605 or 205 are fine for naviagating…you've just got to use a course (.CRS) 🙄

Following another users .gpx is perfectly possible but it won't tell you when to turn it will just draw a track and you have to stick to it manually. Upload .gpx to unit (I use the software "Load my tracks" on a mac but someone else will have to help you with Windows). To select and follow the track you have to select it, somewhat bizarrely, under the Training menu, can't remember the exact wording and I don't have my 205 with me. It's under Training as this is how you follow a previous track you've recorded to race against yourself.

To get turn by turn navigation you need to plot a route manually with no more than 99 waypoints, save it as a .gpx and load it up. It will be under Navigation, Do Route.

So essentially there are two different types of file, a track which is the first one I described or a route which is the second. Both are saved as .gpx but are different. The first type is what you will download from people.

I'm pretty sure 205/305 don't accept .crs, anything needs to be a .gpx.

205's accept courses – at least mine did

Thanks guys, it works !

I was looking under navigation rather than training on the unit, I've now got loads of courses to follow with all with similar routes!

Much appreciated

Got lots of chilterns courses – including last weeks trailbreak 65k from woodcote, and the princess risbourgh 65k from earlier in the year if anyone is intrested…just mail me 😆

nsaints, feel free to send them thisisnotaspoon@yahoo.co.uk, quite fancy getting out with it and exploring other peoples back yards without needing to check the map every 30 seconds!*

*always take a paper copy kids, batteries go flat!

I've had one of these for a year…….now I'm finding out there's something called .crs………

Dakota 450 here, brilliant for navigating and you can get it to show turns (arrows) on tracks.

BTW – Garmin's 605 or 205 are fine for naviagating…you've just got to use a course (.CRS

Really? I'm getting really frustrated with my 605. All I want to do is follow a tracklog of a previous ride – whether one of mine or someone elses. That's something a basic etrex could do 5+ years ago – a little arrow pointing in the direction you needed to go in.

Courses don't tell you which way to turn – they tell you when you're 'off course' (frequently, particularly offroad under trees where there may be inaccuracy in either the original or current location, and uselessly as they don't tell you which way you need to go to get back on the course). If you're course is a lap of, say, Richmond Park this might work OK but in the woods with tight knit singletrack that might cross over itself (eg a figure of 8 loop) it's useless.

The "navigation" option doesn't seem to work at all – just connects a load of random points offroad.

Following a tracklog "as a line on the map" again is OK as long as it's always obvious which way is 'ahead' – go to navigate a loop off the main track and it gives you no indication whether you should be going clockwise or anticlockwise (so you potentially end up climbing up the descent).

Oh, and navigating a course resets the timer/distance etc so you lose your total ride distance if you did any riding before you arrive at the start of the course.

From the Garmin Edge manual –

You can also navigate a ride uploaded to your Edge from an external source. For example, you found a great trail ride on the Internet or another Edge owner created a route for you.
note: Track or route files must be saved with the *.gpx extension.
1. Upload the *.gpx file to the garmin\gPX folder on your Edge memory. For more information about uploading files to your Edge, see pages 45–47.
2. Press menu > select Where To > Saved Rides.
3. Select a ride from the list.
4. Select Navigate

Now this patently doesn't work as far as i can see. It specifies 'trail ride' as well so they can't really claim it only works on road.