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Hi, I'm relatively new to Garmin having recently bought an Edge Explore 2, primarily for road riding. I'm finding the route / course part slightly clunky and looking for some tips.
If I want to go online, find a route, download GPX then follow it on the road, what is the best process for doing this? I have Kamoot and Strava accounts but both free versions and I don't really want to pay for another sub. I have the Garmin Connect app on my phone. I'm looking for easy process, no extra cost and decent route following via the device itself.
Cheers
Download the route to your phone.
Go to your Downloads folder using whatever "file manager" you have on your phone (e.g. Google Files).
Select the gpx file.
It should ask what App to open it with - Select Garmin Connect.
The route will now be in Connect as a Course.
Open Connect, select the Course under Training and Planning.
Send it to your device.
It's more complicated to write down than actually do.
Download the gpx
Open on you're phone, telling it to open in Garmin connect if need be.
Save in Garmin connect
In Garmin connect select ,send to device.
On your Garmin go to training - courses. Select the course . Select 'do course'
It'll ask you if you want to navigate to the start.
Hit start and away you go.
You maybe able to sync Strava and or komoot to Garmin connect so you can send files across.
I found uploading routes to be easy - following them on an Edge 840 not so simple. For one of the leaders in cycle navigation, It's not very polished IMO
Cheers. I've been trying to do this via iPhone but I don't have an option to "open with" Garmin when going to GPX in downloads. Google suggests this is an iPhone issue and best resolved by using laptop for this stage.
Cheers. I've been trying to do this via iPhone but I don't have an option to "open with" Garmin when going to GPX in downloads. Google suggests this is an iPhone issue and best resolved by using laptop for this stage.
In that case it might be easier using Komoot. Provided the route is in your Komoot saved routes then if you have the Koomot IQ app on your Garmin you can find the routes there.
You shouldn't need the Komoot IQ app if you've linked your Komoot account to your Connect account.
TBH I'd be loving at a third party File Manager for my iPhone that didn't have the same limitation.
Not helpful for your current setup but I use OutdoorActive to create routes (saved as Plans) and they just appear by magic (OK, accounts are linked) on my Edge Explore 2 when it is next powered up. Very easy process if you are ever looking to change.
Long time Garmin user here, right back to scanning OS maps and calibrating them to plot routes. I don't actually try to follow routes that often and always find it confusing. they can be fussy about GPX files - sometimes, from some sources, they just dont work (Riding in Ainsa/ZonaZero there were GPXs like that). At one point I had a workaround of opening them in another app and resaving which needed a computer and not just a phone. I think it has got easier - I used a route from 'ridewithgps' the other day and it was super easy - there was a 'save to garmin' button, that opened it in Garmin connect on my phone, synced and it was done.
I'm currently on a 530. The screens and the colours chosen aren't the best for contrast - at the weekend when the sun came out I was having trouble seeing which line was the 'live' one. What I found made it easier was actually switching away from the map screen - that way it beeped and switched to map screen ahead of a turn (which gave two signals). Then watch the countdown to the junction (turn in 90m eg)
The two big problems I've always had that I don't use frequently enough to know if I've solved or just been lucky last time - others may be able to advise.
- recalculate route. I think theres a setting for this. You will miss turns and what you really want is to be navigated back to your route. I used to have an issue where the thing would just recalcuate a completely new route to the end destination. (anything off-road was even more of a problem as accuracy falls under trees so more frequently thinks 'you're off the route' when you're not)
- any routes that run close to other parts of the route, and even worse a figure of 8, it's hard to get it to direct you to ride the whole thing rather than cutting short. The only way to solve this I can think of is to be aware of those points and have a map image or map to refer to on your phone.
Download the route to your phone.
Go to your Downloads folder using whatever "file manager" you have on your phone (e.g. Google Files).
Select the gpx file.
It should ask what App to open it with - Select Garmin Connect.
The route will now be in Connect as a Course.
Open Connect, select the Course under Training and Planning.
Send it to your device.
It's more complicated to write down than actually do.
Basically this, although I think you can have all this happen automatically. If I download a route from Strava, Garmin Connect automatically finds it, then automatically transfers it to my Edge and Epix. It sometimes takes a few minutes for everything to sync (or occasionally even requires a forced sync). But 9 times out of 10 the ride leader (with Strava Premium) will post a ride on strava, I'll sign up and click save on the route, that creates a local file, and the rest happens automatically.
It's actually annoying how seamless it is as I wish club rides weren't organized via strava!
Komoot is 90% as simple, there's just a few more clicks involved in exporting the gpx. Don't click 'send to device' otherwise it will only open in the komoot plugin on the garmin, not the garmin itself.
I have no premium accounts with any of the apps involved.
B33K34 is also correct, switch off the clever re-routing stuff on the garmin. You can set a more realistic tolerance for going off course, because half the time it's not the GPs, it's the .gpx that's not aligned with the real world.
And remember what any navigation will tell you, a GPS is no substitute for a map. It's fine being given turn by turn directions as you go, but that just means you're lost as soon as anything goes wrong. Everyone does that anyway though. But at least study the route beforehand to identify the bail out options, and occasionally zoom out on the garmin to get an idea of your location not just relative to the next junction 100m up the trail. This also stops you riding the wrong way at a figure of 8 crossing point rather than just wondering why the garmin beeped a few times randomly mid ride then arriving back at the car several hours early (I've done that!).
B33K34 is also correct, switch off the clever re-routing stuff on the garmin. You can set a more realistic tolerance for going off course, because half the time it's not the GPs, it's the .gpx that's not aligned with the real world.
Tell me about this setting - what am I looking for?
But at least study the route beforehand to identify the bail out options, and occasionally zoom out on the garmin to get an idea of your location not just relative to the next junction 100m up the trail.
What Garmin have you got? I like the lack of touch screen on the 530 for most things, but zooming and panning the map is painful and the combination of screen size and mapping contrast/detail means I find it very hard to get much idea of a wider map on the device
As Scotroutes says, with Komoot you don't need to download anything. If you link your Komoot & Garmin Connect accounts and syncing preferences, routes in Komoot will appear in Garmin Connect's Courses (the other way works too) so they'll be immediately available in the Connect App on your phone & can be sent from there to the Edge. I'd be surprised if Strava didn't work the same way.
Two issues I've came across when trying to sync between connect and a device;
1. You can't have an activity running.
2. You need enough space on the device
It doesn't give an error message in either case, just doesn't work, leaving you guessing. Normally in a foreign country!
I’m currently using my wife’s 1040 as I’ve killed my second Wahoo and wanted to give Garmin a try.
I had the battle with routes but eventually worked out I hadn’t linked my Garmin and RidewithGPS accounts properly. This way you don’t need to use Garmin Connect as a go between. However I do need to click ‘send to device’ on the route in RWGPS, with wahoo all my routes sync regardless…and then I gave up and had to Google how to find the right Garmin screen to find the route.
Generally I’m not liking the Garmin. Unintuitive, less flexibility with setting up the screen data fields, inability to zoom in or out to increase the number of data fields on the screen. The touch screen is hard to use accurately when riding off road (even though the 1040 is big), it keeps pausing ride recording and doesn’t warn you that it’s on pause (unless you notice the elapsed time or distance isn’t going up…Wahoo just has a big pause message across the screen so it’s obvious)
The bits I do like…you can actually pan the map easily, it warns me when my heart rate monitor has a low battery, and climbpro is more useful than Wahoo (now I’ve worked out how to stop it switching screens automatically)
On my Garmin Explore 2 the thing I'd like to be able to do is change the colour of the planned route so that it stands out more but I haven't found a way to do that. On mine it's currently a sort of maroon colour that is similar to some road colours.
@spooky
You can definitely change the number of data fields on a screen AND the number of screens. And I'm pretty sure you can switch off auto-pause (as mine 840 doesn't auto-pause). But, as you say, intuitive it isn't.
Luckily for me, I've had about 10 years and at least four different Garmin head units to work my way around the Garmin UX/UI...but it is shite for 2026!
Cheers. I've been trying to do this via iPhone but I don't have an option to "open with" Garmin when going to GPX in downloads. Google suggests this is an iPhone issue and best resolved by using laptop for this stage.
if it’s an iPhone you have, go to the files app and find the gpx, from there press the “share” button (the little box with arrow pointing up) and it’ll open up a list of apps to share it with
connect SHOULD be in that list, press connect and you’ll find it’ll open up in the connect app, from there save it and it’ll be listen in the course section of training / planning as mentioned above