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Garmin 500 turn notification

Hi all - wondered if any tech gurus are out there. I like to have turn notifications on my Garmin routes, and used to use Bikeroutetoaster.com to do this. You were able to set it so that you would get a notification say 50/100m before the next turn. This would make the Garmin beep, and a little arrow would pop up with the upcoming turn, just like a sat nav. BRT has shut down (says temporarily) and other route planning sites don't seem to have this "Turn notifications on" option. So all I have now is the breadcrumb line to follow, with no notification a turn/junction is coming other than keeping an eye on the trail. Anyone got any tips that would allow me to get turn notifications back? Thanks.

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10 comments

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bobbinogs | 10 years ago
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Yepp, BRT was great for that. I don't use the Garmin500 for route finding anymore as all it does is beep 'after' I should have turned right or left. Tried it a couple of times and gave up before I even left town. I am keeping my fingers crossed that BRT will get hold of some freebie maps some time soon and start again (or that the other sites will twig that a setting for 'distance before next turn' is a feature that many folks would actually pay for). Ho hum, routecards it is then.

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Zermattjohn | 10 years ago
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Yes I am familiar with the top left corner "next turn" box, and it works well enough along with the breadcrumb trail. The facility I'm on about was better though, as you could have any screen on your garmin, and a "Turn right/left" would pop up, along with a beep, before each turn. I set it so that it happened 100m before a junction, and saved them from BRT as .tcx. Much better than just constantly looking down to keep an eye on the next place to turn, especially if you're chattering away!

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philtregear | 10 years ago
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iuse edge 200, ride withgps, tcx files

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philtregear | 10 years ago
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i use the basic garmin ( edge 200) i use ridewithgps. i use tcx instead of gpx files. i think i get more info with tcx. may be worth trying

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mtm_01 replied to philtregear | 10 years ago
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philtregear wrote:

i use the basic garmin ( edge 200) i use ridewithgps. i use tcx instead of gpx files. i think i get more info with tcx. may be worth trying

Using the Strava Routebuilder it suggests using the .tcx files for turn by turn as apparently the .gpx files just contain the 'waypoints' (ie where you clicked on the map).

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CanAmSteve | 10 years ago
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I have an Edge 800 and to get turn-by-turn it has to be specifically selected for each route. So after loading the "course" you have to go into the course settings and turn it on. Every time. Argh....

I like the unit in general but Garmin's documentation is pitiful and I wish it was possible to save configurations for my own use, rather than the always present useless (to me) screens like a "virtual partner" cluttering up the display.

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mtm_01 replied to CanAmSteve | 10 years ago
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CanAmSteve wrote:

I have an Edge 800 and to get turn-by-turn it has to be specifically selected for each route. So after loading the "course" you have to go into the course settings and turn it on. Every time. Argh....

This is definitely the most annoying point about the Edge 800! So many times I forget to do it...

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Gkam84 | 10 years ago
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SimonT1971 | 10 years ago
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Hi Zermattjohn, yes i quite liked the BRT turn notification and after a (relatively) seamless JOGLE i even sent £20 as a thank-you for the technology! More,recently i have used the British Cycling website route planning and,uploaded this. I don't think it has the turn notification (from memory) but does have the 'Off course' notification. Happy riding!

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tgcntrb3 | 10 years ago
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I don't use BRT but RideWithGPS instead.

On RwGPS, I've found that as long as you have a Cue Sheet for your route, you will get Turn notifications.

I don't recall seeing the pop-up style notifications on my Garmin 500, but on the Course map view, the top left corner box should show the next turn and distance from your current location.

Hope that helps.

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