Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => The Knowledge => GPS => Topic started by: ElyDave on 08 February, 2016, 10:59:52 am
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Whilst I have a very nice 920XT for measuring almost every performance variable possible, and some that aren't, it does not allow routes to be uploaded as GPX and has too small a screen in reality for that kind of stuff.
I'll probably get away with good old fashioned paper maps for the first few to learn the ropes, is there a definite advantage to a GPS unit, and if so which one? Staying with Garmin the e-trex look reasonable for example.
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And how long is a piece of string? !!!!!!!!!!
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And how long is a piece of string? !!!!!!!!!!
at this stage maybe up to 300km
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I use a Garmin Edge 800 and have found it to be fine, once you realise it crashes after a certain distance and you need to save route and start again.
Other considerations might be battery life and power options: I have to rely on external power for long rides while other devices can use AA batteries. You pay your money and make your choice!
Plenty of previous discussions on this in the GPS board and like most things, including politics and religion, opinions vary.
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As you've already got a good recording device, all you need is a SatNav, not necessarily a GPS.
Garmin Zumo 340 for motorcyclists and a 10,000 mAhr USB pack.
or
TomTom Rider 400 with USB pack.
The TomTom has a 'Bicycle' transportation mode which gives ETA based on 20 kmh average speed. Also useful stuff like 'NON hilly route'.
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As you've already got a good recording device, all you need is a SatNav, not necessarily a GPS.
Garmin Zumo 340 for motorcyclists and a 10,000 mAhr USB pack.
or
TomTom Rider 400 with USB pack.
The TomTom has a 'Bicycle' transportation mode which gives ETA based on 20 kmh average speed. Also useful stuff like 'NON hilly route'.
SatNav/GPS tend to get used interchangably, but I understand what you mean.
Do those two do GPX route uploads as well?
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The Edges (eg, 810) are best if you want loads of ride metrics at your fingertips - but I do mean loads, like 20 or 30 data fields. If you can make do with 10, then the Etrex models (eg, 30x) have longer battery runtime and the bats can be replaced in seconds if needs be.
If you intend to ride a 300, then if you buy an Edge (fixed rechargable bat) you would be doing so knowing full well that you're going to end up powering it externally - which IMHO would be just daft. Edges are very attractive (obviously, because so many people have them and like them) but are really best suited to day-rides, by which I'd mean 12 hours or less. I suppose if you're going to ride 10 100s and 200s in a year, and one 300 - that's OK. If you're going to major on the longer rides, the Etrex is a better bet.
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The Zumo 340, although about double the weight of an eTrex, behaves exactly like a SatNav in a car, except its waterproof and cold proof for a motorcycle’s handlebars.
Pick the right deal ( £240 ) and you get free lifetime map updates.
It takes routes from Basecamp.
An added bonus on the Zumo is you can tell it how many mpg you do and how big your tank is. If you say 20 mpg and you have a 3 gallon tank, it’ll notify you when you’re approaching 60 miles and its time to fill up.
If you do opt for an eTrex and you find you are searching this forum for answers to your numerous problems, you‘ll then realise you should have bought the Zumo.
Dunno about using a slave battery with the Zumo. I push and pull the USB batt pack and my TomTom simply switches automatically from external to internal power supply. I had a 4 x AA USB pack which would provide a complete re-charge while the TT was in use on the bike. This got me comfortably through a 200. Another Set of AAs could get a 300 finished.
Now I have a 6000 mAhr USB pack which allows the TT to be used for 24 ish hours with careful planning. A 12000 mAhr pack is available. And larger.
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Etrex gets fewer mounting options, is a bit bulkier and doesn't talk to other sensors as well as an edge. I like my Etrex though as it runs on AA batteries so I don't need to worry about external chargers.
Whatever GPS unit you choose, go for one with a map displayed. I used to use a little Geko 201 with just the breadcrumb trail, but I find the map enabled devices far easier to navigate with. Especially at roundabouts with lots of exits close together that could be the right route.
Usually now I download or make a gpx track and just follow the purple line on the screen for the ride. Other than looking up the controls, it means very little navgating :)
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Thanks all
All this thing would need to do was the navigation, from GPX files. I have the Garmin 920 XT for all the rest of it and would not plan on replacing/getting rid of that as it has a 40 hour life and I can use it for everything else non-audaxy and integrates with all the sensors.
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If you eventually become an AUK Organiser in a large urban conurbation, like Birmingham, ALL the Garmin units designed for Hiking and Biking are totally crap for use as a ‘Courier’ tool for delivering to your local customers.
When they are adjusted to ‘By bicycle’ they avoid any busy road and you end up riding twice the distance you needed to.
When they are adjusted to ‘Delivery van’ they take you onto the A38(M), M6, M5 and M42 to attempt ‘short cuts’.
For a ‘stand alone’ SatNav for a bicycle, there is NOTHING better than the TomTom Urban rider ( 3.5” screen ). Sadly discontinued, but available for not much on eBay.
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Thanks all
All this thing would need to do was the navigation, from GPX files. I have the Garmin 920 XT for all the rest of it and would not plan on replacing/getting rid of that as it has a 40 hour life and I can use it for everything else non-audaxy and integrates with all the sensors.
There's a lot of options but I use an edge 705 which will give turn by turn instructions, the battery lasts for a 200 in daylight but the backlight quickly drains power at night, it can be charged on the go with one of those rechargeable usb thingies (if you remember the thingy and the cable). More the point ebay has a few used ones for reasonable money.
GPS navigation is certainly not essential, but it is nice to have, not only will it given instructions at each turn but it will mark the route on the map page so you know within a few metres when you go off route. The beep when there's a turn coming up is also very useful if your attention span is as short as mine
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Get a Garmin Zumo. You know you want that sultry lady's voice in the Bluetooth earpiece.
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will it take a GPX file?
The EDGEs seem overpriced for what I need unless a cheapo E-bayer comes up as I already have the 920, and the EDGE is no use for running
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will it take a GPX file?
The EDGEs seem overpriced for what I need unless a cheapo E-bayer comes up as I already have the 920, and the EDGE is no use for running
You load routes through Basecamp. So whatever basecamp can do.
The downside of the Zumo is it doesn't have a 'bicycle' setting, so ETAs cannot be realistic for a pedal cycle. The TomTom does and the ETA displayed is based on a 20 kmh average speed.
I look at Garmin's offerings regularly and so far, they have NOT got a bicycle applicable SatNav.
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Get a Garmin Zumo. You know you want that sultry lady's voice in the Bluetooth earpiece.
(https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTmF1-HXkQktLzhsN5UnRa8bhtZjmo_wEhSITpGXA299kNp-OXW)
Can't think why we don't see more of these on audaxes
::-)
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Frankly Frankie has it right, although I disagree about the power source.
The 810s are sleek and efficient, with everything imaginable on them. You'll get car sat-nav style routing (ie. A warning bleep before every turn and an exploded view of the upcoming junction). I've been using the Edge series and their predecessors for 13 years without issues.
I much favour the internal battery devices over the AA ones as they are sleeker, and you don't get the issue of the device shutting down on bumpy roads ((Garmin may have rectified this, but I've no interest in risking it). If your ride time is over 14-15 hours (or less if you have all the Bluetooth bells and whistles switched on such as live tracking) then you'll need an external source. I've always used a small li-on USB pack in a tri bag on the top tube. Never found it to be a problem.
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let me say it again, I won't be buying an edge unless I get one dirt cheap. My XT920 has all the metrics you can shake a stick at and a 40 hour battery life, and I can go run with it.
I thought about a ride specific device before buying the 920 but decided against it, Nav was not one of the issues at the time.
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Get a cheap bike computer from aldi then.
If you don't want NAV you don't need a GPS.
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FFS, read my last post, AT THE TIME NAV WAS NOT AN ISSUE. This thread was asking which NAV GPS is best for audax, not which performance tracker.
I HAVE A GARMIN 920XT which does the metrics.
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Don’t heat up ElyDave.
If you chop these guys heads off, they’ve got “Garmin” written through them.
Six years ago, I got sick with the labourious fiddling and crap routing of Garmin, so took the plunge and bought a TomTom Urban rider 3.5” touchscreen.
Did I get the piss taken? Did I get slagged off? Oh yes and it hasn’t stopped.
The long and the short of it, there doesn’t need to be a thread on this forum discussing TomTom UR faults because I haven’t encountered any faults. In six years, its been 99.9% reliable. That 0.1 % was my fault.
Maybe, just maybe, some ‘lateral thinking’ might happen here. When there's a second AUK who uses TT UR, maybe the pair of us can start a 'TT UR' thread. I have ridden many AUK events in the past six years with no worry about the routes I load onto TT.
I recently rode Marmite Geoff’s 100km ride with nine Waypoints. The route would have been shorter if I’d followed TT’s initial route suggestion.
Yes, its heavier than a Garmin eTrex. Yes, its larger than a Garmin eTrex, but hey, when I ask for a postcode, address or Lat/Long and ask it ‘by bike’, I get a sensible route without needing to create and overcheck the route on a laptop.
It’s a motorcycle SatNav for M/C couriers. If it was crap, TT would not have continued with subsequent versions with added functionality.
Slag me off. Do I care? Nope.
The strange thing is, when I’m on an event, other riders are intrigued and impressed with the performance of my TT. Its only on this internet forum I get grief.
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Possibly because you suggest it in response to pretty much every GPS question going, regardless of whether it's an applicable solution?
I've used TomTom's car units, and don't doubt that it's excellent for getting a sensible route from wherever you are to a given postcode. I've seen rower40 OTP use his Urban Rider on the bike, and it works admirably well.
But The OP in this instance was asking for a device for following GPX tracks. I don't think TomTom can do that?
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Cheers Ning,
I will have a look at that TomTom as I've not heard of it.
Generally I find folks on here very helpful, and I'm not anti Garmin at all, but when I've said at least three times I already have a Garmin which provides X and I don't need another one to do that...
Dave
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Generally I find folks on here very helpful, and I'm not anti Garmin at all, but when I've said at least three times I already have a Garmin which provides X and I don't need another one to do that...
Well yes, but if you want feature Y, it's silly to dismiss a device that provides features X, Y and Z simply because you've already got one that'll do X and have no interest in Z.
If nothing else, a device that can do X+Y means you only then need to carry/power a single device.
Of course, it's perfectly legitimate to carry a unit that can do X and Z for its Xing capabilities, and a second device that's really good at Y.
And it's the nature of internet forums that people provide information based on their knowledge, and some don't read the question properly. Hence if you ask a generic GPS question on a cycling form you'll get plenty of posts about Garmins (because they make some of the best units for what most cyclists need), some posts about smartphones (because lots of people have them, and with a bit of effort it's possible to use them for GPS stuff), and Ningishzidda talking about his TomTom and how his Garmin's at the bottom of the river in Stratford.
On which note, how do smartphone-based solutions (eg. the TomTom app) compare to the Urban Rider for pure navigation?
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I've said at least three times I already have a Garmin which provides X and I don't need another one to do that...
In fairness, I don't think there are many appropriate devices that will only do that one thing.
They pretty much will all have one or more of the other features included.
Would that duplication be a problem?
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When there's a second AUK who uses TT UR, maybe the pair of us can start a 'TT UR' thread.
Don't worry, you'll be given your own sub-board. :thumbsup:
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FFS, read my last post, AT THE TIME NAV WAS NOT AN ISSUE. This thread was asking which NAV GPS is best for audax, not which performance tracker.
I HAVE A GARMIN 920XT which does the metrics.
Really sorry, was reading this in a tiny screen.
Was just trying to give a helpful answer based on 13 years of GPS use.
My humblest apologies, and on reflection Ningishzidda is absolutely right and you should join him in using motorcycle sat-nav on your bicycle.
It's the right answer for you.
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I've said at least three times I already have a Garmin which provides X and I don't need another one to do that...
In fairness, I don't think there are many appropriate devices that will only do that one thing.
They pretty much will all have one or more of the other features included.
Would that duplication be a problem?
I think you are probably right, and Garmin created the perfect thing for me with their multisport devices, mainly having a battery life long enough that I can charge it up and go away for the whole week with no issues, or ride around the roads close to home.
I've always used physical maps when away on holiday etc, but they tend to get a bit sweaty and run in your pockets, or it rains etc.
Having recently bought the 920 it would not be a disaster to replicate those metrics but it would at least be superfluous and likely to attract adverse comments from the management.
With a desire for GPX routing rather than just car sat nav type routing, I think the options seem to be
1) an etrex
2) an edge on its own
2) get an edge and a stand-alone run watch cheap and sell the 920.
At least I now have options.
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FFS, read my last post, AT THE TIME NAV WAS NOT AN ISSUE. This thread was asking which NAV GPS is best for audax, not which performance tracker.
I HAVE A GARMIN 920XT which does the metrics.
Really sorry, was reading this in a tiny screen.
Was just trying to give a helpful answer based on 13 years of GPS use.
My humblest apologies, and on reflection Ningishzidda is absolutely right and you should join him in using motorcycle sat-nav on your bicycle.
It's the right answer for you.
Tying to navigate with a tiny screen is the problem here as well.
Sorry to get tetchy, but I thought I'd been clear what I was after.
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For the curious.
‘Tyre ToTravel’ route building package creates both GPX and ITN ( TomTom’s Itinerary file ). A GPX can be downloaded onto Tyre ToTravel, edited and saved as a new GPX or an ITN.
An ITN is TomTom’s file which is similar to a GPX. It is a list of points to be visited.
When the ‘Route’ on the Urban Rider is started, TT calculates a route to the first Waypoint, even if another Waypoint is closer. Each Waypoint is visited in strict order, so a figure ‘8’ route can be constructed.
I don’t know how many Routes the device can save. Until the memory is full.
I create an Itinerary for each section of an event. 30 – 40 Waypoints will easily cover 50 km. So for LEL, 24 Itineraries are required. I’ll experiment.
When the event’s route is a series of generally straight lines between controls, I simply ask for the next control ‘as per a car SatNav’.
It really is a doddle.
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With the XT920 covering the data-logging duties, it may be that Ning's TomTom is a good solution, depending on your budget. If funds are tight, an Edge 705 might provide the best vfm solution; I've seen them for £75 on EBay. You may need to re-seat (or replace) the battery for best performance, but that's cheap and easy to do. If you decide that you'd rather replace the 920 with a cheaper watch and go whole hog for a new satnav/logging device, I'd recommend the Edge 1000 over the 810. Or even the 800; the interwebs are rife with 810 problems. Don't bother with the 520 for a nav solution; it has a very small map memory, but doesn't really do navigation.
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I bought an etrex30 thinking it would do more than the old etrex Vista (following tracks in Nav mode being the biggest thing)
It actually does less (or is less configurable anyway) but is far far more robust. Be aware if you want it to do anything other than show a track on the screen you will have to plot a route on Basecamp afore ye go;
if you are happy with that it's a first rate device for Audaxing, to me the AA changing capability outweighs all the disadvantages c/f the Edge series
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I bought an etrex30 thinking it would do more than the old etrex Vista (following tracks in Nav mode being the biggest thing)
It actually does less (or is less configurable anyway) but is far far more robust. Be aware if you want it to do anything other than show a track on the screen you will have to plot a route on Basecamp afore ye go;
if you are happy with that it's a first rate device for Audaxing, to me the AA changing capability outweighs all the disadvantages c/f the Edge series
Does it not do GPX? I'm looking at the Etrex 20 and thought that it did so.
This seems a good deal vs the prices soem are fetching on fleabay.
http://www.bergfreunde.co.uk/garmin-etrex-20x-topoactive-westeuropa-gps-device/?backlink=eyJ1cmwiOiJcL2dwcy1kZXZpY2VzXC8jODM3MWY1NDU3ZTY0MGUyOTNjZGY5MjNiNmE3ZDM5YWMiLCJoYXNoIjoiNmY2YTRjM2QxMTc3YTYyOWExNjA4NDM2ODVjNTgyNTcifQ== (http://www.bergfreunde.co.uk/garmin-etrex-20x-topoactive-westeuropa-gps-device/?backlink=eyJ1cmwiOiJcL2dwcy1kZXZpY2VzXC8jODM3MWY1NDU3ZTY0MGUyOTNjZGY5MjNiNmE3ZDM5YWMiLCJoYXNoIjoiNmY2YTRjM2QxMTc3YTYyOWExNjA4NDM2ODVjNTgyNTcifQ==)
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it does GPX but won't navigate turn by turn unless you plot a route on Basecamp (a 10 minute job per route; you may need to create more than one for longer rides cos of the 50 waypoint limit)
I'm not sure what the 20 doesn't do that the 30 does but I personally wouldn't settle for less than what the 30 does
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I'm not sure what the 20 doesn't do that the 30 does
Barometric altimeter (and presumably the software stuff related to elevation analysis that I never bother with), magnetic compass (handy on foot, limited use on a bike), Ant+ wireless (significant if you want to use a HRM).
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More for the curious.
I’ve signed up to ride ‘Mike’s Myton Ride’ organised by Mike Vaughan Cycles of Kenilworth. 77 miles round Warwickshire.
I export the GPX track off RideWithGPS and save it as a .GPX in a folder for the event.
Open TyreToTravel and open the .GPX. It appears and a list of points is in the left hand frame of the editing screen.
I can then highlight groups of points and delete them leaving just the section I’m interested in. I save these as a differently named file, eg ‘Start to first feeding Stn.GPX’.
( For the next section, re open the ‘master’ file and chop out different groups of points. )
I thin down the number of Waypoints leaving Waypoints along lanes so TomTom doesn’t get confused. I save the route with 40 Waypoints as ‘Start to first feeding Stn.ITN’
I plug in TomTom UR and it automatically opens TomTom Home, management package, logs me in to TomTom.NL, searches for any udates, maps and User edits.
It appears as an external drive ( F:\ )
I copy and paste the group of .ITN files from C:\ to ‘ITNs’ folder on F:\TomTom
Disconnect the TT UR and the ITNs are ready for use.
The whole ride is in three sections between the food stops.
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I'm trying out the newish Garmin Edge 25.
I've bought 2 of them and a small power bank so that whilst I'm using 1 the other can be on charge. The cost of them is such that you can get 2 and a power bank for less than some of the more expensive Garmins.
They last for about 8 hours so you get 16 hours between the 2 of them and if you're riding longer just pop the other one on charge in your bag.
I put the same routes (courses) on both and they hold 8 in total. I put the whole ride in as one course and then sections between the controls as the other courses.
As it communicates with your smartphone via bluetooth you can delete older courses as you need to when you're doing very long rides greater than 7 controls and add the next ones as you need to.
The only problem I've found so far is that if you add a .gpx file (by converting it to .fit and loading to the Edge25 then it doesn't give turn by turn navigation prompts, it just shows you the breadcrumb trail and you have to navigate by that.
If you plot the courses through Garmin connect though then the turn by turn navigation works really well most of the time.
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Thanks Jeff, I've looked at those as well - main question for me was is the screen big enough?
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I once saw on 5th Avenue in New York outside the Apple Store, a guy with a Macbook in the front basket of his bike, sitting on a sizeable battery. Yup, he was using it as a SatNav
That could be an idea for a larger screen,,, :thumbsup:
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It's perfectly fine for me and I've got fairly rubbish eyesight.
They are small though, you could probably fit 5 of them in the case of an Etrex 10/20/30!
The only things I find too small on the screen are the hour numbers on the time ridden and the north pointer on the breadcrumb navigation screen. Everything else is fine, even in bright sunshine.
They are probably the smallest GPS cycling computers out there.
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I have managed to create a "course" file on Garmin Connect, set it to 24km/h and will give that a try on Sunday on Braziers run, with map back up.
Anyone know how to turn a .GPX file into a .FIT file to save me having to create new routes each time?
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Did the 'Hammerhead' ever get to market in this country?
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I have managed to create a "course" file on Garmin Connect, set it to 24km/h and will give that a try on Sunday on Braziers run, with map back up.
Anyone know how to turn a .GPX file into a .FIT file to save me having to create new routes each time?
Shirley the other way round? an Edge will follow a GPX file it just only spits out a .fit file unless I'm mistaken; don't think a .fit file will do anything for navigation
you can create a .tcx file from a gpx file (uploaded as a rote) on RWG if that helps; I just watched the e25 promo video and it doesn't appear to have maps. So does it just show a track to follow?
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I have managed to create a "course" file on Garmin Connect, set it to 24km/h and will give that a try on Sunday on Braziers run, with map back up.
Anyone know how to turn a .GPX file into a .FIT file to save me having to create new routes each time?
Shirley the other way round? an Edge will follow a GPX file it just only spits out a .fit file unless I'm mistaken; don't think a .fit file will do anything for navigation
you can create a .tcx file from a gpx file (uploaded as a rote) on RWG if that helps; I just watched the e25 promo video and it doesn't appear to have maps. So does it just show a track to follow?
If you use Garmin Connect, you create a route, give it an average speed adn it then uploads it as a course to follow essentially riding against yourself via that average time. Not sure if it will give me a breadcrumb trail or turn by turn.
I've not managed to work out how to give it POI to point out the info controls. We'll see how it works on Saturday, may be an abject failure who knows.
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(Hopefully this is still on-topic) Which of the Edge range units allow one to simply follow a downloaded gpx file track, and do any Garmins give turn by turn navigation from a specified track/route i.e. with no auto-calculation involved? I use a Etrex Vista HCx and mostly follow a track*, so with no active navigation, but a friend is in the market for an Edge or summat...
*just wish the track line was double the thickness. BTW IMO Vista HCX bargains can still be had on ebay - my last purchase for not too much money, was for a unit that had only ever been turned on once, after having been bought in 2010 I think it was...
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I believe the Edge 800 and the later ETrex (20,30) do so. I have my eye on a few 800s on ebay.
Not sure if the 705 does so or is just a breadcrumb trail
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(Hopefully this is still on-topic) Which of the Edge range units allow one to simply follow a downloaded gpx file track, and do any Garmins give turn by turn navigation from a specified track/route i.e. with no auto-calculation involved? I use a Etrex Vista HCx and mostly follow a track*, so with no active navigation, but a friend is in the market for an Edge or summat...
*just wish the track line was double the thickness. BTW IMO Vista HCX bargains can still be had on ebay - my last purchase for not too much money, was for a unit that had only ever been turned on once, after having been bought in 2010 I think it was...
705 and 800 series do. To be honest I found the 705 stabler than the 810 I bought to replace it.
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I once saw on 5th Avenue in New York outside the Apple Store, a guy with a Macbook in the front basket of his bike, sitting on a sizeable battery. Yup, he was using it as a SatNav
That could be an idea for a larger screen,,, :thumbsup:
Seen something similar with someone with an mini ipad on a brompton, with it attached on some sort of loop off the bars, which he just lifted to view the screen
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I watched a bloke walking around the Singapore Airlines Business lounge holding a full sized macbook to his ear as a telephone.
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The Garmin Touring(? - or whatever it's called) does just navigation, in the 800/810 chassis, and is a great buy at the moment. There's a 1000 version too, if you want better resolution. And they (and all the mapping Edges) do turn-by-turn navigation, which can be forced to follow your precalculated route, I believe.
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My experience with Garmin, as most of you have heared before, was “Its great if the route is pre-planned and loaded as a Route.”
My problem was that in Birmingham’s sprawl, I couldn’t get settings that let it work as a ‘SatNav’ in a ‘point and shoot’ cycle courier manner.
For Audax, the eTrex 30 is up in the top echelon of Nav devices, IF the route is sorted and loaded before the event.
Its also good at ‘Point and shoot’ when the user is in a rural environment well away from Mways and dual carriageways.
I bought a GPSMAP 62 with OS pre-loaded in the sale last year but took it back. For nav in the city, it still wasn’t as effective as the TomTom UR.
If Audax was all I did on a bike, I’d have an eTrex 30 tomorrow.
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I use a Etrex Vista HCx and mostly follow a track*, ...
*just wish the track line was double the thickness. ...
This is one advantage of the Etrex 30/20 (now 30x/20x - much better display) - the Track can be made to appear as a thick magenta line very similar to a Route in apppearance. For example - this is a Track on an E30 - on the newer 30x the same roads are rendered a bit narrower.
(http://www.aukadia.net/gps/e30/routing_tr11.jpg)
(You have to use the Where To menu to get it to work like this)
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Well I just tried re-riding a route from a couple of weeks ago using the 920Xt and uploading it as a course.
No maps, but you get a breadcrumb trail to follow which is reasonable, but I'd still take paper maps for an audax. I went off route once at the end when I couldn't remember which option I'd take for the last 2k home and I got a single beep to tell me I was off course, and a direction arrow back to the course.
Not that satisfactory on a 35 x 25mm screen.
I have a winning bid on a 705 on e-bay at the moment. Some Etrex and 800s on the watch list as well.
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I use a Etrex Vista HCx and mostly follow a track*, ...
*just wish the track line was double the thickness. ...
This is one advantage of the Etrex 30/20 (now 30x/20x - much better display) - the Track can be made to appear as a thick magenta line very similar to a Route in apppearance. For example - this is a Track on an E30 - on the newer 30x the same roads are rendered a bit narrower.
(http://www.aukadia.net/gps/e30/routing_tr11.jpg)
(You have to use the Where To menu to get it to work like this)
On the HCx, I have also tried auto-routing with pop-ups disabled, and following the thick magenta Route line, and directions in the 'data field' above the map. With the off-course alarm (in 'Marine') set, it does seem to alert if the autocalc sends you away from the downloaded Route (made in mapsource). But then... I revert to just following the Track, zoom in more, put some backlight on, and think - I'm glad I've got reading glass inserts in my cycling specs...
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Just bought a second hand Edge 800 on e-bay, now to find a run-dedicated watch and then get started flogging the 920XT
Triathlons anyone?
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Get a Garmin Zumo. You know you want that sultry lady's voice in the Bluetooth earpiece.
(https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTmF1-HXkQktLzhsN5UnRa8bhtZjmo_wEhSITpGXA299kNp-OXW)
Can't think why we don't see more of these on audaxes
::-)
Got one on my motorbike.
I regret not getting the TomTom one.