The easiest way to get routes onto a Garmin on the road

[Ham]

Not seen this mentioned elsewhere, in case others might find it useful, here's the way I  have found to transfer routes onto a Garmin.

I've used Ridewithgps to create the route (the mob app works great), all it needs is for you to get the GPX to your phone. Then, you will need an OTG cable for the correct version of USB connector on your phone and ES File Explorer app on your phone.

Plug in the OTG, the garmin into the OTG USB female connector, let the Garmin start (it should go into USB device mode) and Robert is your mother's brother.

Use ES File Explorer to copy and paste the GPX from your phone to the right Garmin GPX folder (the device will appear as "usbnnnn" on ESFE). first time you use it you may have to familiarise yourself with ESFE. No need for root.

Job done.

Background info:
> Tried with 2 Nexus phones running Android 6, 1 x Micro USB, 1 x USB C. Not all OTG cables are the same quality, take particular care how bulky the USB end is when buying, some may not fit your phone in its case (if you have one, some just don't wurk
> I have ES File Explorer Pro - it SHOULD work with the free version, but the ESFE is the best value $3 I've spent on my phone
> Tried with 2 x Oregon devices, 1 x Edge 350
> I used RidewithGPS pro (which I probably won't keep up, but have bought for one month) which made it easy to download - how you get your GPX is immaterial

Be interesting to know if it is universally as easy or if the combination of native android etc makes it so.

[frankly frankie]

I have done it - just to prove to myself I could - using an old Motorola phone with a very old version of Android 4.x, and whatever generic file manager app it had on board, connecting to an Etrex 30.  I must have been lucky with my cable - at that time I wasn't aware that OTG was anything special, and just used a female USB connector cable that wasn't marked as anything.  The extra cable is only 2" long so I do carry it everywhere now, though never used it in earnest.

[StuAff]

It's going to depend on the Android version, and possibly the Garmin model as well. Did this last year with my Moto G (4.4.4) & Edge 705, the regular Garmin cable plus an OTG adaptor plug. Garmin's onboard memory and SD mounted with no bother, used Astro to move files back and forth. Did some route planning with Osmand (though apparently its GPXs have differences with Garmin ones, wish I'd known that...), could upload ride data via Garmin Connect's manual upload.
This year, OTOH…I now have a Moto X Play running Marshmallow 6.0. Plug the Garmin in and the phone claims it's incompatible, I need to format it…yup, good idea, let's delete all the files I'd like to transfer…I tried a few apps from the Play Store, settled for USB OTG File Manager for Nexus, a mere £1.59. Works just fine, no reformat required.

[Phil W]

If doing routing on the road then just plotting routes to,places no more than 50km away or so usually works fine. If you add major potential points in as waypoints in advance then it's a breeze.

[Biggsy]

The free, ad free and nicely basic Android file explorer called simply "Explorer" from Speed Software works as well.  The device appears as "usbdisk".

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.speedsoftware.explorer