So, is it as simple as this with a Garmin?

[citoyen]

Actually, half the problem is also our collective unwillingness to read manuals.

Whaaat? I'm a BLOKE! I don't need to read no steenkin' instructions!

d.

[frankly frankie]

I download and read manuals of kit I'm never gonna buy.  It's a kind of window-shopping.

[henkrek]

You're saying: "ready to follow on the day of the event, with beeps before turns, direction of turn clearly indicated on screen etc."

I'm struggling to find the proper GPX file to give me this turn by turn navigation. Any idea which type of GPX file is needed to make the Bryton to beep at me before turns?

I just bought it, glanced through the manual, tried several tracks with the help of Google maps and http://www.elsewhere.org/journal/gmaptogpx/ and http://www.gpsies.com, but sadly enough I didn't succeed.

I would be very greatful for the golden tip!

[rogerzilla]

You need to make a .gpx that has waypoints placed just after each turn, and use "follow road" mode.  This doesn't always work because of errors in the built-in maps.  Whatever you do, don't set the device to "bicycle" mode as it may try to use tracks that aren't suitable, and ensure you turn off "highways".  If you're going into central London you need to leave "toll roads" on, or you'll never get there!

[Martin]

You're saying: "ready to follow on the day of the event, with beeps before turns, direction of turn clearly indicated on screen etc."

I'm not an expert on the new generation Garmins as I use an Etrex and Mapsource but I believe you have to convert it to a .tcx file on Garmin Connect and send it to the device; it will then do the beepy thing at junctions

[frankly frankie]

Henkrek is asking about a Bryton.  It will need another Bryton user to come along and offer sound advice, which might take a while as this thread has 'Garmin' in the title.

In the meantime, as a non-Bryton user, I would suggest that to get turn prompts and directions you need your GPX to be a Route file, and not a Track file.  (Though even this isn't a hard and fast rule with the latest GPSs, which can take a Track and treat it like a Route - this what happens if you load a single Track GPX into an Edge, go into the Courses menu and press the 'Go' button.)
This is because in a Route file the points are (or should be) relatively far apart and the GPS has to do work (processing) to interpret how to get from one point to the next.  Either directly, or by following the inbuilt map. The prompts are a by-product of this processing - in other words, they are generated by the GPS unit and not by the GPX file.  In direct mode, it might be "SW to next point" sort of thing, in follow road mode it might be "Left on Church Lane" sort of thing.
 
A Track file doesn't require this sort of processing as the points are (or should be) much closer together and there are many more of them - older GPSs with limited processing power wouldn't be able to cope with 'routing' so many points - newer GPSs like the Edge800 do have that power, which is why the Track is steadily becoming more and more the de facto standard.

[Phil W]

A gpx file can hold, the following. They are all optional elements, so a gpx may contain 1,2 or all 3 data types at the same time.

Tracks, divided into track segments, each track segment containing a set of track points
Routes, defined by route points
Waypoints

The bryton saves a route as a track, divided into track segments, based on where you clicked on the map ,and the places you clicked on, on the online map become route points. To get the prompts you need the route points, and when you start a planned route, you need to say allow re routing. If the gpx was not generated on Bryton's site then you may not have the route points .

As for prmopts, pressing the I button you can bring up the prompts if you've done as above, but I've yet to see the ability to have the device auto prompt. It will however beep on route points, but will not bring up any text related to them.