I can't find 'courses' anywhere on my device

I have to export any course as a route / track before it's discoverable on the 66i (there is literally no option for 'courses' in any menu). Is this normal?

I have a GPSMAP 66i and am based in Japan. Active InReach subscription. Lots of courses planned and added to collections. Collections activated in the device. Literally no way to find anything called 'courses' in the menus. Online help says to 'Find -> courses', but 'courses' does not appear as an option.

Am I missing something?

  • Within Main Menu, you should have an app called Course Planner. If you don't have it, while in Main Menu select Menu again and see if it is in the presented list. If so, select it to move it to Main Menu.

    You can also try to record and save an Activity on the 66i. It should save as a Course, and this may cause the Course Planner to pop up.

  • What device software version is the unit on? Support for Courses was introduced in version 8.80, and although already released 2 years ago, you might want to check.

    Also if you say "I have to export any course as a route / track" what do you mean exactly by this? How are you exporting a course to a Route or Track? And how are you putting Courses on the device? The option "Courses" will only show up in the Find menu when there actually are Courses present on the device.

    And indeed as Like2Hike says, the Course Planner may not be visible in the main menu. You can add it to the main menu either via Menu > Setup > Menus > Main Menu and selecting Add Page at the bottom and then select Course Planner. Or when in the Main Menu press the Menu button and select Change Item Order, which leads you to the same menu.

  • Hi! Thank you for the replies!

    I updated the device yesterday using Garmin express. It downloaded a software update and 3.5GB of maps. But when I check the device it lists software version as 7.5. 

    I am in touch with Garmin support because it seems strange the device wouldn’t be updating properly. Maybe it’s a quirk of Japan (their watches have SpO2 and other functions disabled here for regulatory reasons). 

    So far I have been using the app to select a course and then click ‘…’ and export as track / route, which makes it viewable on the device. Saved activities do not display as courses either, and the course planner is not an option for adding to the menu. 

    Thanks for the help though. It seems the device is refusing to update to the latest software for some reason. 

  • Additionally: logged into Garmin Express and it says ‘you are up to date: software version 7.5’. Updated yesterday. Very strange. 

  • For some reason the APAC region seems to lag behind in software updates, this applies to Edge cycling computers for example. It may be the case for the GPSMAP 66i as well, best to contact Garmin support for this.

    But if you’re on version 7.5 the device indeed won’t have support for courses as this was added later.

  • I noticed this too. "Routes",  "Courses" as an icon don't show up unless you actually have a route or course sync'd with the device. You can still see "Route Planner" and "Course Planner", but the icons for "Routes" and "Courses" only show if you have some. Weird...hope this helps a little.

  • Hello Please see the following link for details on how to use courses on your device Using Course Planner on a GPSMAP 66/67/86 Series.  

  • Hi Leslie - thank you but this doesn’t solve the problem. I spoke with Garmin Support and they confirmed that the software version available in the Japan region is seriously out of date (7.5) and as such courses are unavailable on the device despite being the default method of planning in the app. 
    If you could speed along the roll-out of the latest device firmware in Japan that would help. But short of that, I have to use my current workaround.