Exclusive fenix 5X feature now in garmin iOS app for all of us - YAY

Hmmm... was hoping I'd be able to create routes in GCM, but looks like I can only let the app auto-generate them for me, or did I miss something?

And in the android app as well, nice!

Hmmm... was hoping I'd be able to create routes in GCM, but looks like I can only let the app auto-generate them for me, or did I miss something?

Ehm, nope... that is the feature. On the 5x it can be done from the watch itself, but at least this feature is now also available for others... Generating a custom route still has to be done the old fashioned way it seems.

Well done Garmin!:cool:

Generating a custom route still has to be done the old fashioned way it seems.

Sigh! I too was hoping that the GCM had finally got the functionality to take over from the GC website based course creator, but alas not. Nothing has come close to the utility of the old Garmin Basecamp Mobile app that worked with the Fenix 1 and 2; you simply created your GPX course in a 3rd party smartphone app with offline topo mapping (like Viewranger) and then got the Garmin Basecamp Mobile app to send the resulting GPX route to the watch via BLE and all this could be done if you were in the middle of nowhere with no cellphone reception or wifi to connect to the internet. I've made countless submissions to the Garmin ideas portal to get back to this type of app system that just worked, but this is one area that tech companies insist going backwards with 'newer' features that require constant internet connectivity and assume we're too dumb to plan a simple route for ourselves. [rant over and I feel a little better again ;)]

Looks like a nice idea... But it only worked once for me, now it keeps saying "cannot retrieve routes" (or something, had to from native language).

Would be nice if you can use your current location from the phone's GPS as start point and set some favourites as start location (such as your home).

I have a 5x so have had this functionality available from day 1. I've never used it. While it's a nice novelty that the watch (or in this case GC) can create a route automatically, I much prefer to have some say in the matter - small roads / big roads / foot paths / hills / wind direction / stuff I would like to see on the run/ride / availability of toilets or somewhere to get water / ..... all mean that an auto generated route is really just a novelty rather than useful.

I would disagree that it's a novelty... I don't travel often for work, but the times I do I end up pulling up Google maps and using the distance tool to pick out a route near my hotel. It can take a couple minutes zooming around on a map to figure out where to go. Assuming this thing is smart and pulling up commonly used routes, its a great convenience for those who travel often and would rather get outside than run on a treadmill. Interested to hear how this works now that more people will probably be using it!

Assuming this thing is smart and pulling up commonly used routes,

Unfortunately some quick testing of getting GCM to give me some different length running routes from my house in various directions (so I know whether they are good or not), GCM just selects some very dull obvious routes along main roads; it's certainly not analysing running heat maps and giving you something better as far as I can tell. I live in a suburban UK area with a fantastic mix of tracks and footpaths to run along rather than main roads, so this is disappointing indeed. That said, the routes are probably calculated remotely on a server, so there's no reason that Garmin couldn't make the algorithms more intelligent in due course; it's just they're far from it right now.

Yeah, I tried it this morning and was underwhelmed. I asked it for a 30 mile road cycling route heading east. It came back with a 35 mile route. Most of it was reasonable, but there was a stupid out and back on a side road for no apparent reason. When I first saw the route, I thought it might be to add distance to get up to 30 miles, but the total is 35 miles and this added maybe 2, so that wasn't it. It would be a good route and I'd actually ride it if I could tweak it a little, but unfortunately there's no way to edit. You get what you get and that's it. Also, I'd vastly prefer it if I could create a "Home" POI in GCM that I could use as the default starting point rather than having to select the starting point on the map.

Better still, you can't create a course at all when Garmin Connect is down for maintenance like it is right now :rolleyes: Even more reason to go back to
am offline solution like the old Garmin Basecamp Mobile :)