Distance to next way point / course point on Fenix 5X

Previously on the 5X even if I entered course points / way points on a course they wouldn't show on the watch, I'd just get a series of 001 002 003 waypoints which made no sense.

You get this type of behaviour if you use what gpsies calls a gpx route. That is a route build by waypoints. If you instead save it as a gpx track then it is working as expected as a plain track with no turn by turn, tbt or other course points.

If you import the gpx track to Garmin Connect and send the course to the watch, you get auto generated tbt.

If you would like more control of other course points or tbt, then you need to create a fit file and send it to the watch with for instance gimporter app or copy file to newfiles folder.

You can then use the data fields Distance to next, Next waypoint (label) and Time to next on a Navigation data screen to see how far away next tbt or course point is and you custom label for it. When you are around 50 m before you get a prewarning with icon and then you get a course point icon when you reach it. Unfortunately the watch is around 10-40 m late when running, which mean you often get the prewarning just before you reach the point.
I think the distance to next bug is solved. I just tested it.

There are a couple of ways to create a proper fit file. One is to create the track with course/waypoints at gpsies, save it as a tcx, convert to fit with McBadger tool or FitFileRepairTool.

After copying to watch the data fields next waypoint, distance to next and eta at next all work just fine

Ok. Good to know. I had read a lot of the TBT related threads and had not seen the info about next waypoint there.

Anyway, when you have succeeded in getting the F5X to show next waypoint and distance to next, how does it behave if you go off course? Will the fields freeze as they do on an F3? If they do, can you avoid it by disabling the Off Course alert?

I ask because this is probably the feature which could make me buy an F5X if it works.

If you go off course you get an off course alert. When you get back on route you get an on course alert. Once on course again the "dist to next" etc is correct. I can't recall what happens to the "dist to next" data field while off course - I think it stops updating. It would be nice if it was configurable to either give the "straight line distance" or "distance to on course + distance to next waypoint once on course".

There was a bug related to going off-course but this was fixed several releases ago.

OK. Thanks. Sounds as the same behaviour as the F3. Quite annoying if you are doing an activity where you are not supposed to follow a specific course between checkpoints.

Emtec, these discussions are usually about a completely different topic than the topic discussed in this thread.

hm....?? :confused:

OK. Thanks. Sounds as the same behaviour as the F3. Quite annoying if you are doing an activity where you are not supposed to follow a specific course between checkpoints.

If you don't have to follow a specific track then you just have a set of waypoints in order forming a route. There is no concept of being off-course.

There is nothing stopping you aborting your current course navigation and then navigating directly to a waypoint - doing this you can't be off-course and "dist to next" will show the distance to the waypoint. After reaching the next waypoint resume your previous course navigation or select the next waypoint.

I think this matches what the F3 does. I will often load a course (including waypoints) and then the waypoints again outside of the course for this reason. If the race is linear along a prescribed route with little flexibility I don't bother with a separate list of waypoints.

I repeat: If I string to together a course of saved waypoints, then the watch absolutely will give me the Off Course alert if I do not follow a straight line between the waypoints. So yes, there is a concept of being off-course in that situation, at least in the mind of the Garmin developers.

And why would I make a course instead of separately navigating to each waypoint? Because I don't want to fiddle with navigation setting every time I have passed a waypoint. A course is the only way to avoid that.

i defer to your experience with regards making a route of waypoints and then going off-course - it is not something I do typically.

While it is frustrating to loose "distance to next" etc while off-course my experience is that in reality (for me while trail running) it is not a deal breaker. This is because my way points are a few hours apart and when I am off-course I usually just ignore the data fields until I am back on course.

In cases where I am taking an alternate route to the waypoint AND I care enough about "distance to next" I just stop the navigation and navigate directly to the waypoint. At the waypoint I resume my course navigation. No need to stop and restart the activity and doesn't take more than a few seconds.

I understand many people may have a different use-case, either because they have much more frequent waypoints or approach waypoints via an alternate route often.