The watch Garmin MK2i doesn't give turn by turn instructions

It’s not working 

It’s not working 

No, I have tried many times but it doesn't work. I think it must be a problem of the watch firmware. although the instructions mention the watch does it, it isn't true. I hope they will solve it in future updates. 

Doing several testing, I came to the same conclusion that it is an issue with the firmware. Did you report it to the Garmin support? I did and the reply was to reset the watch and re-update the firmware... great!

I need a Garmin expert to acknowledge the issue and report it for a future firmware update. 

Did you try loading a course with tbt as .fit file directly onto the watch?

It seems to me that Garmin connect is very bad at generating the turn by turn instructions, I never managed to plot a route in connect that included them. But when I created the route with other means as a .fit file with included instructions and loaded them directly onto the watch without Garmin connect or express, the instructions showed up.

It is neither a nice nor a straightforward solution though.

Thanks for your advise but I never had issues with the tbt instructions on my Fenix 6 Pro in the past, when I created the routes from Garmin Connect. On the Fenix, turn by turn works fine.

If I use the exact same file with the MK2i, the tbt instructions are not working. All settings are the same. This is why I believe the issue is not the file, but a bug with the functionality of the MK2i. 

The question is: has anyone been able to see the turn by turn navigation working on a MK2i? 

Well, as I wrote: If I bypass all things Garmin to get the route onto the Mk2i it works. Well enough to feed my fairly picky Varia Vision.

Did you actually try the same file (ideally .fit) or just the same route in connect? And did you check if the files copied to the watch contain instructions? As in, open the fit file (hex editor will do, adding custom direction strings will help)?

I tested a route created directly in Garmin Connect with the route generator, and one where I imported a GPX to Garmin Connect. I honestly don't see what you mean by bypassing all things Garmin, since you need the Garmin app to synchronize the route with the watch. In both tests, turn by turn is not working with my MK2i and works fine with my Fenix 6.  

I don't see what you mean neither with "trying the same .fit file or the same route in connect". Isn't it the same? a route in Connect being a .fit file in the watch repository?

I used hex editor to open the fit file, but I can't interpret the content, it is full of weird characters. 

In the end, I still cant make this functionality work on the MK2i where using the same method, file, it works fine on a Fenix 6. I don't know how to get an answer by Garmin on that. When asking the support, they do not acknowledge the issue and only propose to reinitiate the watch. 

You can try to generate a route with something like plotaroute.com (you shouldn't need an account), make sure there are directions (bottom right button there), maybe even add some for good measure, and download the whole thing as a .fit file (with the directions included). Then you need to copy that file onto the watch. To do that, you will need to mount it in the explorer or on mac use the "Android File Transfer" Utility (after quitting Garmin Express, so that it doesn't interfer. The Mk2i uses MTP, which otherwise is mostly used by Android devices). Then you can drop that fit file directly in GARMIN/NewFiles on the watch. After disconnecting the watch, it should load the maps the same as after a normal sync and the route should show up in the 'Courses" menu. If you open that fit file up (hex editor), you should find the directions verbatim as strings.

Long story short, I think it is not an issue with the watch, but rather with Garmin connect. Also maybe a difference in how exactly these instructions are handled. The tbt instructions are just what is in the file, unlike when navigating to a saved location, there is no option to just generate them on the watch itself.