Edge 1040 on bike fails as GPS

That bug sometimes appears for some unlucky owners after firmware updates. I had this in one of the 20.?? versions. There are no clear solutions, you could wait to the next update and hope it goes away, try a factory reset or even a firmware downgrade. None of these optionsare great, I admit.

LINYBob said:

I live in a gated community

The "Garmin" map is based on the OpenStreetMap (OSM) which is built & maintained by thousands of "contributors", anyone can become a contributor. If your area is new or has restricted access then the local streets might not be mapped correctly and this will effect the quality of the "navigation" and turn instructions. I assume you are using Turn Guidance on the 1040, this will re plan your route using the on device map which is only updated each year or so. It "should" be the same as the Garmin Connect planning map, if your streets are on GC planning map then they "should" also be on the 1040 map, checking with another planning site like RidewithGPS might confirm.

As has been said above there can be temporary problems due to the device memory becoming full or system variables not being initialised / cleared after a lot of use especially if you only sleep the device between rides rather than power off. These sometimes requires a reset, it will recover most things from your most recent GCM sync but a few things especially CIQ fields and phone / wi-fi setting might require manual reentry

I always end my rides by hitting the Stop button, then the power off button.

For my test ride, I used GC - it had all the roads. I'm not sure why it even needs the roads in a map anyway. If I get to a waypoint, shouldn't the GPS be smart enough to know that the next GPS is 1/4 mile to the right or whatever? It doesn't help me when I get to a waypoint and the GPS just sits there at 0 ft to destination while I pedal past  another 1/2 mile or so. I have used earlier GPS devices on bushwhacks in the woods with no roads and was able to get from waypoint to waypoint.

I am going to contact Garmin. Something is not right. 

LINYBob said:

I'm not sure why it even needs the roads in a map anyway.

The Edges started out so-long-ago to provide navigation for rides that you recorded.

Basically, the devices (even now) create a route by walking the track and picking up the roads/paths the track appeared to follow. This is why the device needs roads/paths on a map to work. This "big white arrow" navigation is what Garmin calls "turn guidance".

When you download a route, you are actually downloading a track. Ideally, this track would be traced along roads/paths using the same map as installed on the device (the on-device maps use Openstreetmap data). (The devices can tolerate some differences in maps; it just generally works better if the same map is being used.)

The route files can contain things called "course points". Typically, these are turn instructions. These are separate from the "big white arrow" navigation. Notifications for course points pop-up when you get close to them. Course points were originally a way to provide turn instructions for devices that didn't have maps. They can be used for places that are not following roads on the map. I use them as a secondary form of turn instruction.

Not sure what your issue is but the devices (none of them) are supposed to work the way you describe. It doesn't seem like it's a common problem. Sounds like something is "broken".