Edge 130: low resolution with imported courses

That is just what the course looks like on 130s.  It is just a bread crumb trail, a line to follow, no base maps.  The open course (two lines, not filled in between them) is what is yet to be ridden.  As you ride it fills in so it's black.  Go ride a quick test course, you'll see.

I've used courses extensively on the 130 and they seem easy to see for me, even in the woods with limited ambient light.  With bread crumb courses it sometimes means you might have to go past a turn for a ways to be sure if you needed to turn or not (at least in the woods where trail choices are often not a distinctly different direction, but a mild fork).

The point here is that when a course, or gpx file, is sent to the 130, it loses information and accuracy.  

I have tested the same course, sent from GC to the 130 and the result is still worst. However, doing the same action on an edge 810 the result is correct. You can see it in the picture below.

My conclusión is that edge 130 shows lower resolution. It may not be important for road cycling, but it is for mtb.

Can someone confirm if that it is the usual Edge 130 behaviour?

Ah, I better understand your question now.  I've not used any other head units, so I have no way to compare. 

I only use for mtb.  All I can say is that when I've used the 130 on a "new to me" trail system that it's been accurate enough for me to fumble my way through.  I've been able to discern most trail turns, but have had some that I've had to backtrack.  Usually it's only been by about 50 feet or so before I realized I'd chosen poorly.  So, perhaps the 130 doesn't have the same resolution as more advanced units, but it's good enough that I've been able to find my way through a few new trails systems.

The 130 can only manage so many track points in a course file so it does a track point reduction. It does not look like it handled the point reduction too well.

Hi, I experience the same problem on my 130. Routes on GC are perfect in terms of resolution but sometimes sharp corners are cut off. Never missed a road or turn though on my roadbike. Can imagine that this is annoying when following MTB tracks in the woods.

Did you find a resolution for this other than upgrade? I have exactly the same issue for long bikepacking routes where, on forest roads, I miss turns repeatedly due to this 'point reduction'. It makes navigation difficult and I often have to default to my Etrex to get me out of situations.

A Google search shows that all Garmin devices have a max of 200 points to it must be the lack of basemap on the 130 causing this.

Any input appreciated. Cheers!

I can say that this behaviour doesn't occur on the more expensive series. Probably edge 130 has a very limited resources and only can manage few points per track.