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trying to figure out why i have this device

Edge 820

1.) device takes FOREVER to calculate a route.... often 20 minutes!!??
2.) cannot effectively create a route on the device. too awkward. really needs to be done on desktop and then sync'd with device.
3.) my biggest issue.  if i go off route for any reason while riding, it's basically a total disaster.  it starts to recalculate (again, taking FOREVER)... taking me back to the BEGINNING of my route???

i think about doing all of these things on my phone via Google maps or Waze.  takes about 3-5 seconds to create a route....even in a dense area like central London and even for very long journey.  i can do it on my phone effectively.  if i decide to make a detour while travelling, it recalculates on the fly and keeps me on my way to my ultimate destination in a very sensible way.  it has a few quirks, but it basically just works.

my phone is too delicate to be on the front of my bike in bad weather...and the battery wouldn't last on a full day ride.  so i got this Edge 820.  why...in 2020... is my NAVIGATION device unable to NAVIGATE?    we know from other navigation methods that this is all very doable...i guess just not by the world's leading brand in navigation devices??  really scratching my head here.

  • 1. That's way long.  My routes usually take a minute or three to calculate.  I almost always lay them out myself on Ride With GPS and download them to my Edge.  Where are you getting your routes?  The only suggestion I have is to do a factory reset.

    2. Agree. There are some phone apps for easy route creation that will download to the Edge.  Using computer or phone to lay out routes is the by far the easiest way to do it.

    3. Have you turned off route recalculation on the device?  With it turned off, it won't recalculate the route when you go off route.  It will suggests ways to rejoin the route (often impractical) but it will resume normal navigation once you do.

  • thx for feedback.  

    1. your routes take 1-3 minutes.  sounds better than my unit, but still...why is 1-3 minutes acceptable when every phone and car navigation system takes a few seconds?
    i'll try the factory reset, but i still can't get my head around why these devices don't perform at the same level as standard car navigation or my phone.

    3. yes, i have route recalc off...so it no longer tries to take me back to the beginning.  it just tells me i am off course and i need to turn around, but doesn't really give that much help otherwise.  but..why should i have to turn off recalc feature?  wouldn't that be useful?  i find it very useful when i'm driving or walking with my phone navigating? people often make wrong turns or decide they need to do something slightly off route.  why can't i also expect this to work properly on my Garmin? 

  • Yep.  The 820 has been around going on 4 years now and these shortcoming have been pointed out by many.  I'm not making any excused for Garmin.  I'm just pointing how I use it on the chance you might find it helpful

    Virtually all my rides have specific routing I want to follow, and they end where they started.   Any recalculation that deviated from my intended route wouldn't be what I wanted.  If I go off route, I simply want to get back on it.  Also, if it recalculates to the end, then it would just be taking me back to the start.  Even on the rare occasion my route doesn't loop back to the start, I still want to stick to my planned route.  That's why I have recalculation set to off.  If I was using the Edge to navigate to some destination and didn't care about the route, recalculation would be OK. 

    That's not to say the couldn't design a recalculation feature with settable options that could work for me, but I'm pretty sure that's not happening as the 820 has basically been supplanted by the 830, which is it's own new and improved can of worms. 

  • "1. your routes take 1-3 minutes.  sounds better than my unit, but still...why is 1-3 minutes acceptable when every phone and car navigation system takes a few seconds?"

    But phones are bigger and car nav units have unlimited power. The 820 is slower so that it needs less (much less) power.

    =========================

    "...but I'm pretty sure that's not happening as the 820 has basically been supplanted by the 830,..."

    I suspect the 820 is a design misstep. It's too small and too slow.