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Mountain bike navigation on the Edge 830 - please help me make it more useful!

ZillaG
over 5 years ago

I ride almost exclusively mountain bike now; just an interval training ride on my road bike on a pave path to put in the mix. I may be using the words course, route, and trail interchangeably.

I've had my Edge 830 for 3 weeks now and done 12 +/- MTB rides on it on trails that I know, using courses that I've created on Trailforks. I want to learn how to use the device this way before I venture out into courses that I don't know. Basically I want it to help me, duh, navigate! I want to be able to do something like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z771IpF1KWM, except on an MTB trail.

I have several issues I just can't seem to resolve.

1. I have turn guidance turned on because I want it to tell me WHERE to turn when there's a fork on the trail. Isn't this what the feature is for? However, it tells me to turn on EVERY bend on the trail thinking it's a turn. Well guess what, an MTB trail has LOTS of bends. This is driving me NUTS.

2. To makes matters worse, today I was no a course I that I know like the back of my hand. When I got to several forks (don't want to use the word turn here), the device didn't tell me which fork to take. How am I supposed to trust this on a less familiar trail system?

3. I just have one data screen (to keep it simple for now) that shows time elapsed, avg. speed, and heart rate that I want showing 99% of the time when I'm riding. I have my MTB profile to only show the map during navigation. However because of #1, I see the map screen more than I do the data screen, that is, it's navigating most of the time. See how #1 drives me nuts?

4. Zoom feature fiasco - I think this has been discussed enough on this forum. But yeah, it kinda sucks.

5. Around 1:45 of the video, the guy stops, and the Edge pauses, and he is able to swipe his screen from the map to the data screen. I tried to do this several times today, but couldn't swipe, that is, I swipe but nothing happens.

I hope a Garmin support employee who is a mountain biker that has and Edge 830 can chime in on this. I ride alone most of the time because I like going at my own pace, and hate being lost in the woods I'm not familiar with. I got the Edge 830 because it seemed to be the more mountain-bike feature rich device to date. I'm hoping it would've solve the navigation issues I had on the 520, but it seems worse.

HELP!!!

Top Replies

  • over 5 years ago +2

      Sorry to hear you are having trouble with trail navigation, that is frustrating. Here are some answers that may be helpful to the questions in your previous post:

    1. Please make sure that sharp bend…

All Replies

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to SWE8

     How do you work around it? How do you use yours to navigate in an unfamiliar trail system? Thanks 

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to lytleric

    I still experience #5, where I can't swipe out of the map screen, and it drives me nuts.

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to ZillaG

    I do as can be read in the other thread, I permanently display the course/track on the map during my ride and do not use the TBT navigation. Alas since the Edge 800, the line thickness for permanent display has become less.

    Another user claimed you can use nav but turn off TBT guidance (so to get the thicker purple line), but I am not sure if this would work when the track follows paths not on the map. Something I will check.

    In my own living area I have made a (sort of) Trailfork map of my own, a transparent map with color coded trails on it. That works out very nice.

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to SWE8

    You say "In my own living area I have made a (sort of) Trailfork map of my own, a transparent map with color coded trails on it. That works out very nice."

    How'd you do this, with the color-coded trails?
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to ZillaG

    I've never found a 'Great' tool in terms of ease-of-use.  But for joining multiple gpx files into a Garmin map I've used GPX2IMG, as well as JaVaWa IMGfromGPX, and JaVaWa GMTK.  

    I recently found GMapTool to be nice for taking an existing map and editing it, (add / remove / modify lines).  I haven't tried actually re-using an official garmin map with this tool, but I'd definitely back up the original and re-name it before trying.  Unsure if it'll give copyright fits on their maps. 

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to ZillaG

    Yes, it is the program that ztbishop also mentioned, I use Javawa software: http://www.javawa.nl/imgfromgpx.html

    For basic use, it is very straightforward and easy to use with some trial and error.

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to SWE8

    Permanently displaying a map on the screen is not for me though, since I like have my data screen with avg speed and heart rate to be displayed most of the time, and ONLY display the map during navigation.

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to ZillaG

    You can add two data fields to the map. 

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to looigi

    I want avg speed and HR displays HUGE.

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago

    MTB Navigation is the 830 is extremely disappointing I am really frustrated with mine problems I have:

    1. It say you are on a different trail than you are really on.

    2. Tells you to take a U turn when you shouldn't take a U turn

    It would be great if it said right turn on trail x in 900 feet.. I did better navigating with my old 800 (wish I didn't sell to get the 830)

    Garmin software is always buggy and by the time they figure it out a new model comes out and they stop updating the software on the older unit. Not happy with this purchase