Upload a strava map to Garmin 165 Courde

Speaking of creating courses yourself, here's a few options:

- Garmin Connect (phone app): I don't really recommend this, but it's ok for simple routes I guess. I think this is what you were talking about when you said "create a route on the 165"?

- Garmin Connect (website; requires computer or tablet): much better than the app, but has some issues.

- Strava route creator (website; requires computer or tablet): I really like this one due to its user-friendliness and features, but you have to pay for a premium subscription.

- https://onthegomap.com (website; works on computer, tablet or phone): this free site is really nice and simple. Supports export to GPX so you can import your course to Connect. This might be the best option for you (unless you prefer the convenience of the Connect website)

Every option above except for the Connect phone app allows you to search for a starting location.

Thanks I’ll try the map one. Creating a route on Garmin Connect is horrid. You can’t even search for a place to start. It just shows your neighborhood so you have to swipe all over everywhere to create a route in a town 20 miles away. Then when you click the points it creates shortcuts and then there’s no way to redo. I use mapometer a lot so I’m spoiled with a good route maker.  

Thanks. I don’t want a subscription and have to use another s/w so I guess I’ll use the map maker. 

1202815 said:

Thanks. I don’t want a subscription and have to use another s/w so I guess I’ll use the map maker. 

Sorry if I didn't make this clear, but you don't need to pay for a Strava subscription to sync routes. Just sign up for a free Strava account and link it to your Garmin Connect account, and you'll be able to easily sync routes by starring them. Again, if you don't want to share your activities with Strava, just disable that option when you are linking the accounts.

Even if you don't want to create a Strava account, you can use the manual procedure of exporting the Strava route to GPX and importing the GPX to Connect, which works with either a computer or a phone. To be clear, you don't need a Strava account to export a Strava route to GPX, you just click on the link and open it in a browser.

Manually recreating a Strava route in a different app or site seems to be the hardest solution.

1202815 said:

I use mapometer a lot so I’m spoiled with a good route maker.  

Mapometer supports exporting routes to GPX, so you can use the same procedure mentioned above to get those routes into Connect. (Although I guess you must already be doing that.)

Okay great! Thanks for the added information. Actually I just tried the Garmin Connect “create a route” on my laptop and it works more easily than on my iPhone. I was able to create a map anyway. 

now as far as uploading, I did create a strava account so now I’ll try uploading a map. Seems most of my running club uses Strava so that’s generally how they share upcoming “Saturday runs”.  I’ll work on that next. 

I appreciate your help and will continue to come back and work on your directions. 

kim

1202815 said:

Thanks I’ll try the map one. Creating a route on Garmin Connect is horrid. You can’t even search for a place to start. It just shows your neighborhood so you have to swipe all over everywhere to create a route in a town 20 miles away. Then when you click the points it creates shortcuts and then there’s no way to redo. I use mapometer a lot so I’m spoiled with a good route maker.  

Are you creating your routes on a computer, tablet, or phone? It seems that mapometer doesn't really work properly with a phone, so I would guess computer or tablet?

If you're using the Garmin Connect website's route creator on a computer or tablet, you can absolutely search for a place to start, and when you create points, you can absolutely undo/redo your actions. The only thing I can think of maybe your tablet screen or computer window is so small that the location search bar and undo/redo buttons are disappearing? I can't make that happen unless I use a ridiculously large zoom level, where the route creator would be unusable anyway. But maybe you're running into a bug which I'm not. (I've definitely seen problems where certain parts of the UI disappear on a tablet.)

Anyway, like I said onthegomap works on a computer, tablet or phone, which is why I think it's one of the better choices if you need that flexibility. The Garmin Connect mobile app's route creator is pretty bad (very limited and buggy compared to the Connect website), and many of the other popular route creating websites don't really work with a phone.

If you're doing everything on a computer, it might be more convenient to just use the Garmin Connect website, as it allows you to easily send routes to your device, even if it's not the best route creator.

1202815 said:

I did create a strava account so now I’ll try uploading a map. Seems most of my running club uses Strava so that’s generally how they share upcoming “Saturday runs”.  I’ll work on that next. 

Cool, so now all you have to do is star the route (add it to your favourite routes) and it will automatically sync to your watch.

Instructions for phone:

- install Strava app

- open the message or email that has the shared Strava route link

- tap on the link and it will open in the Strava app (if that doesn't work, long-press the link and select 'Open in "Strava"')

- tap on the star

Instructions for computer:

- in your browser, log into the strava website: www.strava.com

- open the message or email that has the shared Strava route link

- click on the link and the route will open in the Strava website

- click on the star / Save button