Navigating runs

3675864 said:

Can I add a route from the free versions of Strava, Alltrails or any other free app?

If you can export such a route as a GPX file, you can add it to Connect as follows:

- On the connect.garmin.com website, navigate to Training & Planning > Courses, select Import, and select the GPX file

- On mobile, open the GPX file with the Connect app. For example, on iOS, open the Files app, navigate to the GPX file, long-press the GPX file, select Share, and select the Connect app

Once the route is in Connect, you can select Send to Device from he route page to have the route transfer to your device on next sync.

You can also add the file directly to the device as follows (but you won't get turn-by-turn directions, which are added by Connect):

- Connect watch to computer

- If using Mac, use 3rd-party software such as OpenMTP to view the files and folders on your watch. If using Windows, use File Explorer to do the same

- Copy the GPX file to \Garmin\Newfiles on the watch

Regarding exporting routes in Strava:

- I think you should be able to export any public route as GPX from the strava.com website, even with a free account

- I *think* you can also star public routes and have them automatically sync to your Garmin Connect account, provided your Connect account is set up to use Strava Routes and not Garmin Routes, even with a free account:

https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000919304-Syncing-Strava-Routes-to-your-Garmin-Device

- You should be able to export any of your own activities on Strava as a GPX route file (from the strava website). Open an activity, use the 3 dots menu, and select Export GPX

- If you use a 3rd party Chrome extension - Sauce for Strava - you can also export a GPX route file for anybody else's activity: https://www.sauce.llc/

3675864 said:

3) If I add a manual route, it seems incredibly hard to follow on my watch and the GPS seems very off. I tried my regular route and it was rarely on track, even when I now it was, anyone else found that?

Dumb Q but are you certain you had a good GPS lock before starting the activity timer? Ppl don't talk about this much, but the green ring (which appears super quick) doesn't always indicate a great GPS lock. If you are around tall buildings (for example), you may notice that even if you have a green GPS ring, your instant pace may be fluctuating wildly and if you look at the map screen, your position maybe changing, even though you are standing still. What I always do is wait for the green ring *and* I wait for my pace to settle to 0:00. Only then do I start the timer. Sometimes I'll get the green ring almost instantly, but then I'll have to wait 30s to even a couple of minutes for pace to settle. Sometimes I'm in a hurry and I don't wait, but this invariably results in GPS error at the beginning of my activity (like bad track, unrealistic speeds, extra distance, etc)

I've used navigation on both FR935 and FR955 - it isn't perfect, but for me it's not as bad as you describe.