I bought this watch mainly to follow self-designed trail routes on my own maps, and seeing the route on a map on the screen is great!
But I hoped I could do other things with this watch. Things like seeing the remaining distance to the next point of interest, and the pace needed to reach this point in the planned time, the advance or delay over the planned time, or the remaining average slope to the next waypoint. Expected functions in a watch of this price that already has the necessary features.
Garmin however makes it complicated.
I have achieved almost all these features now, and I am happy about it, although I have had to spend a few hours in front of the computer reading forums and websites. I share the methodology that I am following at the moment, I think it can help someone to get the most out of the device.
1. Design the route in PlotaRoute, including waypoints, and estimated pace according to slope.
It is the best way to eliminate TBT alerts and include travel time on the track. In the description of each waypoint I type the expected arrival time (in only 9 characters), so with the data fields "distance to next", "time", "time to next", allows me to calculate on the fly the pace needed to arrive at the scheduled time.
2. Send the .fit file to watch with "gimporter". If it is not possible (iOS) then via wire.
3. Once I have the course in the watch, from the trail run activity screen: select Options: Courses, Course and then Pace Pro to Create New.
Incredibly from the watch it is possible to select a Goal Pace / Goal Time such the one planned with Plotaroute, over a course that we have not created in Garmin Connect.
Once the Pace Pro plan is accepted, return to the Options: Courses menu, select the course and Do Course.
Although some differences are generated in the expected arrival times at each waypoint, and the splits do not match with the sections between waypoints, with this maneuver it is no longer necessary for me to calculate the planned rhythm at each moment, because I use the Split Target Pace as reference.
So far I have not yet identify if the Overall Ahead / Behind corresponds to the Pace Pro Plan or the travel time included in the track with PlotaRoute :-)
4. I have learned to use Connect IQ AppBuilder to build some fields of data of interest, such as rest time, and grade to the next waypoint, that help me while I navigate the track
That's it for now!