Help with Edge 520 Navigation

I use TCX files. Somehow ridewithgps files don't work especially if you join a course somewhere and not from the start. BRT works great.

I copy paste the file in the 'new files' folder in the garmin folder.

These people (VeloGPS) have a good video on what to expect from your 520 for turn by turn (and others on setup)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plmr3zSi6CY

They are using a TCX so note that the top of 520 screen turn, direction / countdown messages (not refering to the Go West etc..) are generated by the 520 using the angle between sections of the calculated route (lighter purple/pink line) and the bottom of screen messages come from the TCX course points.

You will get exactly the same top of screen messages from a GPX route (but no bottom of screen messages)

The video shows very well why some turns are missed (top of screen), you can see the "calculated" route is an approximation of the actual route, ie the roads on the map, and when there they diverge a lot the angle of a turn may not be enough to trigger the turn message/countdown etc.

There is a bit of a discussion in the comments on the video.

One key / vital setting that they note is that the "Turn Guidance" has to be ON otherwise you don't get any top of screen turn messages.

Thanks for your responses. Still no luck for me. I've tried just about every kind of tcx file (with and without built in warnings from bike route toaster, directly from strava) with all sorts of settings fiddled with and still no dice.

If anyone had to do anything beyond what these folks have mentioned to get their edge to work, do let me know.

Thanks!

I use Ridewithgps. I use TCX files. I am a premium RWGPS member. I use "Garmin Write" on the RWGPS Route Screen. I set the turn notifications to 80 meters in advance (on the RWGPS pop-up). Never have an issue. Works great.

Did any of you manage to get turn-by-turn navigation to work with a .gpx file?

AFAIK Turn Guidance (turn by turn) doesn't work. Turn Guidance is supposed to generate turn cues based on change in direction of the track and should display those cues at the top of the screen. Course Points is something different and it works.

Course points can be added to tcx files and a small dialog box is displayed at the bottom of the screen when the point is reached. It contains a short preprogrammed text message and a turn direction icon. The "Crs Pt Distance" data field shows the distance to the next course point along with the turn direction icon. I find a quick glance at that field to see it counting down works very well for knowing where to turn.

I recommend using course points, turning off Turn Guidance and also selecting Cancel when "Navigate to the beginning of the course?' is displayed.

I followed jaythomasjr's advice in this thread:
https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?340649-Edge-520-and-Turn-by-Turn-directions&p=789776#post789776

quoted below for your convenience:

1. Turn "Turn Guidance" off. I guess this is the E520's attempt at live navigation, for what we want to do here TURN IT OFF.

Training=>Courses=>Course Options=>Turn Guidance=>Off

2. Turn "Course Points" on - these are the cues that are embedded in the TCX file, you want them! (I wish you could set the default to "No")

Training=>Courses=>Course Name=>Settings=>Course Points=>On

3. Decline the option to "Navigate to the beginning of the course?" - this was deadly, if somehow you missed the exact start point the E520 would keep trying to get you back there. So even with "Turn Guidance" off, this is where the "Go Northwest" type instructions were coming from.

So now on the Map view, I have 2 fields turned on. "Crs. Pt. Dist." this gives me the distance to the next turn and "Dist. to Dest." - this gives me distance until I'm done. Now, my one remaining gripe on this issue. The "Guide Text" in maps is pretty useless to me. What I would like is the option to show the next course point in that same place at the top of maps. Now you would have something REALLY nice. As is, I guess it does actually give pretty much what the E500 did for following courses (but the E500 is far more foolproof). Again, if you gave me the option of displaying the next course point (in my case the next turn) at the top of the maps display I would be REALLY, REALLY happy.

I did that and export RideWithGPS routes as "TCX Course" with Notify before turn option set to 50 meters. Works great.

TCX files not working from RWGPS

I had an issue as well with TCX files not working on my 520 as well despite following all the advice from the forums. It ended up being the internet browser I was using to generate the TCX files with. I was using Chrome and RWGPS and would never load the course properly. Switched over to Firefox and the issue went away. Course loads fine and can follow it with course points popping up as they are supposed to.

I have read all the posts on this form about turn by turn displays and navigation, I have read everything on the DCRainmaker site, watched several videos and sought out other advice but I am still having problems that others seem to have overcome. Any help would be very much appreciated.

I have successfully downloaded the ‘OpenStreet maps’ as per DCRainmaker instructions and they work fine on my unit, much superior to the standard base maps. I made routes on Garmin Connect and have successfully transferred them to my unit. These routes also display great – no issues to this point. Now, however, no matter what I do, I can not get any turn by turn details. Also, I have not been able to get any ‘cue sheet’ like I have seen illustrated by others and see nothing in the setup screens to toggle-on a cue sheet.

Obviously there is something that I am not understanding or not doing correctly. If anyone can point me towards success I would really appreciate it.

AFAIK Garmin Connect doesn't add course points to the file and they are needed to get turn prompts with the 520. Try using Ride With GPS to create the route. Choose TCX for the exported file type to get course points.

I used Ride With GPS for years but switched over to Plot a Route. It's plotting tools to me are better with good editing features. I especially like the turn directions which one can select the distance before the turn for display. This is only available on RWGPS at a additional cost but free on Plot a Route. You can easily import RWGPS routes over to Plot a Route.