Off course behavior with turn by turn off

this sounds like the way the 520 works (or at least worked when I had it about a year ago). If you loaded a course on the 520 and let it navigate to the start of the course, the pink line would point to the start of the course for the entire ride. (they may have fixed this bug though.) I didn't like that so I turned off the option. (forgot what it was called.) But on some occasions I left that feature on and it was somewhat helpful when exploring as its an easy way to show you the direction to your starting point. (and generally your ending point if you are riding a loop).

However, if you didn't navigate to the start of the course, I think this pink line would point to your next waypoint??? Or maybe it just pointed to the end??? It's been a while but sounds like Garmin implemented something similar for the 820 so it will act like the 520 when not using turn by turn.

Are using a custom map or the maps that Garmin provides?

this sounds like the way the 520 works (or at least worked when I had it about a year ago). If you loaded a course on the 520 and let it navigate to the start of the course, the pink line would point to the start of the course for the entire ride. (they may have fixed this bug though.) I didn't like that so I turned off the option. (forgot what it was called.) But on some occasions I left that feature on and it was somewhat helpful when exploring as its an easy way to show you the direction to your starting point. (and generally your ending point if you are riding a loop).

However, if you didn't navigate to the start of the course, I think this pink line would point to your next waypoint??? Or maybe it just pointed to the end??? It's been a while but sounds like Garmin implemented something similar for the 820 so it will act like the 520 when not using turn by turn.

Hello,

Thanks, yes it seems something similar to that. But the thick pink line only appear when I go off-course, when I am on course (or return to the course) the thick line disappears, the distance to next becomes the distance to the next waypoint and the distance to dst the correct one (unless it "gets lost" when returns to the course, which happens sometimes and I have to reload the full course).

Yesterday I tried to investigate this issue a little bit while I was off-course, but it is hard to tell. I am using only the Garmin Base Map, all other OSM maps are switched off. I feel than when I follow a course, if the map area is very dense, I have some difficulty to identify the course from streets and roads, and I prefer to have the OSM maps switched off. Following the course without maps is usually easy. The base map is sparse enough to identify well some main roads, but do not clobber the screen. Yesterday I stopped a little while and tried to investigate this issue when I was off-course, and I had the feeling that the thick pink line was trying to direct me to the start of the course, in the following way: the thick line was pointing straight to the nearest road available in the sparse Garmin Base Map, and from there it followed the few roads represented in the base map bck to the start. But the distance to the next was varying so much each time I was off course, that it is hard to tell if this make sense -- some times the "distance to the next" turned 0, others more to the distance of the full course. I want to believe that the upgrade to 3.2 just switched on or off some hidden option, but I already browsed through all of them
and I am not able to identify which one is it. As I said before, guidance is off in the courses, so I am not "navigating" a course, just following it.

Are using a custom map or the maps that Garmin provides?

Hello Alan,

Thanks. I am using only the Garmin Base Map, all other Garmin OSM maps are switched off. In the 820 I did not upload yet any external map. I feel than when I follow a course, if the map area is very dense, I have some difficulty to identify the course from streets and roads, and I prefer to have most of the maps switched off. The base map is sparse enough to identify well some main roads, but do not clobber the screen. Yesterday I stopped a little while and tried to investigate this issue when I was off-course, and I had the feeling that the thick pink line was trying to direct me to the start of the course, in the following way: the thick line was pointing straight to the nearest road available in the sparse Garmin Base Map, and from there it followed the few roads represented in the base map back to the start. But the distance to the next was varying so much each time I was off course, that it is hard to tell if this make sense -- some times the "distance to the next" turned 0, others more than the distance of the full course.

I want to believe that the upgrade to 3.2 just switched on or off some hidden option, but I already browsed through all of them
and I am not able to identify which one may it be. As I said before, guidance is off in the courses, so I am not "navigating" a course, just following it.

Rgds

-- fernando

...If you loaded a course on the 520 and let it navigate to the start of the course, the pink line would point to the start of the course for the entire ride.

I just forgot to clarify that I NEVER navigate to the start of the course, I always choose the "X" when asked for this after loading the course.

That is your problem. Without having any routable maps it cannot workout the route to get you back on course so just draws a straight line to the end point. You should be able to reduce the amount of map details under maps.

That is your problem. Without having any routable maps it cannot workout the route to get you back on course so just draws a straight line to the end point. You should be able to reduce the amount of map details under maps.

Hello Allan,

Thank you. But I do not understand. I do not want the 820 to try to route me, either on-course or off-course. The fact that the maps and details are displayed or not should be irrelevant, as it was before the upgrade. I just want to get back the same off course behaviour than I had with the Edge 800, the Edge Touring and the 820 before the upgrade to the 3.2. I never tried the 5xx series, but I believe that since they do not have maps, their behaviour should be exactly this one. When I go off-course I just want it to point and give me the distance to nearest course point. I had this behaviour in this 820 before the upgrade, irrespective of the maps displayed, provided that turn by turn was switched off.

If you ask me why I do prefer the 8xx over the 5xx, is just because sometimes when I am lost in some places I really want to navigate to some point. In these cases I turn on the maps, switch off the course and I "navigate" to the final address as it happens in a normal car GPS. But this is about 5% of my use of the unit. I never want "navigation" and "following routes" at the same time.

This is such a structural change in the usual Edge routing model that I still firmly believe that some configuration option was flipped in some way by the upgrade to 3.2. These Edge units are fantastic and I do not believe that Garmin had changed so much their view of routing and navigation on a minor software upgrade. It must be my fault, but I have to locate the missing configuration option.

Thank you for any help,

Fernando

Off course behavior with turn by turn off (solved)

That is your problem. Without having any routable maps it cannot workout the route to get you back on course so just draws a straight line to the end point. You should be able to reduce the amount of map details under maps.

Hello,

I believe I just sorted it out. When turn by turn is off, and you go off course, the behavior depends on the navigation options under profile. I had mine as "road", so the unit was trying to direct me to the closest road available on the base map when was off course (and this was the thick line). If I select "mountain bike" instead, it just points me to the nearest course point, as I wished. I believe that the change from MTB to road under navigation was a side effect of the 3.2 upgrade.

Thank you for your help,

Fernando (slightly happier again)