GPS navigation question

[graham bowers]

I've been using a Garmin 810 for about a year, only for day rides so far, but up to 80 odd miles. I prefer to keep to the back lanes so my method has been to use a desktop computer to create a navigation (gpx) file with the RidewithGPS website and then use the turn by turn directions to navigate the many many, err, turns. I do find turn by turn navigation liberating in so far as it (almost) eliminates the need for multiple navigation stops. For example, I led two friends on a 60 mile route through Northern France and they remarked it had been like cycling with a "local". Having experienced a few Garmin foibles, and being old school anyway, I have so far always carried marked up paper maps as a backup.

I am planning on doing some multi day touring trips in 2017, in the UK and France. Whilst I could prepare gpx files for each day at home and in advance, I feel I would then lose the ability to improvise on the hop, which is one of the joys of touring.

I've just, this week, entered the 21st century, I've bought an iPhone, it is largely a mystery to me.

Now the inevitable question:

Is it possible to use any of the navigation websites or on-phone-apps to create a navigation (gpx) file using the iPhone and the transfer it to a garmin 810 please? Googling has not really helped, so perhaps a human might ;-) I know there are on-phone apps that do some sort of navigation, but the Garmin is waterproof and the iPhone is not.

I will have a dyno hub and so USB charging capability on my soon to be collected touring bike.

I imagine I'll be using the iPhone as a backup map, instead of paper maps, to keep the weight and volume of stuff down. (Will probably take one large scale paper map for the overall picture, that may not have all of the lanes on it).

Thanks

Graham

 

[StuAff]

iPhone/iOS I don't have, nor an Edge 810, but Android and Edge 705 I do. I imagine there's a similar workaround to the one I use: plot the route on the phone (I use Osmand), USB OTG cable and a file manager app on the phone let me transfer the GPX to the Garmin. You have Bluetooth on both phone and Garmin so won't need a cable. You could do a manual upload of the GPX to Garmin Connect (via the web interface, not the app) and then transfer it via the app, if you can't shunt it straight over.

 

[Milkfloat]

I think the best you will get is to use Garmin Connect to create a route and then sync it to your device.

 

[fixedfixer]

Getting an Apple product to communicate with anything else will be fun. (And I work with IT)

 

[Markymark]

My iPhone is water proof with my quad lock. The rwgps app is great. Map massively clearer. Usb charger means I can get 6 or 7 hours when in airplane mode with topup chargers when stopping.

 

[graham bowers]

Thanks for replies, I'll check out the suggestions.

 

[srw]

Sell the iPhone - it's a pile of over-priced junk - and use the money to buy a very cheap lightweight Windows laptop and a basic android phone. Use the laptop to plot routes and transfer them to the Garmin. The android phone will do everything the iPhone will do.

Don't even think of plotting the route you want on a phone screen - it's a lesson in frustration, both because the screen is too small and because the apps aren't designed to do it.

 

[GGJ]

I use bikehike for plotting routes and can then load the planned route onto my Garmin

 

[graham bowers]

Sell the iPhone - it's a pile of over-priced junk - and use the money to buy a very cheap lightweight Windows laptop and a basic android phone. Use the laptop to plot routes and transfer them to the Garmin. The android phone will do everything the iPhone will do.

Don't even think of plotting the route you want on a phone screen - it's a lesson in frustration, both because the screen is too small and because the apps aren't designed to do it.

Windoze, pah, linux all the way for me ;-))

 

[dim]

I have the Garmin Edge 1000

you can plan your route on the Garmin, and include several points along the way that you wish to pass through. I think that there are a few more Garmin models that allow you to do the same

I don't think that you can plan a route on an iphone then download it directly to the Garmin, unless you first load the route as a TCX file onto a laptop, then download it onto your Garmin from there into the New Files folder

 

[PaulSB]

A number of points here. Don't sell your iPhone, yes it's expensive but once you get to grips with this very simple machine you'll enjoy it.

Secondly as I read it there is a danger of over complicating your planning. For me France and the UK need different approaches mainly due to traffic volumes. We know the UK is busy and for quiet tours with as little traffic as possible good planning is needed especially if you want to take advantage of our huge sprawling next work of country lanes.

France is a far biggger country and in some respects more rural. My personal experience of touring there is to plan, not plot, my basic route - town A, village B, town C etc. Get a 1cm = 10km scale map to show the whole area. This will give you major towns, major routes and D roads. Also buy a regional map (yellow Michelin) at 1cm = 2km.

Each night plot your next day route, note key destinations, road numbers and landmarks on a piece of paper. Writing it down helps to commit to memory. Shove the notes in your jersey pocket and pull out to refer to when needed.

My last France trip was about 1100km from St Malo to Bordeaux via a very long route! I saw little traffic apart from the heavy tourist spots in the Dordogne. Occasionally went off route but easily got back on with the aid of the map.

Don't be a slave to the Garmin, iPhone etc. Great for recording the ride but to disciplined for touring.

Take a small tablet by all means. Don't get hung up on weight. You'll save more weight through proper packing than whether or not to carry a tablet

 

[Dogtrousers]

+1 to @PaulSB 's comments, esp regarding the difference between the UK and France. Also on a tour, things change. Someone gets a niggle, it's a rainy day, you decide that tomorrows challenge day into a hilly area isn't such a good idea. That's where paper maps come into their own.

 

[smutchin]

it's a rainy day ... That's where paper maps come into their own.

Are you sure about that?

 

[smutchin]

I don't think that you can plan a route on an iphone then download it directly to the Garmin, unless you first load the route as a TCX file onto a laptop, then download it onto your Garmin from there into the New Files folder

If you have the route saved in Garmin Connect, you can upload it to the Edge 1000 from your phone via Bluetooth. Only downside to this is having to use Garmin Connect for route planning.

Unfortunately for the op, the 810 doesn't have this feature.

 

[Pale Rider]

Are you sure about that?

I reckon my latest weatherproof - but bulky - OS map could double as a tarpaulin.