Originally Posted by acaurora

As a Garmin Edge 500 owner, I can say that it does have routes. I have downloaded a few routes off of mapmyride and have been able to follow the route via "the line on the screen". MapMyRide also lets you set a speed for your virtual partner. I used to always use ridewithGPS because I loved their interface, but they do not have this functionality of setting the virtual partner's speed, and thus the virtual partner will go at some insane speed (100+ mph) and be done with your course in a matter of minutes, hehe.

The courses feature is definitely handy, although it has its drawbacks. While it can do a breadcrumb like trail (it will draw a thinner line showing where you have gone if you go off the course), you cannot simply tell it to tell you how to get back. You can follow the course/trail simply by turning around, though. In addition, there are times where it will be redrawing, or recalculating, and it may not do it fast enough such that you probably will need to stop and wait for it to show your location again, otherwise you will miss a turn (I have had the courses go blank for a few seconds...). On my first ride with a course, I had notifications set on, and it would tell me that I would need to turn soon and in which particular direction, although it was a bit wonky (it would tell me to turn right, when there is no right turn for miles...). Also, another drawback is (aside from the notifications) there are no direction arrows, i.e., if your ride is, say, a "P" or popsicle loop, you may end up doing the loop in the wrong direction.

So to answer your question, yes it will do courses, but do not expect anything fancy. Also, for reference I have the latest firmware of 2.30