I updated it in the last 2 weeks or to - firmware/software in the unit as well as the map database.

I agree turn-by-turn is useful - but only if it works. An example of where I want it to work is a ride I did a bit over a week ago where I was navigating through a town. There were major state routes that went through town, then a bazillion residential/small city streets that were generally north and south. There was a road on the south end that took me in to town and a road on the north end that could get me back out - without being on the busier state routes. However, to get between the 2 roads I had to to east on the south end a bit to pick up a residential road that went north far enough to get me back over to the road that could take me back out of town. I had to go back to the west on the north side of town to do that. On the south end the route east was a bike trail. When I rode through the first time I stayed on the bike trail about 2 blocks further east past the road I needed to turn on and ended up on the main drag through town - the busiest of the 2 state routes (but at that point was a 25mph speed zone through downtown with wide lanes and marked bike lanes).

If I had turn-by-turn directions that could route me the way I had planned beforehand, in an ideal world, the turn-by-turn would have prompted me to make the correct turn - and not carry the trail 2 blocks further out of the way. In the grand scheme of things, this is small potatoes, but that is exactly where I would want that technology to "help" me. And to that point on my ride yesterday - all the turn-by-turn directions did was tell me I was off course, do a U-turn, backtrack, and go several miles out of the way. In that example - it is too far off in left field for me to give it another go there. That ride is a mix of trail (paved municipal multi-use paths - I've noticed they are calling them "multi-use" instead of "bike paths" these days - more "like dog-squat n' stroller" paths) and road.

Now, what I have done with my older Garmin Chart Plotter (boat GPS) is import a track. I used Google Earth to create a KML file, then converted the KML to the Garmin format (I forget what it is off the top of my head). Then I loaded that on an SD card to open up in the chart plotter. I mapped a ~200 mile run around our lake doing that. The way it started was using the routing feature on Google Earth to weave a "path" through islands and channels. It was pretty darn cool just to make the path, but to get it to convert to the Garmin format and actually work on the plotter was awesome. I followed the route once and it was about as you would have expected - not perfect - but, then again, the plotter wouldn't tell me to back-track. It would just show I was off-course and if I steered back towards it the course would always advance.

As for the turn-by-turn directions - if I could plan a route that was more precise, like the plotter/boat example above (however precise you want to call that), then upload it - that might be my best idea. It takes the "brain" (or lack-there-of) of routing algorithms out of the equation and lets me be the brain of the route. The hard part, though, is like my opening post for the thread - when I did the waypoint routing the unit would not register that I had arrived at a waypoint and advance to the next one when I passed right by the first waypoint. So if I create a route and it ends up registering 50ft away from a trail or road - is the unit going to trip out saying I'm not on the route? or that I haven't hit the waypoint/destination? If that happens my manually created route is all for not anyway - so I am back to the same boat I am in as I type this now - just forgetting about turn-by-turn and doing all manual routing and guidance.

Thats a thought. I do know there are different levels of routing to select in the unit. I think I have it set to "touring" and I know I left the "lock to roads" option off - I use trails a lot so that option would keep trails out of the equation.

If I could tell you all the presentations and classes I've done over the years on GPS, and associated technology (mostly associated technology - including Telematics), in other industries you'd be floored. That's one reason why this Edge 1000 perplexes me.