Originally Posted by volosong

Another thing I forgot that I "hate" about the 800. Input a route, go on a ride, get off course, it beeps at you . . . but does not re-calculate the route to get you back on. Zoom out to see street grid for context and to see how far I got off course, and the minor streets disappear. Very frustrating. I hope it is something that I didn't "turn on", and the unit does have the capability to guide one back to the current route.



It's a configurable display field. When you go into the screen display configuration mode, you can select how many fields are displayed on a screen, and you can also select which parameter is displayed in each field on that screen. I have mine configured for a default screen which shows 'distance', 'speed', 'cadence', and 'heart rate'. The next screen shows a whole bunch of interesting data, but not something that I want to watch as I'm in motion. That screen shows stuff like 'time', 'time of sunset', 'average speed', 'climbing feet', 'altitude', etc. Interesting information, but not something that needs to be constantly referred to. The next screen is a routing screen. That has stuff like 'time to next turn', 'distance to next turn', 'direction of next turn', 'remaining distance', etc. My last screen is the map page. If a route is loaded/followed, it will appear in a bold cyan line. It also displays a 'direction to turn' arrow when you get close to a turn in the route.

The way I found what was available is to just configure a screen, or create a new screen. First with the number of fields to display. Since I don't wear glasses when riding, (or anytime, even though I should), I played with the number of screens to see what would be the easiest to read while riding. Large numbers with fewer fields is what worked for me. Then, I had to decide what was the most important parameters to display on that screen. Just scroll through the parameter list to find the fields you want/need. I think I ended up flipping fields around to display something at the top instead of in the middle or bottom. I'm thinking of adding one more field to my main screen, 'gradient'. That could be useful when climbing.

The, what I call the, recap screen has a lot of fields and I just changed each one to display stuff that I want to know about a ride, (after I finish it). Again, I set the number of fields to be the maximum and just scrolled through the list to fill up the fields with what I thought would be useful to know. Tried to put them into some type of logical order.

Just play with the thing. You can't hurt it. Keep the screens you now have, (so you won't mess them up). Create a new screen, then just play around with the number of displayed fields and what parameters the field should show.

Originally Posted by rdtompki

OK, so I'm about to unveil the secret incantations I use to get turn-by-turn directions out of my 800. First, I use the tcx files out of RidewithGPS. I assume any flavor of tcx will work, but YMMV. Second, the default settings, which apparently cannot be changed don't work in my experience - you may get the microscopic turn arrows, but they are at best useless. What we all want is a pop-up turn map.

The secret steps follow:

1. Turn the darn thing on
2. Go to courses and select the route you want to follow. You've already created this with RWGPS and downloaded to the "Newfiles" folder on the Garmin.
3. Select the tools (wrench) icon:
- Turn Guidance should be "on" (Strangely enough this is not the default)
- I turn Virtual Partner "off". The default is "on". Leave it on if your tcx has a very low fixed speed
and you want to beat your partner
- Off Course Warnings should be "on". This is the default
Now comes the most critical and most secret setting - select Map Display on this same screen.
- Course Points must be off. Naturally, this is not the default. I have no idea why it has to be "off", but there are
learned individuals on BF; perhaps someone can chime in.

This needs to be done for each new course, but if you leave a course on your Garmin these settings will persist, so no need to re-enter. You can also bring up a screen that will give you time/distance to the next turn, but I don't generally use that feature. What I do really, really like is that you get a very nice little map pop up about 30 seconds (or some dist.) before each turn. Works with Garmin and OSM maps.

Originally Posted by goldfinch

Thank you both! I will configure a screen for distance and try the turn by turn instructions. Frustrating. I would never have figured this out for myself. Poop on Garmin.

Originally Posted by TromboneAl

Here is a flaw in the 205 and 305, is it still present in the 800?

The flaw is this: If the timer is not running, and you are moving, the entire screen should flash or otherwise let you know that the ride is not being recorded. Almost everyone, at the beginning, will forget to start the timer now and then. Also, if you hit the start/stop button by mistake, the timer may stop and you won't realize it.

Does the 800 do anything differently in this regard?

Originally Posted by volosong

Another thing I forgot that I "hate" about the 800. Input a route, go on a ride, get off course, it beeps at you . . . but does not re-calculate the route to get you back on. Zoom out to see street grid for context and to see how far I got off course, and the minor streets disappear. Very frustrating. I hope it is something that I didn't "turn on", and the unit does have the....