Uploading GPX track files onto the Garmin 820 from a Mac and iPhone
Hi,
I have now broken this post into two separate, hopefully easier to digest posts. These can be found for the:
I’d recommend these over this post, but if you’d prefer the original then it is as below.
Kind regards
Jon
2018/09/24
My first Garmin was a Forerunner 305 back in 2007. Since then I’ve had a variety of Garmin’s finest, up to my current combination of a 2018 Edge 820 Explorer and Forerunner 920XT.
As much as I like the hardware, Garmin’s software has always been a bit limited¹, such that myself and many other folks who make serious use of their devices prefer to use third-party software². A chief culprit in driving people to other applications has been/is Garmin Connect, and its predecessor’s, route planning functionality³. With a popular, and in my opinion mostly better alternative, being the RideWithGPS web application.
In this post, I’ll specifically talk about how to get routes from RideWithGPS onto a Garmin 820 Explorer from a Mac.
The process will generally be very similar if route planning is done in Strava etc. The computer is running Windows, Linux etc. The phone is Android based, and the device is any of the modern Garmin, Lezyne, Wahoo etc Bluetooth enabled GPS navigation and fitness devices.
I’ll just mostly just talk about the Mac, iPhone and Garmin 820 though, since that’s what I’ve currently got to play with.
Mac — Transfer using a USB connection
The simplest way I know of to reliably get a route onto the Garmin 820 from a Mac is through a USB connection. To do this …
First get the Garmin device connected
1) Connect the Garmin device to Mac with a USB data cable⁴, e.g. the one that the unit shipped with or similar.
2) Wait a few seconds for the device to mount and show up in Finder, or on the Desktop
Hint: if it doesn’t mount within a minute it is probably not going to happen. Try successively; an alternative data cable, rebooting the Garmin, restarting the Mac.
3) Open the Garmin volume by selecting in the Finder sidebar or double-clicking on the Garmin volume icon that appears on the Desktop
Hint: In Finder preferences, check General->External disks is ticked if no desktop icon and Sidebar->External disks if not in Finder’s sidebar.
4) Navigate the Garmin volume to the “Garmin/New Files” folder.
Then download the route’s GPX track file to the computer
5) In a web browser, find the route in RideWithGPS and get it up in a route View page.
6) On the RHS of the route view page make sure that the Export tab is visible and then click “GPX Track (.gpx)” download link.
Next, store the GPX track file in the Garmin/New Files folder, eject and disconnect the device
7) Either directly store, or subsequently move/drag, the resultant downloaded GPX track file into the Garmin/New Files folder.
8) Eject the Garmin volume from the Mac by either Right mouse click on the Garmin volume in Finder or on the Desktop and selecting the Eject “Garmin” option.
9) Wait a few seconds, and the Garmin unit should boot to its normal home screen.
10) Disconnect the USB cable from the device.
Finally, locate and use route on the Garmin device
11) The newly downloaded course should be available to navigate with on the Garmin device under Courses->Saved Courses location.
12) Go for a ride.
iPhone — Use Firefox’s download manager to copy into Garmin Connect
… or into OS Maps or whatever other apps you like.
Install pre-requisite Firefox mobile web browser
1) To follow this procedure, it is essential to have a copy of a mobile web browser that has a Download manager view. I recommend Firefox and will refer to it exclusively.
Next, download the route’s GPX track file into Firefox mobiles’ download manager
2) In Firefox go to RideWithGPS (or Strava, whatever) and locate the route that is to be downloaded. NB: It has to be Firefox as the mobile apps do not provide the opportunity to export
If you’re using RideWithGPS this can be a bit painful and I’ve documented the workarounds for it here,.
3) Export the file from the site as a “GPX Track (.gpx)” track file ( .
7) This should then open up Firefox’s download dialogue. Accept the action and tap Download Now
8) The file will then download into Firefox’s downloads cache.
10) Touching the download in the Firefox cache, should bring up the list of applications that have registered themselves on the phone as being able to handle GPX Track files.
To begin the import into Garmin Connect, touch the Copy to Connect icon.
Hint: The same download can be accessed repeatedly, at any time from within Firefox by opening a new tab and touching the downloads icon. This is useful say if you’d also like to copy the route in the OS Maps app to follow as well.
Hint: If Copy to Connect, or any other app that’s needed, isn’t visible, try side scrolling the list to right. If it’s still not visible, have a look under More, where it might need enabling (and the displayed app order can be changed if desired).
11) Garmin Connect will open and prompt with import options for the route. Fill these in as you see fit.
12) Garmin Connect will then give an overview of the route.
13) By default, the ride names Garmin Connect are not very informative.
Tapping on the little blue dot with lines in it in the bottom RHS of the screen will give access to the ride Details page, from whence the Course Name can be changed.
14) Once happy with everything save the course, and it will then be available in Garmin Connect’s Courses list view.
Send it via Bluetooth to the Garmin Device
15) Make sure the receiving Garmin GPS device is on and ready.
16) From the list of courses select the route/Course.
17) In the course overview, touch the Send to Device icon in top RHS of the screen (the one next the Favorite star icon).
A device selection dialogue should open. Select the device, and the Course should be transmitted to the device.
Finally, locate and use route on the Garmin unit
18) The newly downloaded course should be available to navigate with on the Garmin device under Courses->Saved Courses location with whatever name was assigned to it during import.
19) Go for a ride.
[1] Which, is I think is the reason why a company that should completely dominate everything, has so many competitors, particularly on the software side, e.g. RideWithGPS, Strava, Runkeeper, MyFitnessPal, MapMyR(un|ide), to name just a few.
[2] In the past Garmin’s even tacitly admitted this by buying third-party offerings and ditching their own stuff. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be able to stay good for very long.
[3] Bear in mind that Garmin has had a web application for ten years plus. It is only available to you if you’ve got a Garmin device, so not exactly social. When planning routes, it still does not remember where I live and assumes I’m in America despite having information to the contrary in my profile. There is no route splitting or joining, keyboard acceleration or access to map keys. If you create a route using the OpenStreetMap base layer (which is almost essential for off-road routing), then they are public for everyone to use, even if you’ve never been on them and have no idea if they are death traps on the ground.
[4] Many cables are only for charging devices, and unfortunately, there are no standards for labeling them as such. Often, they contain fewer wires internally and are a bit thinner than those that are data compatible, but not always.
