Just got a shiny new Garmin bike computer? Here’s some helpful hints, tips and advice to help get you started.
Many people often comment that the Garmin manual isn’t very helpful, so I’ve created this roundup post, as a sort of “best of” guide to the articles here on ScarletFire which people find most useful. I hope there’s something here that helps you out too.
Want to ask something specific? Post a question in the comments below.
Change the startup text.
This is useful to personalise your device and include some contact details, on the off chance that if you ever lose it, some kind soul will be able to return it to you.
Read the post.
How to follow a course, with turn by turn directions.
This is one of my most popular posts. A complete guide to how to set up the edge 800 to provide effective navigation whilst following a course you’ve created.
Read the post.
A quick guide to free maps for the Garmin Edge 800/810
You don’t have to fork out for commercially produced maps. The Open Streetmap project has spawned many free versions which are compatible with your Garmin. The detail and quality is often excellent too, though it does depend a little on where you live.
Read the post.
Comparison of City Navigator with OS Discoverer maps
My personal choice of map on my own Edge 800 is the city navigator. I think it offers the best balance between detail and clarity, for road bike use, anyway.
Read the post
Comparison between free (OSM) maps and Discoverer
Another great commercial map is the Ordnance Survey Discoverer map. I find this one quite nice if I’m out walking in the hills with the family, but I rarely use it on the bike. This post shows you some screenshots at different zoom levels, compared with a free open source map.
Read the post.
How to use your virtual partner function to help get KOM’s on Strava
If you use Strava, you’ll know all about the leaderboards and how motivating it can be to work towards improving your personal bests. You can use the virtual partner function on your Garmin to race against yourself (or others’ data) to get real time feedback on how well you’re doing on a segment.
Read the post.
Effective use of elevation profile data to out-psyche the hills
You can customise the elevation screen to really help you out in terms being aware of what’s ahead, and how much longer the pain will endure!
Read the post.
What else do you need to know?
If there’s anything specific you need advice about, please ask a question – you’ll get an answer from me, or other users, and it also gives me ideas for new blog posts.
Hi there, just wanna say I’m livening your blog, very interesting stuff. I was hoping you could help me.
I have loaded multiple segments from Strava onto my 810 (in courses) and after I’ve completed each I save the ride, load the next one and start again. Trouble is I’m left with 3-4 files on my connect under activities that I would like to merge, is it possible? I have the full ride details on my strava account but that does not include my heart rate and cadence etc.
Thanks for your help, hopefully!
Diolch/ thanks
Iwan
Hi Iwan, my first thought is – why are you saving them as separate files? You can leave the unit recording, even if you change the courses to load up new segments. Just leave it recording (don’t press stop) and you’ll have the whole ride as one file. Does that help?
Croeso :-)
Excellent blog and great tips!!
i have an edge 1000 and am greatly enjoying it despite some niggles.
Do you know if its possible to Change the word ‘RIDE’, pertaining to the activity profiles to something more useful. For example i’d like to change it to Walk for a walking profile, or Drive if i’m using it as a satnav.
Thanks
Chris
Hi Chris, I don’t have an Edge 1000 yet, so I can’t be sure. But, I doubt this is possible, as it is designed to be used for cycling, and even though you could use it for walking or driving, the interface hasn’t been designed in such a way to accommodate every other possible activity you could use it for. Perhaps it would be useful if you could create separate profiles and change the text labels associated with each (is that kind of what you were suggesting?). Can any Edge 1000 users confirm if this is possible / impossible?
Select Activity profiles – Select the “Ride” profile or add a new one. Once in the profileTouch “Name” and type in what you want. You may also wish to turn the “Navigation – Routing – Routing Mode” to “Pedestrian” and the “Lock on Road” to “off”
Hi there – I’m curious to know if there”s a way I can set GPS to be off on my turbo profile. Every time I start the unit up again it starts to search for satellites. Any ideas?!?
I have a question about the Garmin 1000. There are recent reports that additional maps (in my case, European ones) on microSD are not recognised because of a software problem.. Is that still the case?
Hi
I have an 810 and it does not have a post code search. Any ideas?
Hello there, Thanks for the great service. I have a Garmin Edge with Open Street Maps atm. So far I preplan my rides the night before. I would like to be able to add my own POI to the base maps on the Garmin – British Cycling Quest Points for example, so that on a route I can see if I am near these places. Also want to add specific restaurants so that I can see if I am close to them – but it is incidental to my ride. Is there a way to customise the base map, and if so which ones? Thanks,
Hi, is it possible to have the speed in MPH and the distance in Miles on a Garmin edge 810?
Alan,
I really want to turn off my segments as I am a slave to the HR and the segment info usually obscures the HR data on the screen.
Can you help please? I’m using an Edge 1000.
Hi, I have just bought a Garmin Edge 1000, this is probably a very simple question and apologies but how do you reset the ride data once you have completed a ride? For example, when I finished a ride yesterday and I press RIDE or RACE to start a new journey, yesterday’s data is still showing. If I then press the start ride button it just continues onto the data displaying. It is infuriating that I can’t work out how to refresh the data for a new ride. Any advice would be appreciated.
On the 800, you press and hold the lap/reset button to save the ride. Next time you press start, you’ll be creating a new recording. I presume it must be similar on the 1000?
Simmo67 – sounds like you possibly didn’t press the start/stop button after you finished your previous ride ? Press that and you get asked if you want to end the ride – yes or no. Hit yes and then you’ll be asked if you want to save or discard it. Hit save and if you have auto upload setup with wifi on etc, it’ll get uploaded automatically to Garmin connect and/or strava.
Can I use the Garmin edge 1000 to go walking i.e. Hiking In the Lake District.if so what are the best maps to use.Also how do I get back to the point where the walk/ride started so I don’t get lost?
Yes you can, and the OSM map that you get with the 1000 should be quite useful. If you record your walk, you’ll see a line on the map of where you’ve been, so you could always use that to get back to where you started.
How do you download the heart rate monitor information stored in your edge 1000 to your computer?
If you’ve recorded a ride and you were wearing a heart rate monitor, the HR data will be included in the file when you upload the ride to Strava, or Garmin Connect, or whichever platform you use.
I’ve got the Edge 520. I’ve disabled Autozoom and set the z-level to 30m to be able to separate close trails. But when I start a Strava Live Segment the map is zoomed out to show the whole segment…. making it impossible to know where to ride unless you already know the segment.
s there a way to fix this?
If not on the 520, is this also an issue on the Edge 810 and 1000 ?
Hello, i’m living in china and my edge 1000 shows on the map 500m difference to the reality. Does anybody know how to setup the Map Datum in the edge 1000 ?
Thanks for your help !!
Hi
I have planned a course for my Edge 810 which i plan to ride next week, can i record the ride on my Garmin whilst cycling in order to download to Strava after?
My Edge 1000 lists RIDE as the main category. Is there a way I can list WALK as another main category? I currently have a walk profile in the RIDE category.
Wichever profile is “enabled” will be at the top of the list. Otherwise they are listed alphabetically. So is you want “Walk” at the top or second in the list use the space bar at the front of your description i.e. ” Walk”
i baught an Edge 1000and i can not find anywhere in the menus or edge connect where i can change the time. can anyone help me please.
The time is set my the geo location of the device. If the time is not displaying correctly it may be due to a corrupt time zone file. gmaptz.img
Your edge will automatically set your time when you are connected to satellites.
Garmin Edge 800.
I have created a list of poi files showing the location of cafes in the UK. There are 2000.
When I load the gpx file containing the POI’s into the New Files folder it converts to a Locations.fit file (17kb)
I know that the locations limit is 200 or thereabouts. Is there a way to reallocate memory so that the Locations.fit file saves to the SD card which has plenty of space.
Alternatively can the POI’s be saved in some format to the POI folder in the “Garmin” folder either on the unit or the SD card?
Have you tried using garmins own POI loader?
https://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=927
I have Garmin Edge Touring. Garmin Express shows need to update map. I try to update but at the end of 2 – 3 hours it shows update failure. Also if I try to create a new course if I take more that about 15 minutes it times out and I loose course and have to start again
How are you trying to create a new course? Creating courses on the device is possibly the absolute worst option. Much better to create a new course on one of the many mapping and route creation websites such as https://ridewithgps.com/, bikely etc etc and download the resultant gpx file to the newfiles folder on your device which will convert the file to a course and place the converted fit file into the courses folder
Hi
Geoff mentioned the map update problem which I’m having too – managed to do a couple since I got my Garmin Edge Touring in April but the latest update doesn’t seem to want to work ! Any ideas????? or is it just Garmin Express being a nightmare ?
Hey.
I have a Garmin edge 1000. How do i stop the map to autozoom?
Go to Activity profile – pick a profile – Navigation – Map – Auto Zoom then choose on or off.
I recently own a Garmin edge 1000; does this all apply to my Garmin to?
Most of it will, yes. Possibly with minor tweaks regarding the menus etc.
How do I set my Edge 1000 to give me turn guidance? I’m used to my 800 where I turned “turn guidance” on before pressing the GO button.
I’ve loaded routes and can follow the magenta line, but I really like the guidance and the warning telling me the time and distance before the next turn.
Loaded routes from RwGPS in GPX format.
Thanks!!
When you say you loaded a route from RWGPS in gpx format.
Which did you load? a gpx route file or a gpx track file?
You are probably best with a gpx track file as the garmin will recalculate using the maps loaded on your device.
I beleive that by default turn guidance is on for the edge 1000.
Have a read here for device set up.
http://ridewithgps.com/help/garmin-edge-1000
Want to quickly save a location on your garmin?
Press and release the satellite signal strength indicator, this will bring up the mark location menu, you can then mark your current location.
This is useful say you are cycling on holiday or away from home and not familiar with the area. You can now use the where to option to take you to your marked location.
https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7026/26892945614_9fe8a62201_o.jpg
https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7301/26892945394_f37e61f048_o.jpg
I have just bought the 810. I have heard there is a way of preloading routes from other people. For instance you want to do a 40 mile ride it will load a route for you. Is this correct??
from my knowledge, you need to get the GPX file from that route, then upload it from your computer to your garmin device.
I’ve just bought my gps but going on a tour next week so I haven’t much time to get used to it so Ian going round to a friend to try to down load routes we are on. But I wondered were you get spare batteries for it and were you fit them, thanks
Just started so any help appreciated
I am riding Lands End to John O’Groats and would like to load a map correct the entire route on ti my Garmin Edge 520 (no memory card)? I only need a narrow corridor not the entire UK. Any ideas?
Yes, go here and only choose the map tiles you need, this will reduce the size of the map.
http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/
Their is a tick box to enable manual tile selection.
Can you race against yourself on your own route or do you have to select a pre-determined route from Strava? My local road will not have a strava route as I’m not in a city or regular bike area, but I want to race myself.
Yes, you can create a course from your previous rides (within the Garmin unit itself – no need to mess about with Strava or GC) then ride against the Virtual Partner for that course.
I have a 520. When I get a text notification on the screen it obscures the information which itself isn’t a problem. How do I remove that notification without stopping or interfering with the ride info? Thank you.
Hi, just bought the garmin edge 1000 and want to chose only off road routes, or only road routes, or maybe a bit of both? Dont want to load in specific maps, just want the machine to select, say, an off road route, using round trip routing?
I just bought a Edge 820, I have fitted the speed sensor as well as the rotation sensor and hard beat strap. Trying to set up my garmin, I get as far as Cycling Ability, than next is Connect sensors, I say yes, than it goes to Add sensors, I say connect ant the connection is happening, but ones I have all sensor connected I can not go further, How do I complete the sensor connection, and how does it go from their, I can not move on. I have spent hours on it and the instructions do not help either, please help I need to use this unit urgently, I also have to transfer routes I have created on strava to this unit urgently, anybody that can help i would appreciate it very much.
best regards
hanspeter Australia
Hi, I have a new Garmin Edge 1000. Have loaded some routes but want to ride them in the opposite direction. Is there an option to invert the start – Finish points?
Hi Robert, not sure that the Garmin can do this by itself but you can reverse your own gpx tracks by following this post: https://www.scarletfire.co.uk/reverse-gps-track-cycle-route/
Hope that helps!
Can you have sped or cadence showing on the map screen ?
How can I increase the zoom font unit size on map screen in Garmin Edge 1000 ? I haven’t found yet nor in user manual, neither in many internet sites.
For example, if I’m riding and increase the zoom on the map, the unit zoom changes from “80 ” to “50 m”, but if I’m stopped at a desk I can easily read it, but riding…no way, therefore I’d like to increase this font, AND NOT the font or street/avenue/road names.
Thank you.