Please help another newbie

[Aaron]

I just purchased a Garmin 705, which I will be using to follow the Trans Am route this summer on my bicycle.  I am working with a MacBook at home, though I'm not sure if I will be taking it with me on the road. 

I have downloaded the GPS files from ACA, and created maps in Bike Route Toaster from sections of the Trans Am route.  And I have downloaded one segment into the Garmin. Though I'm not able to test it on the road (since I'm far from the ACA route), it appears that it's working properly.  But I do have some issues... here are my questions. 

1- Is this all I have to do to follow the ACA route?  Are the routes that I have downloaded into my Garmin complete enough to follow the Trans Am route?  Will these routes give me warnings where to turn?   Will they tell me if I have gone off course?  I am not concerned about finding stores, hotels, etc. on the route; I simply want to have the Garmin navigate me from the start to the finish of each day's ride, and let me know if I'm off course. 

2- Are the maps that I'm creating with the GPS files editable?  I have the need to edit some of the routes, since the tour that I'm traveling with will deviate on occasion from the official ACA route.  So, I'll need to delete certain sections, and replace those with the route I should be following.  I tried to do this, and I didn't have any luck removing sections of the route, though I was able to add to the route.   (By the way, if the program that I have chosen to use [Bike Route Toaster] is the "problem", I'm happy to use a different map program.)

3-After downloading a section of the TransAm to Bike Route Toaster, the elevation chart looks completely wrong.  I've looked at charts created without GPS files, and they look fine.  Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance for any help. 

[FredHiltz]

The Edge series are all excellent training tools, essentially cycle computers with GPS added. They are not suitable for multi-day tours on several accounts. Rather than repeat the extensive discussions that have happened here, I will suggest a search. Go back to the GPS Discussion page that lists the topic titles and enter Edge into the search line.

Do write back if you do not find the answers you need there.

Fred

[Aaron]

I understand that the Edge 705 is not the unit of choice for cross country travel, but I purchased it for several purposes, one being training, and the other to help me navigate across country.  I have a very specific question that I would like answered, to make sure it will work for me on my journey.

The trip I am taking is a pre-planned tour.  That means each day there is a particular route that will be followed.  It appears additionally that each day there are perhaps 10-20 turns on that particular route.  I have created a week's worth of those routes, and loaded them into my Garmin 705.

I am able to bring up each day's route (going to "where to" and "saved rides"), and I can see on one of the screens the step-by-step directions for that route, telling me how many miles to the next turn, etc, including the name of the street. 

What I am seeking is the following:  I want confirmation that what I'm doing will actually work on the road.  Inasmuch as I'm not at my start point now (it's Virginia and I'm not there), I can't test out a route that I downloaded.  Yes, I can scroll thru them to see that it exists, but that's as far as I can go.   And yes, I could create 7 maps of my local area and test to see that the 705 could hold them and I could follow each route, but I figured I'd check with the experts here first. 

So, again... here's my simple question.  Can the Garmin Edge 705 hold 7 days worth of simple routes with 10-20 turns each, and allow me to bring up the one I need for that day and follow that route?  And do the same for a full week?  Obviously, I would need to delete the maps as I went along, and load routes into the Garmin once a week, but that's fine.  I'm looking for a way to travel without my laptop.  If I'm correct in what I did, it looks like I could travel without my laptop, inasmuch as I would have weekly access to a computer, which would enable me to input a week's worth of routes into the Garmin.

Thanks in advance for the help.