Hi

So I have been riding for donkeys years but never have I followed a GPX route in my life.

With the coming together of my bikepacking kit it dawned on me that it would be very helpful if I got a grasp on the whole following a route thing!

I have a Samsung Galaxy 6 and I picked up a phone holder that means I can mount it on the bars or stem. I also have a battery pack that will charge the phone around 5 times so can keep the phone battery topped up.

So I guess my question is what do I do now, is there an app or something that is easy to use that will allow me to get out there and follow routes easily.

Many thanks in advance.

create a route using websites such as gpsies, ridewithgps or bikehike. Stava isn't great for this.

I think stava or ridewithgps apps allow live following of your route. Loads of other apps do to

Viewranger is free and (relatively) easy to use. You can map out (or upload) a route onto the website, then follow it via the app on your phone. It's a good starting point for gpx use.

Is this the same phone you use for making (emergency, possibly) calls?

Thanks for the tips on sites, I can see many hours of my life being spent on there trying to get it right....

Yes, it is my main phone... I do have a battery pack so battery life shouldn't be an issue if that is the concern.

I can always carry another phone if on a longer trip.

For phone planning and keeping it really simple, download viewranger and buy whichever map tiles you want or the OS maps app and pay the yearly subscription.

On a similar theme, I, unlike many it seems, swear by my Garmin Edge Touring. I have Spanish mapping on a micro SD card and download routes from Wikiloc. I've been bought a Samsung tablet with Micro SD slot, is it possible to load routes from a web based source like wililoc and copy them to the SD card then transfer the card to my Garmin and follow the route overlaid on my mapping? If so how in words of one syllable?

pistonbroke wrote:On a similar theme, I, unlike many it seems, swear by my Garmin Edge Touring. I have Spanish mapping on a micro SD card and download routes from Wikiloc. I've been bought a Samsung tablet with Micro SD slot, is it possible to load routes from a web based source like wililoc and copy them to the SD card then transfer the card to my Garmin and follow the route overlaid on my mapping? If so how in words of one syllable?

I also rate the Edge Touring, but battery only last for 1 day before it needs charging. I think it would work fine if you use tablet to put .GPX files into a folder on SD card called Garmin > NewFiles (or something like that). Put SD card into Garmin and turn it on, it then imports the GPX routes from the 'NewFiles' folder and you will see it as an available route. (file name needs to be less that 15 characters I think)

I'd say if you really plan to follow gpx routes then it's worth buying an Etrex 20 (just over £100 if you hunt around). If you find you don't use it you'll be able to get most of your money back by selling it.

Charliecres wrote:I'd say if you really plan to follow gpx routes then it's worth buying an Etrex 20 (just over £100 if you hunt around). If you find you don't use it you'll be able to get most of your money back by selling it.

Etrex 20x is only £130 on Amazon today (ask me how I know )

My old Etrex Legend HCX will be finding it's way to the classifieds soon...