Is there any reason to think that GPX file downloads from Cycle.Travel won't survive the journey from my downloads folder, through the COROS app on my phone, and into the Coros Dura unit itself? All these GPS makers tout their ability to play nice with RWGPS, Strava, etc., but they don't mention Cycle.Travel, so I worry that I may purchase a GPS unit that does not work with Cycle.Travel for some weird reason. I know GPX is supposed to be GPX, but there's always that one super-specific invisible reason why THIS GPX file is not like all the other GPX files, and your access is DENIED.
Thank you!
Comments
Further edit to say: I suppose this also is an opportunity to tell me I ought to use the Cycle.Travel app on my Android, and skip the expense of a standalone GPS unit altogether. I've been doing so until now, and I will agree the elegant navigational display on the CT app is superior to the chunky just-the-facts displays of many/most GPS units. Stipulated. Here are my reasons for considering the Coros Dura:
1. My experience with my Android's battery life while using the CT app to navigate is less than reassuring. I know there are battery-saving hacks I can employ, and I acknowledge I haven't given them a fair try yet. I should do that.
2. Here in Colorado, the intense sun is a serious challenge for the most capable mobile-phone screens. GPS units have displays that generally contend better with bright-sky conditions.
3. Real estate. I can put my phone in a bar-mounted cradle, set it to dim-between-turns, and just tap the screen whenever I want to see the speed or the route, but it's a space hog. The Dura is, like most GPS devices, more compact. This is a consideration for me because we ride a tandem, and I intend to place the device on the stoker (rear) bars, not the captain (front) bars. Space is at a premium.
Jeff, I don't have access to a Coros Dura, but I can confirm that you can transfer a cycle.travel GPX file into the Coros app by using "Open With" on your mobile phone. Maybe download the app and try-before-you-buy?
There are tutorials on YouTube that describe sending routes from the Coros app to the device.
Chris
Yes, thank you, good advice. Coros documentation claims its app and the Dura device will happily work with importing GPX files from any source. My experience is that such universal claims always have a very obscure exception, and I have an unhappy history of being that exception.
UPDATE
I've succeeded in downloading a GPX route from Cycle.Travel to my Android, then importing the GPX file into the Coros app. From this point, I will need to acquire the Dura GPS head unit to test the final step of the process, but I am now much more confident in the likelihood of success.
It turns out that my biggest obstacle to this point was downloading the GPX from Cycle.Travel to my mobile device. I would open the app, then open my saved routes, then long-press one and choose "download to phone." And then I would open the Downloads folder on my Android and . . . nothing. Apparently this method drops the route GPX directly into the app for offline access, but it doesn't drop the GPX into the file system.
Happily, I found this post on the forum and learned that, instead, you open the CT website on the phone and download from there, or you can open the app, then open the route you want, and when the route is displayed, choose the "save" button at bottom/left, and select "Export GPX Track." Certainly not the most intuitive path, but it works.
Ah, yes. It's becoming clear from this help forum that most people are coming to cycle.travel via the app, and don't see the website.
As a fairly longtime user, I do all of my route planning with the website on a laptop, where the bigger screen and use of a mouse is very helpful.
Hm. Perhaps I have been unclear. Apologies.
I do "come to the cycle.travel" for route planning via the website, and not by the app. Like you, I plan routes using the website on the desktop computer, for the same reasons you describe.
But what I did not recognize, until this go-round with the Dura (which I have now ordered), is that it is not possible to download GPX files into my Android's file system from the "my saved journeys" section of the CT app. My original assumption that this should be possible is, I think, logical enough: I have need to deposit a GPX file into Android/Downloads; The CT app is on my Android; and where does the app keep the GPX files cataloged? In the "my saved journeys" section of the app. It seems not crazy to conclude that this is the way to drop my saved GPX files into my Android's downloads folder.
It turns out this is not the case. But now I have learned the 2 other ways it can be done, and all is well.
Based on the comments by Jeff, and with additional confirmation from a Coros Dura beta tester on CycleChat, I also have ordered the Corus Dura to replace my Wahoo Element which has died and now retired to the great cycle computer scarp heap. I hope we are not disappointed.