I love using my Garmin Instinct GPS watch as my trail navigator on my motorcycle. I know that’s not what it’s for but it makes a very capable trail navigator with a simple, clean display and no extraneous information or features whatsoever. Using the Garmin handlebar mount I have it mounted discretely to my turn signal stalk on my Yamaha XT250. The Garmin Instinct shows me the route I’m trying to follow, whether I’m on it or off-course, and if I’m off-course it tells me by how much and gives me an arrow pointing the direction I ought to head.
There are two ways I use it off-road. Sometimes I just ride and have it navigate me back to where I started along the path I followed out. Sometimes I plan a course at home and use the Garmin Instinct to help me follow the route I plotted without having to get my phone out.
That raises the question of how to get a route that I planned at home transferred into the Garmin Instinct so I can follow it later out in the desert. It turns out that is much easier than a lot of people I’ve seen talking about it online seem to say. A lot easier.
This is a description of the workflow I use to design a route on my iPhone and transfer it to the Garmin Instinct using nothing but my phone and the watch. No cables, no computer, nothing. There are a lot of different ways to do similar things and I actually also use a different way, too, but this is just one clean workflow to help you out or to inspire you to get your own better workflow going.
I’m using Gaia GPS to create and save my route, and I am using the Garmin Connect app to get the route from my phone into the watch. This is where I think some other people online had trouble. I am not using the Garmin Explore app, I am using the Garmin Connect app and it works great. If you’re using a Garmin Instinct watch chances are you’re going to want to be using the Garmin Connect app. So if you want to follow along, install the Gaia GPS app, the Garmin Connect app, and make sure your Garmin Instinct is on and close to your phone.
I start with creating a route in the Gaia GPS app on my phone. This isn’t a tutorial about that. Here I’m showing you a route I’ve already made in Gaia GPS. It’s that strangely angular blue route with the giant black arrow pointing at it.
I tapped on the route. The route name pops up. This route is called Wild Cow Ravine. Now below I tap on the little i icon next to the route name.
After tapping on the i icon you can see below I’m now showing the details for this route. Below I tap the three dots at the upper right of this Route screen.
Below I tap the Export menu item to export this route.
I choose to export this below as a GPX file.
Here is where the magic happens. In the step above I exported a GPX file. But where does it get exported to? Look where I tapped below. Below you can see that I tapped the three dots in the More icon at the end of the app list.
Tapping that More button gives me the option to choose Copy to Connect below. By choosing that I’m sending the GPX file to the Garmin Connect app.
The Garmin Connect app then launches below automatically, first asking me to define what type of route this is. I’m using it for motorcycle riding off-road so I just choose Other below since no other category fits.
Now you can see my weirdly angular course below in Garmin Connect looking just like it did in the Gaia GPS app. I swipe up from the bottom as shown below to start giving the course its proper name.
It comes in with a stupid name as shown below. Maybe using a KML file would prevent that but it’s easy to rename it to what you want. This is important because this is how it will show up on the watch.
I named the route Wild Cow Ravine below just like I had it named in the Gaia GPS app.
After you name the route the way you want it to show up on the Garmin Instinct, tap the three dots as shown below in Garmin Connect.
That gives you the option to Send to Device as you see below. Choose that.
Select your Garmin Instinct from the list as shown below.
You’ll get a screen like this as shown below. Not much to do here. You can exit out of this with the back arrow in the upper left corner. It’s under my (pitiful) signal bars.
On the main Garmin Connect screen you can see that my Instinct is connected and synced as shown below where I’m pointing with the two yellow arrows.
Now take a look at the watch below. Press the GPS button once.
Choose Navigate below.
In the screen below choose Courses.
And now below you can confirm that the Wild Cow Ravine route has been transferred from Gaia GPS to the Garmin Instinct.
You have the option to Do Course or check the Map as shown by the two menu items below. The map isn’t that useful but it does give you a visual that the basic shape of your course is there in the watch. Out on the trail I choose Do Course to activate the very helpful navigation mode. Here I just chose Map below to show the basic course shape.
Below I’m getting the Map menu item selected.
And there is the map below showing the overview of the course so that you can get a visual confirmation that the route transferred over.
Finally below you can see side-by-side the original route in Gaia GPS and the course as it transferred into the Garmin Instinct.
There are a lot of ways to do similar things. This workflow shows very specifically one process that I noticed a lot of people were having trouble with. You can plot routes using other tools including Garmin Explore, but I use Gaia GPS a lot on my phone so it’s nice to be able to get my route sent right over to the Garmin Instinct in less than two minutes with no cables and no computer.
Mr. Boyan,
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I just got a new Garmin Instinct, and I am a subscriber to GAIA GPS. After researching and still not figuring out, I came across your outstanding tutorial. You blessed me.
Question, if you have time: On GAIA GPS.com, I created a four routes – for four days of hiking. Its a loop. Along the 4 routes, I created Waypoints for recognized camping sites. For example, on “Day 1”, I plotted 5 Waypoints on Gaia, using researched coordinates. When I took “Day 1” and made GPX file and then followed your instructions above, did it capture my Waypoints? Or do I have to do those Waypoints individually? I hope this makes sense. I am an admitted IT idiot.
REgardless, I am so thankful for your article. Godspeed!
I don’t know too much about how the waypoints transfer over because I don’t use them like that, I just use the course itself to follow on my motorcycle. I do know 1) I have noticed that there is some functionality for bringing waypoints over and 2) there is some kind of warning that pops up on the Instinct about only being able to load so many waypoints, and I have ignored that error and followed some pretty big courses with no problem. If I really wanted to make sure I was navigating to a specific point what I would do would be to make multiple short courses from one waypoint to the next and use them individually. I don’t do that but if it was important to me to use waypoints like that I’d try it. Another option is to follow my process for getting the courses into the Garmin and then add the waypoints separately either on the Instinct itself or through Garmin Explorer.
The short answer is, I don’t do exactly what you want done but in poking around I know you definitely have options for doing exactly what you want done.
This is fantastic Scott! I plan to use my Instinct for backpack camping/hunting. The #1 thing I wanted my instinct to do was allow me to use GAIA on my phone for planning routes, then have the Instinct give me quick view (from my wrist) if I’m on or off track for my planned trek. You are the only person I’ve found online who has successfully addressed this use case. Thank you!
I’m still using it that way on my motorcycle and it’s still perfect. You have a line, you have arrow pointing you where you want to go, and you’re on your way. It’s everything I want. I’ve done 50 mile routes out in the desert no problem with this technique.
Scott,
Thanks! I agree with the others above – well done, so useful. It is refreshing when you find a user who posts a simple-to-follow step-by-step that when followed leads you to exactly what you wanted – and without any extraneous useless steps. Bravo. Thanks, Steve
I’m glad you found it useful Steve. I’m still doing it that same way even after multiple updates of all the different parts. I’ve done increasingly long and intense navigation this way. I did a 528 mile loop over Memorial Day through Arizona where I live and I broke it out into about 12 separate sections like this. Some segments I didn’t need it this way, since they were easier and on smaller roads, but then on the trails I had segments lined up like this. I multiple alternate routes set up too in case some were blocked, which they were.
This is a great tutorial! I am starting to use Gaia more, and I come from AllTrails, so I’m familiar with the transfer of the GPX file to the instinct. What I also want to ask, and I’m not sure if you’ve done the other direction yet, but do you know if there’s a way to get the tracks or route that I finished using the instinct, imported into the Gaia app? basically just the opposite direction of a route as your example. I used to be able to sync my recorded route activity from my instinct back to the all trails app to show all my adventures. I’m hoping Gaia can do something like that too.
Hey Roger. That direction I don’t do very often but I believe I have done it. I think I did that through the Garmin Connect app or the Garmin Explore app on my phone. I believe from one of those there was an option to export a GPX and the process was similar, I had to choose to export it to Gaia. I don’t do it that way though because I think I remember it didn’t work all that great. So what I do is when I’m out riding, I just save a trace in Gaia. I might be navigating using the instinct strapped to my handlebars, but I have my phone (in airplane mode, screen locked) tucked into my tank bag recording the trace. The phone battery lasts a surprisingly long time in airplane mode when it’s locked, even recording the GPS trace. That way I’m never trying to get an actual recorded track into Gaia.
This is an awesome tutorial, as others have said. Would the same instructions apply to the rest of the Garmin watch portfolio?
Hey Curt! I’m glad this tutorial is still useful! I don’t know about any other watches. I just have the instinct, sorry.
I’m still rocking the instinct though. I temporarily bought an Apple Watch last year when I forgot my Instinct charger, but only lasted a few months on the Apple Watch. I gave it away and went back to the Instinct.