Garmin EDGE Cycling GPS Map Detail Level Options Explained

Diving deep into the Garmin Edge mapping options last week, I finally got my head around exactly what the custom "Map Detail Level" actually does. It was exactly what I was looking for to give me a LOT more detailed visibility on my Edge maps at a wider zoom level.
Config Cheat Sheet:
● Profile
● Navigation
● Map
● Map Visibility Mode: 'Custom'
● Detail: 'Most'
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Video Index:
0:00 Intro
1:29 Map Visibility 'Detail' Options
2:26 Tips / My Preferences
3:11 Garmin Edge 27 Zoom Levels!?!
4:07 Map Detail Level Examples
4:30 Map Detail Level: Least
5:03 Map Detail Level: Less
5:26 Map Detail Level: Normal
5:38 Map Detail Level: More
5:59 Map Detail Level: Most
6:15 Edge 1030 Plus vs Elemnt BOLT v2
7:23 Edge 1030 Plus vs Karoo 2
7:56 Wrap Up
Links to buy Garmin Edge GPS:
Garmin Edge 530 (Amazon US): amzn.to/349yWUG
Garmin Edge 830 (Amazon US): amzn.to/2Xjp6zO
Garmin Edge 1030 (Amazon US): amzn.to/2Xbv71e
Garmin Edge 1030 Plus (Amazon US): amzn.to/3pXzc5b
Garmin Edge 130 Plus (Amazon US): amzn.to/3cHj4yI
Disclosure: The Amazon links above are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. 👌🏼
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gplama.com
#Garmin #Cycling #GPS

[@mypojam]

Thank you for being you. What a great content creator for Garmin!

[@bbartvanwijk]

The best thing about this channel is learning that I am not alone in fraternizing over little details and being over the moon when I fix them.

[@robf5684]

The video I didn't know I'd been waiting for! This will make my gravel rides with my 1030+ so much easier. No more need to stay too zoomed in and have to stop to zoom out and plan my next turns. Game changer :)

[@pezza100]

Wow! Game changer indeed! I was going to put my Edge on ebay because I was so disappointed with the map details, but this has sorted it. Thank you! I would never have found that in the menu.

[@MrMtngonzo]

As a gravel/remote rider this is HUGE HELP! I was as frustrated as you were with the back and forth

[@NeutralGenericUser]

Mate, you are an absolute legend! I looked for something exactly like this when I first got my Edge 830 and couldn't find anything. Had to sit there tinkering with it for hours. This is such a time saver for people looking to set up their device. I can't imagine how much work this took to put together. Incredible. Thank you so much!

[@joelterwilliger9901]

This is a great video. I really struggled with anticipating turns during gravel rides and longer road rides when I was venturing off familiar routes. These tips definitely helped me explore new gravel options around Colorado.

[@redwinedrummer]

Great video! I'm a new Edge 530 owner and I'm admittedly a little overwhelmed with all the buttons and options these powerful computers have. This video helped me keep sane. Thank you very much!

[@tonyreeckman2724]

Great information Shane, quite a bit of work making that video, just configured my new 1030 plus with these settings for gravel rides.

[@jamesmckenzie3532]

Thanks for providing this. I ride in U.S. National Forests and knowing which road is the one to be on is critical and saves hours of riding.

[@rickf4401]

Very helpful. I didn’t know about this. Will make changes to my Edge 1030 plus. Thank you!

[@mib7483]

Awesome, I can't wait to try it on the next gravel ride. Thanks for going down the rabbit hole for us.

[@ZotmundSzele]

This is very great video (as always) going into small, yet important nuances. I was hoping the Karoo does a better job at this. I am a hobby, family and tour biker and I hardly ever ride tracks. What's most important for me is being able to roam on the map check where possible detours are and just randomly pick a waypoint. The Garmin has always been a little clumsy at this, even though I am a Garmin fan having a watch too.

[@jackprick9797]

Great video. Thanks for the tip.

[@Thracium]

Thank you very much! Really valuable information! Good Luck!

[@ЛёхаБукреев]

Thanks, dude! As usuall, your content is awsome!

[@zehn45]

Thanks a lot! Perfect information! 👍

[@rorywalsh7799]

Brilliant, thanks GPLama

[@ciscotierra]

Wonderful information!! Thanks

[@PanosSimandirakis]

This was very helpful, thank tou for sharing this

[@zmielonyrzuf]

I suggest also setting orientation to north up. I am using garmins to navigate on running and biking for few years and there are no other as good devices for it as them. Additionally edge is working with basecamp so you can draw some POIs and tracks offline, or mix downloaded gpx/tcx/files from other sources :)

[@johnwilliamson9453]

Thank you Shane...very useful!

[@Chris-lp2dk]

As others have said, you are a legend for this.

[@garethpritchard8398]

Thanks a lot for this one!

[@bobvalois3272]

Thanks, this is so useful!

[@appala]

Awesome. Thanks for the tip

[@mlupp]

What I love about Garmin devices is that they will most likely have every single feature you need and so much customizability. Even if you have to search through pages of options. Compare that to other manufacturers where the devices might be easier to use but some options can only be accessed by app or simply don't exist.

[@gplama]

I'm sitting on the couch here with Dr SLane looking at all his Garmin tech used on the Mallee Blast 1000km event last weekend. The Garmin eco-system is DEEP. Really deep. And now I need an InReach! :)

[@gregmorrison7320]

Fantastic, thankyou!

[@s1914]

Thanks so much! 🙏

[@EnduRACEcoaching]

Hi Shane, I wish you could do a video about GPS + GALILEO VS GPS + GLONASS, and when Galileo will be more performant than Glonass, thanks, great video

[@marcbryant8482]

I second that, also include the times it may take to locate satellites, etc. My Garmin Forerunner can take ages to find GPS+Glonass so I switch to just GPS and wonder what I'm losing in accuracy etc

[@Matthewsoxfan]

Me three

[@nedt]

Bloody awesome thankyou🙏🙏🙏

[@davepratt9909]

New motto for the channel: Let no rabbit hole go unexplored!

[@maciekmachowski9021]

Thanks for sharing, Shane. Super useful! Did you notice any change in the battery life with more details?

[@davet003.5]

Thanks. Any tips on best dashboard to add to your map so you can see key metrics while focussing on navigation (especially on a new gravel route). I use Erik de Vries’ MapDashboard 4 Field view but happy to learn of the options out there.

[@KaiSteinbach]

Wow. The effort put into the comparison screens for the video is mind blowing!!! Hey Shane - have you noticed that SOME bike trails are visible much longer when you zoom out? For example the blue lines and one tiny green one at 0:58 ? Do you know where those come from? From

[@davidmccook4198]

“I wish I’d discovered a LOT sooner”. LOL. Me too!

[@hgiusdfajgfds]

this has been maybe the most annoying thing - having to zoom to 300m to see anything! thank you so much! if only garmin did something to their menu system...

[@markosandre105]

👍🏼 Muito Obrigado

[@freebird61885]

“Deep Uncovered Mineshafts” on the map seems like it is somewhere where a gravel bike shouldn’t go.

[@rodriguezahr]

Thanks for those tips. New to Garmin edge family. Just got the “1040” and I’m blown away compared to the fenix I used to use for biking. One thing I don’t get when navigating is a pin 📍 that shows on the map that I don’t understand what is it. Can’t pin it, can’t rename it… would like to use it sometimes to mark interesting points but don’t know how. Any idea?

[@mrwezbo]

Thanks Shane, great vid. I think you answered one of my q's accidentally: auto zoom. I find on my edge 530, coming up to a roundabout for example, it's too zoomed in and I cannot see on the map where it wants me to go. Says '3rd exit' for example., but I've found that to be completely wrong about 90% of the time. The map line direction is correct though, but I'm already basically through the roundabout before I can see where it wants me to go. I think auto zoom gets around this (or lack thereof), if I explicitly configure the zoom level. Not sure though, will have to do some testing. If you've any thoughts that'd be great. Thanks again!

[@gregwaa2666]

This has annoyed me for years so thanks! One other thing is park boundaries showing more pronounced than roads. Any tips on that? I suspect it would involve changing the maps themselves?

[@nperson]

I'm surprised that you did not know about the map detail options. Previously when using the high contrast option the cursor was much larger. Unfortunately that is no longer the case after the direction arrows were added. Hopefully the large cursor will return along with a option to turn the the direction arrows off.

[@christianholmstedt8770]

Q about the 530. I can't find any way to zoom and move about on the map once an activity is running. Is there a way? The trailforks implementation is pretty much useless without it.

[@DaaamnGina]

This is super informative. I'll be updating my Garmin. Thank you! Do you think Wahoo would ever add street names to the maps? When I got the Elemnt V2, the missing street names made the maps less useful for me. It was one of the breakers for me, so I returned it.

[@gplama]

I assume this depends on screen resolution. One for Wahoo to respond to.

[@kawesipastorholland]

I've been using that for ages

[@EagleEye-MJG]

How do you get ride of ALL those "POIs" that cluster (and crowd) your view, if you live in a dense city like New York City?

[@2357kd]

Which „Map Theme“ you use? You can change in Profile, Navigation, Map. There is possible Classic, High Contrast or Mountain Biking. Did you see the Features in Zoom Levels, Text Size working?

[@user-li4dh8mn8m]

@gplama can you PLEASE say how at 2:14 the map route and curser arrow look so clear? I am about to go nuts over this. I am constantly missing turns, can't see the trail and so frustrated in general over this. What am I missing? Can I change route color so it's more visible? size of the cursor? Thanks a lot

[@EricMarenyi]

How do you get an emulator/simulator to overlay on the screen? I would like to run one on my computer to browse the climb pro climbs without fumbling around on the device.

[@MRFMultitools]

may i do such a trick on my 945?

[@ZillaYT]

Can you set the zoom range?

[@mohamadjamil3164]

Ur videos are very informative. Thank you. I would also like to point out that Garmin does not sell their units with preinstalled maps here in the Middle East. You have to spend like 100 euros to buy those and even though it is charged, it not updatable.... you need to buy it again every year. This is unacceptable as other brands like wahoo does not do that

[@gplama]

Edge 1030 Plus has global maps available, no additional cost. Management of this is via Garmin Express.

[@KevMurrayOz]

Hi Shane and others. I am currently riding from Austria to Denmark on a Specialized Turbo Creo (a super bike) using the great Komoot Route Planning. Shanes with a Garmin 1030 Plus. Shanes video very useful. Is there a way to 'attach" TWO Maps with DIFFERENT scaling to ONE given Profile on my 1030 Plus. I would be be very happy to just manually swipe between TWO different Scaled maps. Any ideas greatly appreciated Kev OZ.

[@gplama]

G'day Kev. Sounds like you're on an epic adventure! I'm not aware of any configuration/ability to show two maps on an Edge unit. There might be a ConnectIQ data field that'll do it... but it's not something I've come across yet.

[@charlesfalk8742]

Do these settings work on older 520 plus?

[@luischt]

Hi Shane, great insights :) Curious to know: Is there a way to customize the detail level on wahoo devices?

[@prestachuck2867]

There is not

[@mkenyon7429]

Mmm. Worked on my 130 1st gen to 1.2mi for awhile then stopped. Not working on my 1040 but does for my Montana 610 which maintains the fine detail to 2mi. At least for the 1040 zooming is faster and more reliable. Old 1030 tends take way too long.

[@maik_s]

Hi Shane, I was wondering how you capture the screen of the devices. I have not found any software for that. Neither for Grarmin nor the others (Wahoo, …). Can you give me a tip on this?

[@gplama]

Garmin: Not possible. I wish it was as I could create much better content. Wahoo: Have a secret debug/recording mode on the BOLT2. Hammerhead: Sideload AZ Screen Recorder.

[@andresecheverry2212]

Can’t find “map visibility mode” on my garmin edge 1040. Can someone help please

[@RobbyRob1761]

Hi Shane... A quick question for you.... Is it possible to purchase, download and use "Ordnance Survey" 1:50:000 Maps on my Garmin 1040 Edge??? Many thanks.

[@gplama]

I have no idea sorry. One for Garmin Support or the Garmin forums.

[@pmcmpc]

Hey Lama. Do you know of any way to get georeferenced satellite or hybrid maps on the Edge series now, since Garmin inexplicably killed BirdsEye, without the incredibly laborious, poorly documented and poorly supported manually stitching satellite image grabs and map data? Also, have you heard anything from Garmin on replacing this? I know basecamp was an absolute dinosaur so I can understand them wanting to kill that off ... but just killing satellite image maps is a disaster for those who need them. I recently started doing a lot of gravel / mtb trail riding where I need satellite imagery to do ad hoc navigation. It doesn't seem like they want to make Edge devices work with Explore App maps. I could move (back) to a Karoo and sideload OSMand (and download tiles for offline use), but the battery life and loss of Di2 functionality aren't thrilling prospects, nor the mount ...

[@robinmacandrew103]

🙏

[@martindimbleby1439]

Hi Shane, how do you zoom out on the Garmin 530 while out on a ride on the map screen? Thanks

[@christianholmstedt8770]

I got the same question. I'm using the trailforks maps and it's pretty much useless.

[@simonvandeputte6961]

Long press on upper right until you see the + and - at the arrow buttons

[@christianholmstedt8770]

@@simonvandeputte6961 That actually worked! Thx. A short press gives the Pan/Zoom option. How is the 830 in comparison? I'm thinking the touch screen is more usable or at least easier to use. The menu diving is terrible. Any thoughts?

[@simonvandeputte6961]

Yep, short press is pan/zoom option & long press gives you immediate zoom options. I have no experience with the 830, bought the 530 because I prefer having the physical buttons and it's large enough for me. If I want a bigger screen I'd go for the 1030 I suppose... I just use it only for data and riding on preset gpx-routes, so with some different user profiles set up how I want, I don't have to use a lot of buttons on my rides... Only when I need to take some detours due to traffic works it's a bit of a hassle to navigate back to the route with the zooming and panning...

[@christianholmstedt8770]

@@simonvandeputte6961 Thx. I was hoping to not have to use Trailforks on my phone but the 530 doesn't quite do it.

[@mad4mymini]

Shane, any video planned on the recent Zwift minimum spec updated?

[@gplama]

Nothing planned.

[@paddlingfan1]

I understand this information is for the UK but does the gravel in the USA show-up the same way?

[@gplama]

I’m in Australia. It’s a long way from the UK. 😉 This information is for anywhere in the world.

[@paddlingfan1]

@@gplama I got you location mixed up. Sorry. Here in the States I have yet to find a mapping program that distinguishes gravel. That's why I ask. That feature alone would be nice. I currently use Ride With GPS on my phone. Have not sprung for the Computer yet because I too do not put in my ride before I start each day.

[@chrisselkirk2673]

Can the mapping detail be changed on an Edge 1000? The menus are different to those described in your video.

[@gplama]

I'm not sure of the level of detail/mapping on those units. I don't have one here to test.

[@chrisselkirk2673]

@@gplama Thanks Shane, I eventually found the map settings under the Settings>Activity Profiles menu. Have changed to "most" detail and will see whether that gives a better view.

[@KruiserIV]

I take it this works for Edge 1030 and not the 830, right?

[@gplama]

Works on the 830

[@billyk2011]

Can you show more detail on the wahoo unit ?

[@gplama]

There's no user configurable option to change this. I believe there's user hacks floating around. Not something I've looked into.

[@kennethcampingdiary1976]

Can a smart phone with google map do better job? Im a edge 1000 user

[@lumpichu]

try the maps app from seznam, not google maps, for this purpose. You won't be disappointed.

[@Popcorn_Rider]

When I change map visibility to custom, the POI icons turn on. Like restaurants and water points. How do you turn this off?

[@gplama]

This should do what you're after: ● Profile ● Navigation ● Map ● Map Visibility ● Zoom Levels ● Map Points: Off.

[@Popcorn_Rider]

@@gplama thanks!!

[@richardlongfield2329]

@@gplama Hi Shane, is there a good guide/key available to understand the map symbols as they aren't exactly obvious?

[@gplama]

@@richardlongfield2329 Garmin should have something on their website. I haven't looked myself though.

[@KimR]

I think ' Less' detail is more than enough for Road cycling

[@gnmurray5955]

Garmin GPS units have had the capability of changing detail level for many years....

[@gplama]

And I’ve only just worked out exactly what it does.

[@gnmurray5955]

@@gplama yes, it's very handy. Plus, on the handheld GPS units (not sure about the Edges, if you have several different maps loaded you can specify the default detail that each map loads at and also the hierarchy of the maps. But I still love my Karoo 2 :)

[@conde35]

930 when ?

[@GroteGeer]

The amount of [vertical] options in Garmin devices makes me dizzy.

[@ianbing]

why cant any of these gps companies make it as simple as an iphone

[@divingrob]

Or in the UK just get OS maps

[@mattsidebottom7603]

On a garmin?

[@divingrob]

@@mattsidebottom7603 had them on my last 2 Garmin’s , however after a quick Google they are discontinued but I’m sure if you looked hard enough they are still around.

[@puppet-head]

Garmin maps are just bad, there are better osm/ocm derived maps available depending on country. I roll my own from georef’d pngs, tip put your zoom levels in different map files to speed it up.

[@2357kd]

Garmin Maps are OSM based! Why should I use in my Region something other ? What are bad in Garmin Maps for your Region?

[@prestachuck2867]

Apparently, Garmin’s maps are still superior to Wahoo’s maps and Karoo’s as well.

[@philippebelair3372]

Trop de bla bla et pas de vrai information sur les verticales .... pas suffisant ....Sans parler du Edge Explore

[@gplama]

What kind of Karen comment is this? No real information? What video are you watching? No mention of the Explore? I don't have one. If you have one how about YOU do some work and see if these options are applicable for that unit.... then mention so in the comments. Be more useful. Help others.