Select your product to confirm this information applies to you
My Outdoor Garmin Handheld is Navigating in a Straight Line
If you are not receiving detailed turn-by-turn routing when navigating to a waypoint or following a route, this indicates that your device either does not have mapping that supports turn-by-turn routing, or its routing setting needs to be changed.
What is Needed for Detailed Routing?
A Map That Supports Turn-by-Turn Routing
Not all maps support detailed turn-by-turn routing. Mapping products like the Worldwide DEM basemap or TOPO U.S. 100K do not support turn-by-turn routing, TopoActive supports turn-by-turn routing but not when in an Automotive profile, while TOPO U.S. 24K West supports turn-by-turn routing in all land-based profiles and activities.
If you have a map, you can confirm it is capable of detailed routing by looking it up on Garmin.com. It should state that it has routable roads and/or trails, or it supports turn-by-turn directions.
If you do not have a map and want one, see - Choosing and Purchasing a Map for your Outdoor Handheld.
NOTE: Not all maps are compatible with all products. Before purchasing a map, it is important to make sure the Garmin device is compatible.
A Profile or Activity That Supports Turn-by-Turn Routing
Activities and profiles on outdoor handhelds are designed to quickly change settings so recording your outings is easier. Some profiles and activities, like Automobile or Hike, will support turn-by-turn routing. Other profiles, like Off Road or Direct Routing, will only support direct routing to draw a straight line to your destination, or straight lines between points of a route that you are following.
For more information on setting up your device for detailed routing, refer to the Routing Settings section of your owner's manual.
What are Routes Used For?
Routes are best used for reaching a specific destination, or set of destinations, when the specific path being taken is not important.
When navigating a route, directions to the destination(s) will be provided as a straight point-to-point path or will follow roads and/or trails depending on device capabilities, mapping, and routing settings.
If you go off course on a route, the path will recalculate based on your current location. When using routable mapping, the route can recalculate you on available roads and/or trails.
For more information on setting up Turn-by-Turn Routing, see - Route Calculation Error on an Outdoor Handheld.