Send GPX to a Garmin eTrex

A route file goes in the GPX folder inside the Garmin folder. That is true on every eTrex, so the folder is never the part you have to work out.

What changes between models is how the eTrex connects to a computer, because that decides the route your file takes into the folder. The eTrex 22x, 32x and Touch mount as a USB drive you can open, so INVIA writes into the folder the way any program writes to a memory stick. The eTrex SE and eTrex Solar never mount as a drive, which means they need a different connection and a different set of expectations.

On an eTrex 22x, 32x or Touch, plug it in, connect it on INVIA's Device page in Chrome or Edge, and send. INVIA sends the route file over that connection from a browser tab, so no desktop software stands between your route and the eTrex. On an eTrex SE or eTrex Solar, read the eTrex SE and Solar section below before you try.

Which eTrex do you have#

The split is not old against new. It is which USB modes the model has, because a model built without a mass storage mode cannot show a drive on any computer.

The eTrex SE and eTrex Solar offer two USB modes, file transfer and Garmin mode, so there is no third mode to fall back on. The same USB menu appears on the GPSMAP 67. Neither model has a mass storage mode, which is the one a computer needs before it can show you a drive.

No drive appears in Finder or File Explorer for an eTrex SE or eTrex Solar. That is normal on a Mac and on Windows. Nothing is broken, because those two models were built without the mode that produces a drive. The eTrex still connects to INVIA, so stop looking for a GARMIN drive and press File transfer (MTP) in INVIA instead.

Transfer a route from your browser#

These steps are confirmed on an eTrex 22x, 32x or Touch. Read the eTrex SE and Solar section below first if you have one of those two models, because the send is not promised on either one.

1. Plug the eTrex in. Use a USB data cable rather than a charge-only cable, because a charge-only cable carries power and no data, so the eTrex never appears. Let the eTrex power on.
2. Open the Device tab in INVIA. Use Chrome or Edge, because Safari and Firefox show Different browser needed rather than a connection. If you see that message, open INVIA again in Chrome or Edge.
3. Choose how it connects. Press USB drive for an eTrex 22x, 32x or Touch, and File transfer (MTP) for an eTrex SE or eTrex Solar. Each button opens the kind of connection your model can accept.
4. Let INVIA look. The status card reads Finding your device… while it searches, and the hint under it reads Leave it plugged in. This can take up to a minute. so you know the wait is the search running rather than a failure.
5. Pick the eTrex if INVIA asks. The card changes to Almost there because the browser needs you to name the device before INVIA may write to it. On an eTrex 22x, 32x or Touch, press Select my Garmin drive →, click GARMIN in the sidebar, then press Select. No need to open or choose a folder inside it. Just select GARMIN itself. On a file transfer connection, press Select my Garmin → and pick the eTrex in the browser's chooser. If the eTrex SE or eTrex Solar is not listed in that chooser, close it, because closing an empty chooser costs you nothing. INVIA shows no error, brings the Almost there card straight back so you can press it again, and keeps looking for the eTrex while you wait. If the search ends without finding anything at all, INVIA stops and tells you what to do. Plug the eTrex in, let it power on, and wait until its screen shows file transfer mode, then press File transfer (MTP) again.
6. Choose what to send. From INVIA takes a saved route, ride or collection, and From computer takes a route file you already have, so a route built elsewhere reaches the eTrex the same way.
7. Send it. In the SEND TO DEVICE dialog, pick Internal or SD Card if both are loaded, so the file lands on the storage you meant. Set Directional arrows to Off, Forward or Reverse. Press Send.
8. Check it landed. The dialog reads SENT, INVIA re-reads the eTrex, and the route file appears under On Device, which confirms the file is on the eTrex and not only in the browser.

On Windows, connecting a Garmin needs INVIA Bridge, a free background app that installs once so Chrome can reach the eTrex. On a Mac, Chrome talks to the eTrex directly, so nothing else is needed. Full connection detail.

Direction on a small screen#

Set Directional arrows to Forward or Reverse in the send dialog when you want the eTrex screen to show which way the route runs. INVIA draws the arrows into the track itself, so the direction reads on the eTrex screen with no setting to find in the menus.

Route stops travel inside the same route file, which means a named place arrives as a saved waypoint rather than a via-point, and the eTrex draws no straight line between them.

What to expect on an eTrex SE or Solar#

INVIA does not promise a send to an eTrex SE or eTrex Solar. The send may work, and it has not been confirmed on either model. Use the phone path below when you need the route on the eTrex before a ride.

INVIA's file transfer connection is confirmed on the Zumo XT2, where the GPX folder sits at the top level of internal storage. The eTrex SE and eTrex Solar keep theirs one level deeper, inside Garmin, so INVIA has to write further into the eTrex than it does on a Zumo XT2. That deeper send has not been confirmed on either eTrex model.

INVIA tells you when the send does not land, because a silent failure would leave you riding with a route the eTrex never received. If INVIA cannot find the GPX folder, it says so, and it never reports a send that did not land. Your route is still saved in INVIA. The eTrex SE or eTrex Solar is unchanged, and every route already on it still works. Use the phone path below instead.

Send from your phone instead#

This path needs no computer, so it is the one to use away from a desk or after a browser send does not land.

1. Press Export GPX in INVIA.
2. Hand the file to the Garmin Explore app on your phone.

Garmin handhelds accept courses that way, which is why the phone path reaches an eTrex SE or eTrex Solar that the browser send may not.

Where the route appears on an eTrex SE or Solar#

Look under GPX Data, not under Saved. INVIA writes to the GPX folder rather than to NewFiles, and the eTrex SE lists a file from that folder as a GPX Data item. Saved stays empty even when the send worked.

A GPX Data item on an eTrex SE or eTrex Solar behaves like this:

• You can view it and navigate it.
• You cannot edit, rename or delete it on the eTrex SE or eTrex Solar, because the eTrex reads a GPX folder file without ever writing to it.
• It does not sync with the Garmin Explore app.

To edit or rename the route, edit it in INVIA and send it again, since the change has to come from the copy you can still edit. For a copy that syncs with Garmin Explore, use the phone path above.

Advice written for other hardware#

• "Open the GARMIN drive." Correct on an eTrex 22x, 32x or Touch, and impossible on an eTrex SE or eTrex Solar, because no drive appears. Press File transfer (MTP) instead.
• "Install Android File Transfer." The most repeated Mac answer for file transfer Garmins, and no longer a dependable one, because Chrome talks to the eTrex directly. Skip the install.
• "NewFiles and the GPX folder are the same thing." On an eTrex SE or eTrex Solar they are not. Garmin's manual says NewFiles is an import inbox, so its contents are taken into the Saved app on the next start and synced with Garmin Explore. The GPX folder holds files the eTrex reads directly, as a read-only item that does not sync, and INVIA writes to the GPX folder.
• "Use Garmin Express." Garmin Express updates maps and software rather than moving route files, so send from INVIA in Chrome or Edge instead.