Why your track disappears after you send it
Use an SD card. Newer Garmins import a sent GPX and delete the file on the next boot, and a card solves that completely: the track imports and the file stays.
Last checked against the live app on 6 September 2026.
Fit a memory card in a Zumo XT2, Zumo XT3 or Tread, and choose it when you send. Every route you send then stays visible in INVIA when you plug the Garmin back in. Send to internal storage instead and those routes disappear from INVIA, even though they still work on the Garmin.
Why routes disappear from INVIA on a Zumo XT2, XT3 or Tread#
Send a route to a Zumo XT3 with no card fitted and it arrives, works, and rides normally. Restart the Garmin and the route is still on it. Plug the Garmin back into INVIA, though, and that route is not in your device list.
That is not a failed transfer. A Zumo XT2, Zumo XT3 or Tread takes the route into its own storage when it restarts, and clears the file it arrived in. The route lives on the Garmin, and INVIA has nothing left to show you. Your waypoints keep appearing because the Garmin stores those separately, which is what makes it look as though only the routes went missing.
The route itself is safe and you can still ride it. What you lose is the copy on your computer, so you cannot open that route in INVIA again, pass it to anyone, or keep a backup of it.
A memory card fixes this, because the Garmin imports the route from the card without clearing the file. You keep the route on the device and the file in INVIA. How to send to the card.
How the newer models differ#
Older Garmins keep a sent route as a file in the GPX/ folder. The device reads the route from that file every time. A computer can list, copy or back up that file.
The Zumo XT2, Zumo XT3 and Tread do not work this way. On these three models the file only delivers the route. The device reads it once, copies the route into its internal database, then deletes the file.
A route that goes onto a Zumo XT3 this way cannot come back off it as a file, because the export the XT3 offers carries waypoints only and never tracks. This is the reason a memory card is worth fitting before you start sending routes rather than after.
Test results#
Tested on a Zumo XT3. Where a route file goes decides whether it survives the restart.
| Where the file was put | Result after restart |
|---|---|
GPX/ on internal storage |
Deleted. Route imported first. |
A subfolder inside GPX/ |
Deleted. The XT3 searches subfolders. |
Garmin/GPX/ on a memory card |
Kept. Route imported as well. |
A memory card gives you both results. The XT3 imports the route and the file stays on the card. A subfolder does not protect a file.
How to send a route to the card#
Every send opens a dialog asking where to put the file. With a memory card fitted, it offers Internal and SD Card.
- Fit a memory card in the Zumo XT2, Zumo XT3 or Tread.
- Send the route from INVIA.
- In the dialog, choose SD Card.
Internal is the default. If you press through the dialog without changing it, the file goes to internal storage and the device deletes it on the next restart.
The Device page lists route files from internal storage and from the memory card together. Each file is tagged INT or SD.
Which memory card to buy#
Buy a 32 GB microSDHC card. Use it as supplied. Do not format it.
Choose the card by its file system, not its capacity:
| Card capacity | Card type | File system as supplied |
|---|---|---|
| 4 GB to 32 GB | SDHC | FAT32 |
| 64 GB and above | SDXC | exFAT |
Older Garmins cannot read exFAT. 32 GB is the largest card supplied with FAT32. Every Garmin can read a 32 GB card.
Capacity is not the thing to shop for, because route files are tiny. A typical route is around 343 KB, a full rally pack of nine tracks runs to about 3 MB, and a library of 79 files comes to 55 MB. A 32 GB card holds far more than any event will ever need.
Buy a known brand from a seller you trust, because counterfeit cards are common in bulk listings and a fake card is the usual reason a Garmin rejects one that looks correctly formatted. If that happens, swapping the card for another one clears it. Speed class is not worth paying for, since Garmin accepts anything from Class 2 to 10.
If you must format a card, use the SD Memory Card Formatter from sdcard.org. Do not use the Windows or macOS formatter.
The Windows and macOS formatters do not write the partition layout the SD specification requires. That is the usual reason a card looks correctly formatted but the Garmin cannot read it. The SD Association tool also picks the file system for the capacity, so a 32 GB card comes out FAT32.
Put route files in Garmin/GPX/ on the card. That is the same folder the Garmin uses for its own share to memory card.
Your route colours#
A route you send arrives on your Garmin in the colour you chose, and it keeps that colour on the device.
Tracks coming back are the harder direction, because a Garmin does not return the colour with them. INVIA restores it for you by matching each returning track to your library and putting your original colour back, so a folder of twenty tracks stays readable instead of arriving as twenty identical lines.
One limit to expect. A Garmin holds fewer colours than INVIA does, so a few of your colours share a single Garmin one. When a track comes back INVIA picks the colour you use most often for it, which is right nearly every time.
Do not name a route after a device file#
Some filenames belong to the Garmin firmware. Writing over one destroys the data in it.
On a Zumo XT3, GPX/Current.gpx holds every waypoint you have saved on the device. Sending a route with that name replaces the file. There is no warning and no undo.
Do not use these five names for a route:
Current.gpxTemp.gpxCurrentTrackLog.gpxPosition.gpxShared.gpx
Only the exact filename matters. A route named Shared Rim Ride is safe. A route named Current is not.
If the Garmin stops responding during a read#
A read can time out and leave the connection unresponsive. Disconnecting and reconnecting in INVIA does not clear it.
Unplug the USB cable, then plug it back in.
INVIA retries twice before it reports the problem, then tells you to unplug.
Questions
Why did my GPX file disappear from my Garmin?
Newer Garmins do not keep a sent track as a file. On the next boot the device imports the GPX into its own database and deletes the file it read. The track is on the unit and works normally, and only the file is gone. This is the device behaving as designed, not a failed transfer.
Why can't INVIA see the track I just sent to my Zumo XT3?
Because the file it wrote was consumed on the next boot. The device does export its saved data back to a file, but that export contains waypoints only and never tracks, so there is nothing left for INVIA to list. Send to a memory card instead and the file survives the boot and still imports, so both the device and INVIA can see it.
Should I use an SD card with a Zumo XT2 or XT3?
Yes. A route written to the card imports onto the Garmin as normal and the file stays where INVIA can still list it, so you keep both. When you send from INVIA, choose SD Card in the dialog that appears, because internal storage is the default.
Does the first generation Zumo XT need a memory card too?
No, and it is better without one. The original Zumo XT keeps a sent route as an ordinary file on internal storage, so nothing is cleared and nothing goes missing from INVIA. That model also has trouble finding waypoints on a card, so a card would make things worse.
Is my route lost when the Garmin deletes the file?
No. The route stays on the Garmin and you can still ride it. What you lose is the copy on your computer, so you cannot open it in INVIA again or back it up, which is why a memory card is worth fitting on the models that do this.
What size SD card should I use in my Garmin?
A 32 GB microSDHC card. Buy for the file system rather than the capacity: cards from 4 to 32 GB ship formatted FAT32, and cards of 64 GB and up ship exFAT, which older Garmins cannot read. 32 GB is the largest card that arrives in the format every unit reads. Capacity is irrelevant here, since a median route file is 343 KB and a 79 file library is 55 MB.
Should I format the SD card in my Garmin?
No. Several of these devices cannot format a card at all, and a large card formatted by a device with a lower ceiling comes back shrunk to that ceiling: a 64 GB card formatted by a 32 GB host returns as a 32 GB card with 27 GB usable. Use the card as it comes, or format it on a computer with the SD Association's SD Memory Card Formatter from sdcard.org rather than the built-in Windows or macOS tool.
Why did my track come back from the Garmin in the wrong colour?
The device drops colour when it exports. A nine track export from a Zumo carried the colour namespace and not a single colour value, so tracks fall back to a default palette. INVIA restores the original colour by matching the track name against your own library.