Updated. Workaround Found. but still a Bug: All map layers are enabled on startup despite any activity-specific settings.

Strange, my unit doesn’t have that issue, the same layers as before are enabled after turning on the device. Maybe try a master reset?

Thanks but that doesn’t work. Looks like it’s because of added custom / 3rd party maps. If they’re going to make it like the watches, they need to add the ability to toggle off/on individual maps under the activity-specific device settings.

Example from the watches are the map toggles under…

Settings >  Activities & Apps > [activity name] > Map > Configure Maps

I have a seemingly similar issue with my eTrex Touch (very similar unit software to the H1)

The assigned mapset for an activity does not stay assigned to that activity after a power-cycle and will ALWAYS revert to Garmin Topo US 24k.

I have three main activities with a different mapset assigned to each:

1. Walk (Garmin TopoActive US 2025.10)

2. Hike (Garmin Topo US 24k)

3. Drive (OpenMapChest US West)

If I power-cycle the unit, the chosen activity at shut-down stays the same (as expected) after the power-cycle. However, the displayed map will ALWAYS change to Garmin Topo US 24k. To correct this after every power-cycle, I need to:

1. Select the Hike or Drive activity

2. Go back and re-select the Walk activity

I have reported this to Garmin where they claim they cannot replicate it on their test units. I would wager that they do NOT have these specific mapsets on their test units and use whatever they have already loaded on their units (which of course, work fine). I seriously doubt they they would go through the effort & time required to load mapsets on their test units and instead, just give this "could not replicate" response. 

Agreed. I would propose they up the priority on adding the activity-specific map toggles (like in the Fenix watches) I mentioned in my follow-up comment and it would solve a lot of other map layer problems. Don’t understand why they would leave that out.

For myself, the map layers assigned to specific activities does indeed work, it just has some issues (maybe specific to my individual use-case).

Here is what I do:

1. Choose / select the specific activity

2. Go to Map Layers and individually select or deselect the map layers you wish to use (or not to use)

3. Choose another activity and repeat step 2

This should be saving the map layers to that activity (it does in my case)

This works correctly for me with the exception of the Walk activity which as mentioned above, will always revert to the Topo US 24k mapset after a power cycle despite correctly assigning the map layers and having the Walk activity active at power off. There is NO issue when switching between activities while the unit is on; I can switch between activities and the map layers will correctly display the correct layers for the specific activity.

My particular issue only occurs after a power-cycle. This is not the only setting that has a power-cycle problem; under the Barometer setup, the Barometer Mode will switch back to "Variable Elevation" after a power-cycle even though it has been set to "Fixed Elevation" before the power-cycle. This has also been reported to Garmin where they have replicated the issue (contacted through email support) so hopefully will be corrected.

I may not be explaining clearly enough. We do have the same problem.

The layer settings do save correctly but on power cycle they are basically ignored until I switch activity then it magically works. Where the watches work out nicely is not only do you have layer settings (that work correctly all the time) you also have the additional benefit of going a little deeper in the activity config and toggling off/on the individual maps altogether just for that activity.

For instance I have a city nav map I only use for a Drive activity. It has a lot of POI junk I don’t want my other activities to waste time/energy loading and drawing. So I toggle off the map in the other activities so they just load and use TopoActive. Also displays smoother as well.

If Garmin will finish what they started and bring it into parity with the same activity settings scheme as the watches they’ll have to solve some of these problems along the way. Heck the reason it may be so buggy now is some dev might be knee deep into it so it’s broken until it’s finished.

Update. Workaround Found.

• Device does not like 3rd party map or contour files whether installed on internal or external storage.
• Device does not like any additional, non-stock (non-factory installed) maps installed in \GARMIN directory on internal storage, whether it be 3rd party or Garmin download.
• Device does work fine with just Garmin purchased map download files on external storage (i.e. every layer combo setting for each activity persists through power cycle!

Note for Gamin purchased map downloads: Installing with Garmin Express via device, directly to external SD card is stupid slow. I install to internal storage first then move the files to relevant \GARMIN directory on SD card afterwards.

Herein lies the trouble in my case. I have the eTrex Touch; firmware is basically identical between the Touch and the H1 with the exception of the additional hardware on the H1 which adds to it's size, installed apps and complexity. The Touch does NOT have an SD Card slot for memory expansion so running maps from an SD Card is impossible. Everything needs to reside on the unit's internal storage of 32GB.

Happy to hear you've found a work-around...great troubleshooting. And thanks for clarifying.

However, there shouldn't need to be a work-around if this stuff was tested properly by Garmin and not the end-user who expects these units will work as expected.