Related

FEEDBACK AND IDEAS FOR GPSMAP H1

7234053

Background
As an enthusiastic collector of local names in Norwegian mountains, I have for many years used a Magellan handheld gps unit to bring with me a selection of names as waypoints and to make new registrations. The total number of stored waypoints has typically been 2-3000. Magellan has given me an easy and reliable import functionality for GPX files, by copy and paste to the device disk. Each file is by Magellan handled as a separate entity in the unit: visualization can be turned on/off, each individual file can be deleted from the unit. New waypoints can be stored separately or together with old data and then easily copied back from the unit’s disk to a pc. Having physically exhausted the on/off button on my old device, I was forced to buy a new gps. I landed on Garmin GPSMAP H1i Plus, which appeared to be a top model with large storage capacity.

Garmin Experience
My first Garmin experience has not been positive: I find documentation partly incorrect, partly incomplete. Use of Garmin Explore to transfer data is close to useless, slow and unreliable. In lack of proper documentation, I was forced to perform experiments, and for some reason or other, the interface of my Garmin unit started to freeze in what seemed to be arbitrary dialogs. This is now a support case.. The problem may seem to have been resolved by a total reinstalllation of everything on the unit, so this may of course have been caused by my experimentation. The support case is not my goal to address here, but is relevant background for why better documentation and functionality are important and required.

Battery status
The first thing I was looking for on the new unit, was the battery status as a number. Not available, and I had to install a third-party widget. Disappointing and a poor first impression!

Documentation
The initial description of folder locations in the page «File Types» is incomplete and ambiguous:
• The folder GARMIN\NewFiles as target for an external copy should be clearly stated.
• The folder GPXActivities is not available before the unit has been used to create an activity in GPX format. As I was looking around on a brand new unit, this made me confused. Can easily be avoided by having an empty GPXActivities folder pre-installed.
• The folder GPXActivities seem to store only tracks, not waypoints, I expected to find new waypoints stored here or in the GPX folder. The documentation is unclear.

The page states that the device supports GPX waypoint files. This is correct in the sense that they can be imported, but only partly correct in the way data the files are further handled. This is described in more depth in the following.

The page «Transferring Files to Your Device Using a Computer» is not correct or incomplete:
• No information about where to put relevant data.
• No information about what happens with copied data.

A support document describes how GPX files can be transferred, but is incomplete:
support.garmin.com/.../
• That files are converted to fit files is correct, but tells me very little as a user.
• Imported files are deleted after conversion, but this is not described.
• Imported data are first placed in a collection called «Not synced». Following a sync with Garmin Explorer, they are added to the main collection. Vital information that should be stated.

Improvements in Garmin Explore
Synchronization appears slow and unreliable for any larger collection (> 100 waypoints). Large room for improvements!
• It should be possible to transfer collections via pc cable connection.

Synchronization appears to run continuously, and I cannot control the process: I cannot sit and wait until the slow process is finished, so I leave the tablet app open and take a long break. When I reopen the time-locked tablet, the sync process seems to start again. Who knows what happens if I interrupt the process?
• It must be possible to perform a single sync operation and then stop. The never-ending synchronization is confusing and drained the battery on my gps unit.
• It should be possible to get a report of the operation when finished, was it successful?

Synchronization of selected collections should be improved. Today, if Explore is used to select a single collection for synchronization, all other collections (except for the main) on the unit are removed. To me, this was very confusing.
• It should be possible to sync selected collections and leave all other untouched.

Waypoints can be deleted one by one in Explore but
• It should be possible to delete all or many waypoints in Explore.

 
Improvements in the GPS Unit
The user story here is simple and straightforward: I want to be able to easily import, store and organize a larger number of waypoints on my unit, typically 2-3000 waypoints. I want to be able to get newly added waypoints and tracks back from the unit to a pc, without having to be annoyed by the larger archive of old data.
• It should be possible to handle files added to NewFiles as individual entities, for instance by converting these to individual collections.
• It should be possible to turn visualization of data copied to NewFiles on/off, preferably data from each individual file. Can be achieved by converting each file to a collection.
• The main collection should only be used for data created by the gps, not for data copied to NewFiles. In this way, sync of new data can be done quick and easy.
• It should be possible from a Saved menu to delete all waypoints and other saved data. The current functionality is available from the System app, very hidden!
• Ideally, I should be able to do whatever Explore can do, within the gps unit: Add waypoints to a collection, remove waypoints from a collection, create new collections, delete collections.
• It should be possible to store newly created waypoints as a GPX file in a location where I can copy this back to a pc.
• Folders available for user data (NewFiles, GPXActivities?, GPX?) should be clearly marked and separated from all other folders. And these folders should be 100 % clearly documented. The current design is dangerous! Magellan has a main folder «User Data»...
The current design, where NewFiles-imported data are added to the main collection, and where newly added waypoints can only be exported from the unit through synchronization, is together killing what should be a basic user story. Very sad for an expensive device with ample storage space available.

  • 0

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Garmin nowadays with most (if not all) of their devices wants you to use their apps (Explore, Messenger and to some extent Connect in the case of the GPSMAP H1i Plus) instead of copying files from a computer to the device. While that's not everyone's preference, it may explain why certain things work the way they do.

    Also note that the web version of Explore is a steaming pile of garbage. It is outdated, has less features than Explore app, and is very unintuitive to use. The only useful function imo is MapShare (for inReach).

    7234053 said:
    The first thing I was looking for on the new unit, was the battery status as a number. Not available, and I had to install a third-party widget. Disappointing and a poor first impression!

    The battery percentage can be viewed by opening the Notification Center. Swipe down from the top of the screen or long press the Power Button and the percentage will be displayed next to the battery level indicator. There is indeed a useful Connect IQ app that provides more info than just the current percentage level.

    7234053 said:
    • The folder GPXActivities is not available before the unit has been used to create an activity in GPX format. As I was looking around on a brand new unit, this made me confused. Can easily be avoided by having an empty GPXActivities folder pre-installed.
    • The folder GPXActivities seem to store only tracks, not waypoints, I expected to find new waypoints stored here or in the GPX folder. The documentation is unclear.

    This kind of makes sense imho because by default the H1i Plus (and many other Garmin devices) write activities as FIT files. Only after you change a setting will they save the activity recording in GPX format as well. So when you have not enabled that setting, there's no real use for having a GPXActivities folder as nothing will be written there. That's also the only use of that folder: store activity recordings in GPX file format.

    7234053 said:
    Synchronization appears to run continuously, and I cannot control the process: I cannot sit and wait until the slow process is finished, so I leave the tablet app open and take a long break. When I reopen the time-locked tablet, the sync process seems to start again. Who knows what happens if I interrupt the process?
    • It must be possible to perform a single sync operation and then stop. The never-ending synchronization is confusing and drained the battery on my gps unit.
    • It should be possible to get a report of the operation when finished, was it successful?

    You can kind of see the progress of the sync in the Explore app. Go to the devices tab and select your GPSMAP H1i Plus. At the bottom of the view there will be shown what is currently being synced. Unfortunately no progress bar of any kind, but still. The same view will also show the time of the last sync and whether there was an error or not.

    The sync will run in the background, if you have allowed the Explore app to run in the background. The device will initiate a sync on any changes in data, so that's why it may seem it is continuously syncing.

    7234053 said:
    Waypoints can be deleted one by one in Explore but
    • It should be possible to delete all or many waypoints in Explore.

    This is possible in Explore app. Tap the three dots next to a waypoint (or any other item) and choose Select. This will allow you to select multiple items for deletion. On the device itself it's not possible to delete more than one item at the same time.

    7234053 said:
    • It should be possible to store newly created waypoints as a GPX file in a location where I can copy this back to a pc.

    Waypoints are stored in a file called locations.fit in the GARMIN\Locations folder. Unfortunately I don't know of any tools except Garmin's Basecamp that support working with this file.

    That being said you may want to look into Garmin's Basecamp application. Although Garmin does not officially support and develop Basecamp anymore, it still works with the GPSMAP H1i Plus. There are some limitations, for example if you change  the color or icon of a waypoint on your H1i Plus or with Explore app, and then in Basecamp add a waypoint, the change in color or icon of the waypoints will be reverted to defaults. But it may work for your needs.

    Alternatively instead of copying GPX files to the H1i Plus, you can also import them in the Explore app and then sync with the device. But as you noticed that is slow and may require you to use different collections.

    And finally you can suggest any improvements to Garmin via https://www.garmin.com/en-US/forms/ideas/. I don't think it's likely they'll change the way how the device works with importing data from files, but who knows...

  • 0 in reply to JungleJim

    Thanks for taking time to read and reply to my lengthy thought sharing! You are offering several valuable hints, which I did not find in the documentation and where local support could not help.

    The choice between synchronization and copy/paste is not as much a personal preference as about what actually works. I have experienced synchronization as totally unreliable. Even small collections often end up with incorrect number of waypoints. It does not work. Also for synchronization, functionality is poor.

    My tablet Explore app is allowed to run in background. I am not changing data. The sync process still seems to keep running forever, possibly restarting when I wake the android tablet up from slumbering. But I cannot sit and keep the tablet alive in a process that seem to never finish.  .

    There are lot of other empty folders in the main folder GARMIN. and adding am additional will not requires resources. But the main point is that also new waypoints should be stored in GPX format, not only tracks.  Saved  waypoints as a GPX file would have solved most of my problems.  So why tracks and not waypoints?

    Local support here claimed that waypoints are not stored in fit files, but in som other "secret" database file. I cannot say. I have seen available python libraries for reading fit files, so maybe this is what I have to try. 

    I tried the ideas web page too. Available functionality for describing properly a mixed problem is poor, and there is a fairly low limit on the length of what can be described. So desperately, I added my text here, in hope of some effect . My hopes for improvements are low, though!

    Again, thanks for useful tips. Glad to see that my text is read and digested!

  • 0 in reply to 7234053
    7234053 said:
    Local support here claimed that waypoints are not stored in fit files, but in som other "secret" database file. I cannot say. I have seen available python libraries for reading fit files, so maybe this is what I have to try. 

    Local support is wrong Slight smile

    See this screenshot on what data is stored in the locations.fit file, taken from my H1.