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Spine mount unusable with backpack tether

BigyinHenry

Just got back from my first walking holiday with the GPSMAP H1. I bought a "Garmin Backpack Tether" to make sure that I didn't drop the thing in a river or something.

The "Spine mount" is pathetically unusable with anything attached to it.  The tether is attached to the fabric loop on the spine mount: that's what it's there for.  But then it gets totally in the way when you're trying to slot the mount into the clip attached to your rucksack strap.  It's as well that the tracks of the Luberon were sparsely populated as otherwise people would have heard some choice language as I walked by.

Does anyone else have a tether, who could suggest maybe what I might be doing wrong?

  • 0

    I bought two of these and returned them. They are expensive garbage. An additional issue is you can't remove the H1 without taking the tether off your rucksack. Does anybody from Garmin actually try using them before they went into production? (The same could be said of their bug ridden software).

    I was then delighted to find that my backpack tethers for my 67i can actually fit the H1, even though the spine is different. The H1 still slides on and has a firm grip. The tether I use is not the Garmin one, which was pretty, bad but not as bad as the H1 version. Search for "Lamborsafe Backpack Mount for Garmin Handheld GPS".

    I don't have one to hand, and it may be hard to get a photo but I'll follow up with a picture of how it mounts if I can.

    I haven't found any third party tethers for the H1.

  • 0 in reply to Phoenix

    Well, I did take some photos and then spent half an hour trying to work out how I could post them to this forum, without success.

    I did a bit more testing though and it seems that most mounts won't work without trimming the plastic a bit. The Lamborsafe Backpack Mount works because the part that slides on is a bit shorter than most other mounts.

    If you do decide to try it, you place the connector in the middle of the spine and it slides up on to the top half of the H1 spine. Don't try sliding it on from the bottom because it doesn't grip as well and the H1 sits too high and is top heavy. The pictures would have shown this beautifully!

  • 0

    Mm; as I feared.  Mine is beyond returning unless I can assert that it is "not suitable for purpose", which is a bit of a stretch because it does work: it holds the device on the rucksack strap. It's just that it's so wretchedly fiddly to get it clipped in.

    Your point is well made: "Did the product developers ever actually try one of these?"  Grrrr.

  • 0 in reply to BigyinHenry

    Well for anybody interested in an alternative, I finally worked out how to post the pictures.

    In place ready to slide up:

    Fully on:

    Although there isn't a tab to lock it in place, the grip is very good.

  • 0

    I'm using the Hyperlite Mountain Gear Shoulder Pocket for my H1i Plus and I love it.  I use the main, zipperable pocket for my H1i and the external mesh pocket for my phone.  It works great.

  • 0 in reply to Colin

    Does the pocket fully zip over the antenna? Good find. Thanks

  • 0 in reply to northland5

    It sure does -- it fits perfectly.  Almost like it was designed for the H1i.

    Here it is zipped with the H1i inside.

    I just returned from a month of trekking in the Alps using the H1i Plus with this shoulder pocket, and it was A+.