GPSMAP H1i Plus - Recent Threads

Does ANYBODY find the H1 reliable? Returned mine after one hike.

4261461 — Sun, 31 May 2026 18:13:46 GMT

I've owned every GPSMAP unit since the 60. Despite being keen to try out the H1, the initial reviews and user feedback persuaded me to wait until now, when a 12% discount and over half a dozen firmware updates, allowed me to convince myself that it should be OK now.

Initial impressions were generally good. The screen is not brilliant but I don't feel, in actual use, that it is as bad as some people say. Mine had a strong blue cast though, something I haven't seen other people mention. I felt the build quality seemed a step up from previous GPSMAP units and the keyboard now has much more of a 'click' and is less spongy than earlier models. The extra speed makes using the UK Topo Pro raster map much better.

The bad. Why on earth can I have a maximum 8 data fields on a screen when the 66/67 will give me 12 despite the H1 having a screen that is 40% bigger? Also, why is it almost impossible to easily switch between the full screen map and the data views? This is what I spend 99% of my time doing on a hike.

Anyway, got about 8km into my first hike, following a GPX trail and recording my activity, when the H1 resets and I lose all my recorded data and my profile has changed to Boat (I suppose I was walking near a river!)

I can put up with some bugs, but a unit that won't record a days activity with 99.99% reliability (like all my previous GPSMAP units) is useless to me. It was with sadness and frustration that I returned my unit. Not sure if I will ever return to the H1 or whether I'll just stick with the 67i for another couple of years until the H2 arrives. It would also be good if Garmin included an inReach model without all the extra stuff like the couple of crap cameras - an H1i without the 'plus' - the 50% price hike to get inReach is just too much. 67-> 67i added about £100, H1 -> H1i Plus adds about £250. I only want basic inReach capabilities for emergencies, like I do on the 67i.

Map Manager on 9.06 doesn't show same maps as Garmin Express

JungleJim — Wed, 13 May 2026 20:56:21 GMT

The Map Manager on my H1 series device (with firmware 9.06) doesn't show the same TopoActive map regions as Garmin Express does. For example, North America and Canada aren't listed at all. Maybe it has to do with the 2026.10 map updates where the North America map was split into several regions: West and East and Canada.

Anyone else seeing this as well?

Where has TopoActive Europe 2026.10 gone?

JungleJim — Wed, 13 May 2026 20:27:54 GMT

Two weeks ago TopoActive 2026.10 maps were released. But after the issues with the Edge cycling computers they seem to have been pulled. The issues on the Edge were resolved apparently, so any idea when we can expect the TopoActive 2026.10 back again? On my H1 series device, only TopoActive 2025.10 maps are offered, at least for Europe...

GPSMAP H1 Route Simplification Error

ninours — Mon, 11 May 2026 07:11:14 GMT

Hello everyone

I’m reaching out to you for your expertise (and I think I’m in the right place) because I’m running into a major issue that makes the H1 unusable under these conditions. Suspect

I want to load four GPX files onto it for the 2026 Tor des Glaciers race (a total of 450 km around the Aosta Valley)

It’s a self-supported race with no markings, and I actually bought the H1 specifically for this reason.

The problem is that after importing the GPX via Basecamp (or Garmin Connect—the result is the same), the track is significantly altered and obviously unusable.

I’ve attached two screenshots where you can clearly see that a line is drawn in the H1 instead of following the actual route.

Yet in the H1, the route has exactly the same number of waypoints as in the original GPX file.

I’m also attaching the official GPX file for the race (https://torxtrail.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/TOR450-Tor-des-Glaciers-T1-V7.0-START-Rif.-Sella-UP2025.gpx)

It’s impossible to set out on a 6-day race with this file without being confident in it.

I’ve tried everything:

Converting it to a route, leaving it as a track, converting it to a different GPX file from Basecamp.

I tried recreating a tiny portion of the route (just 20 points, as shown in the screenshots). Even when retracing it point by point, it ends up in H1 by drawing straight lines through

Settings:
- Topoactiv map
- Small satellite view overlay to save memory while still providing context
- I still have more than three-quarters of the storage space available on the GPS
- The GPX file contains about 5,600 waypoints in BaseCamp, and it also contains 5,600 on the H1 after import
- In BaseCamp, the base map is the one used by the H1
- The route follows the track perfectly in BaseCamp, on Garmin Connect, on my Suunto app, and on VisuGPX (I’ve tried everything Very Happy )
- As soon as I sync it to my H1, whether with BaseCamp or Garmin Connect, I get complete nonsense. This is especially problematic because at 3,000 meters at night, a route that cuts straight through the mountain is dangerous

Thanks for your help—I’m at my wits’ end... especially at this price Shocked

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

H1 & Bluechart Maps

dfhage — Fri, 08 May 2026 12:45:59 GMT

Has anyone had any success using Bluechart maps with the H1, I tried when I first bought the H1, but couldn't get it to install (via Garmin Express), Garmin support couldn't help either.

That was several firmware versions ago, but Garmin support are giving conflicting answers, the website says it is compatible, but a reply from Garmin support was hedging, I wonder if its the SD card that is the problem ?

I was intending to use the H1 as a backup GPS when sailing offshore in Europe.

Regards

Dave Hage

9.06?

moosetender — Sat, 02 May 2026 13:42:49 GMT

Synced today with my computer and was offered 9.06. Anyone else?

Keyboard language settings

RVASSEN — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 06:10:18 GMT

There is a problem with the keyboard language setting.

I have set the keyboard language to German, but only the English keyboard layout is displayed.
I cannot switch to German. I'm not sure if this is an issue with the latest software version 9.06 or if it was already the case in older versions.

little bug on the 2nd page of the home screen

empe — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 10:57:44 GMT

As I mentioned here today four bugs, I am in the mood for another one.

One the 2nd page of the Home Screen, there is no frame around the glance. When you are using the arrow button rather than the touchscreen, you have to count, like two times down, one time right to reach up ahead on the abc screen. It doesn't matter what is on the 2nd page, the bug is there. When you exchange screens, the bug is on the 'new' 2nd page.

Not a big deal, and this is how Garmin is seeing it. The support acknowledged it, but stated that they don't know IF or when it will be fixed. Its ok if they never fixe it, if we can get instead the promoted climb planning

Tracback bug

empe — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 10:07:52 GMT

after two navigation bugs and a restart during one single activity, I tried out the trackback function and got another bug. I am not sure of setting was to navigating or direct navigation. Anyway, this purple zigzag line should not be.It is even not linked to my actual position. Four bug in 30 minutes !

BTW: compared to the trackback function on a Fenix, the GPSMAP is somehow suboptimal. Why a direct line instead of a navigation for the shortest way back?

Re-routing goes directly to destination when starting navigation mod-course

empe — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 09:08:07 GMT

I am experiencing an issue when starting navigation in the middle of a course instead of at the original start point.

The course itself is the same one that already shows problems with missing course point alerts when routing is disabled.

During an activity, I stopped navigation and then restarted it with routing enabled (magenta line), without returning to the original start of the course.

Turn-by-turn directions initially worked as expected. However, after intentionally deviating from the course, the device detected the deviation but recalculated a route directly to the final destination instead of guiding back to the course.

As a result, all intermediate course points were ignored and no longer used for navigation.

Expected behavior:

When starting navigation mid-course and deviating, the device should recalculate a route back to the course and continue navigation along it, including all remaining course points.

Actual behavior:

Re-routing sends me directly to the final destination, ignoring the course structure entirely.

frequent restarts

empe — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 08:45:42 GMT

since 9.05 I recognized frequent restarts of my H1i Plus. It happens while navigating, just recording an activity and even w/o activity by doing something in the settings. Because of the many bugs, I look frequently on the device and remarked restarts, but maybe it happens unrecognized too. When I recognized it, I stay and wait for the reload before I continue to hike. On the screen is a straight line in the recorded actity from where the device seems tp stop recording, but in the saved activity it seems like it has been recorded completely.

course points: only first alert triggers when following track

empe — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 08:33:51 GMT

When following a course without routing (just the purple line), alerts are only triggered for the first course point. All subsequent course points are ignored. Only the message on the screen appears.

This used to work more or less correctly, with alerts for every course point, but has regressed over time.

It is unclear whether these alerts are handled via proximity or approaching logic, but in any case only the first alert is triggered.

Additionally, could you clarify the intended difference between “Proximity Alarm” and “Approaching Alarm” on this device? To me it is not clear what distinct purpose each setting serves.

Altimeter with Software 9.05

RVASSEN — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 05:40:30 GMT

Hello to all,

I recently tested the new 9.05 software during a short hike. Over the course of the 1.5-hour hike, I immediately noticed several things that aren’t working properly yet.
To compare the recorded data, I also turned on my Tactix 7 Pro. Most of the time, the H1 was just recording, and for short stretches I used the navigation to waypoints that I had marked on the map during the hike. Unfortunately, the device also restarted once during that short time without me having made any inputs.
What bothered me the most was the altimeter’s performance. Therefore, I’d like to focus mainly on these issues for now.

As can be seen in the promotional photo of the device, the altimeter displays two areas: the elevation profile already covered is shown in green, and during active navigation, the upcoming elevation profile is shown in blue.

In fact, the blue area is just displayed for brief moments during navigation. Most of the time, however, it disappears for unknown reasons and reappears now and then (not reproducible).
I can understand that the blue section disappears when you leave the route and the device has to recalculate a new route.
At the latest after the recalculation, however, the upcoming elevation profile should be displayed again. But that doesn’t work.

The refresh rate of the altimeter on the screen still leaves something to be desired.
Every now and then, you have to shake the device or open the altimeter in full-screen mode to see the current data.
The display of the actual altitude seems very accurate, but the cumulative elevation gain is far too high when compared directly to my Tactix.
If you compare the elevation profiles of the two devices on Garmin Connect, you can quickly see that the recorded elevation profile of the H1 is very jagged.
I suspect that there is little or no smoothing applied here, resulting in too much cumulative elevation gain.

If you display the elevation profile in full-screen mode for a while, you’ll quickly notice that the scale of the x and y axes changes unintentionally for brief moments. Furthermore, parts of the profile—or the entire profile—disappear completely for brief moments as well.

In the image above, you can also see a turn-by-turn direction on the map. This feature is currently missing entirely.

Both devices were connected to a Garmin HRMPro+ during the short hike. However, the total calories burned differ significantly, and in my opinion, the H1’s reading is much too low.
In any case, it’s clear that Garmin uses a different calculation method for total calories burned on the H1 than on its outdoor watches and bike computers.

I hope these observations help to further improve the software.

Thanks for reading.

Total system failure / Bootloop after enabling "Activity" map layer – My patience has run out

1356884 — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:17:30 GMT

I’ve officially reached my limit with this device. I’ve spent the last few weeks testing it, trying to be patient and give it a fair chance despite the bugs. I really wanted to love it, but the latest firmware seems to be a case of "one step forward, two steps back."

Yesterday, the device completely gave up on me. After simply enabling the "Activities" map layer, it entered a constant bootloop.

The most frustrating part is that the device is now completely unresponsive to any recovery attempts:
It won't stay off: When I power it down via the menu, it automatically restarts itself.
Reset is broken: Selecting a factory reset triggers a reboot, but nothing actually changes – it starts back up with all my old data and the same loop.

Activity crash: If I try to stop or save an activity, it crashes and reboots immediately.
Buttons are useless: A long press on the power button does nothing to break the cycle.
I can't help but shudder at the thought of this happening during a real trip. If I were out in the field, relying on this for navigation, I’d be in serious trouble. It’s incredibly disappointing that a tool meant for reliability can be "bricked" by a native software setting.

Is there any way to force a "nuclear" master reset when the menu options fail? Or is this now just an expensive paperweight? Any help would be appreciated, as my trust in this unit is currently at zero.
This is my latest Garmin device.

Average position fonction

7596806 — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:22:44 GMT

this problem has already been observed in versions prior to 9.05: An object (a signpost for example) already marked with a waypoint had to be moved approximately ten meters. If the new position is updated using the "Average Position" function, the recorded position is incorrect. It is saved in the middle of the segment whose endpoints are the initial position and the new position.
Best Regards.

Micro SD card problems

7596806 — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:05:10 GMT

With software version 8.08 and 9.05 on GPSMAP H1: When the device is powered on, removing or inserting a SD card Topo France Pro V7 causes the message "changing map" to be displayed continuously. Similar behavior occurs with a 128GB Samsung card loaded with other Topo maps. In all cases, the device can only be powered off by pressing and holding the power button for 30 seconds.

The tracked path is not being displayed! (v. 9.05)

3768946 — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 18:01:49 GMT

During activity recording, the path being traveled does not appear on the map! The track is recorded and saved correctly, but it is not displayed even though "Show on Map" is enabled in Current Activity.

In previous firmware versions, it was displayed regularly (default color: light blue). Is anyone else experiencing the same issue?

LiveTrack not working on H1 (Firmware 9.05)

1356884 — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 11:36:24 GMT

The LiveTrack feature is not working in software version 9.05 (nor in any previous versions). Since I purchased the device, I have been trying to get this feature to work, but without any success.

Everything is configured correctly in the Garmin Connect app. It is worth noting that LiveTrack works perfectly on my Forerunner 965 – it starts automatically every single time. However, on the H1 receiver, it simply doesn't work at all.

Has anyone managed to successfully run LiveTrack on the H1?

Positive feedback on v9.05 and a few concerns regarding QA and Altimeter widget

1356884 — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 11:30:09 GMT

I’ve reported two bugs today, but I also wanted to highlight some positive changes.

In software version 9.05, temperature logging from the Tempe sensor has been fixed; data is now correctly recorded in the activity. Even more importantly: the compass finally works as intended. It orients itself instantly while moving, making navigation seamless.

That being said, if Garmin did even a basic QA check before releasing new firmware—to avoid silly mistakes like translation errors in the menu—the device would be performing quite well by now.

I’m also hoping for a fix for the altimeter widget. The whole concept of the new UI relies on widgets, which is a great idea, but if a widget is buggy, the best UI concept fails in practice.

Lastly, I’m curious about the elevation plot coloring during navigation. Since I live in a flat area, I can’t test this myself. Has anyone had a chance to see how the elevation profile behaves on a route with significant climbs? Is the climb coloring (ClimbPro style) preserved while navigating?

Map Dashboard option missing after v9.05 update

1356884 — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 17:32:26 GMT

Since updating to version 9.05, I’ve encountered an issue with the map screen settings. The Map Dashboard (Data Dashboard) has completely disappeared from the map view.

More importantly, the toggle/option to enable or manage the dashboard is now missing from the Map menu. I can no longer find the setting to turn it back on.

To be honest, I'm losing the motivation to even turn on this device anymore. It’s incredibly frustrating that while fixing some minor bugs, you manage to break basic, core features in the new firmware. This is a fundamental function that should just work

Language issues (Polish) after update to v9.05

1356884 — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 17:20:05 GMT

After updating to version 9.05, I’ve noticed that the Polish translation file seems to be corrupted or incomplete.

Many UI elements have reverted to English despite the system language being set to Polish. For example:

App names like "Flashlight" (previously "Latarka") and "Siren" (previously "Syrena") are now displayed in English.

Numerous options within the Settings menu are also no longer translated.

Issue with Geocaching Live Data and Unregistration

Martin Krastev — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 16:15:19 GMT

Hello,

I just installed the latest update and I’m very pleased that some of the bugs I reported were fixed so quickly. However, I noticed another issue.

I registered the device for Geocaching and downloaded the data for a specific cache to test the navigation. Everything worked fine up to that point. However, when I selected "Remove Live Data" (since I no longer needed that cache), the device was automatically unregistered. To use this feature again, I have to go through the entire registration process from scratch.

I tried this several times, and the result was always the same. I should note that this problem also existed in the previous version.

Could you please let me know if your devices are behaving the same way? I’m trying to determine if this is a global bug.

Thanks in advance for the information!

GPSMAP H1i Software Version v9.05

Garmin-Christopher — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 17:38:45 GMT

Change Log

Added highlight to selected waypoints on the map
Added page to edit the name before saving an area calculation
Added new section to Settings app for Proximity Alarms
Added proximity radius to waypoint review page if applicable
Added Average Location menu option when reviewing a waypoint
Added temperature recording to activities when paired with sensor
Added 3x1 glance to display a specific message thread
Added support for displaying SOS threads by device
Added Messenger account phone number to inReach plan page
Added sender device to message details
Fixed possible issue with map detail on TopoActive maps
Fixed possible issue when setting the Course Transition Distance Radius
Fixed possible issue pressing arrow keys on some keyboards
Fixed possible issue with powered mounts not keeping the display on
Fixed possible issue with map showing wrong location when viewing a message location
Fixed possible issue with Velocity Made Good data field
Fixed possible issue with displaying KMZ map names
Fixed possible issue with values displayed on Barometer
Fixed possible issue with waypoints only showing cardinal directions
Fixed possible issue with snoozing alarms not working
Fixed possible issues when creating waypoints from photos
Fixed possible issue changing Off Course Recalculation setting on some activities
Fixed possible issue with compass deviation indicator while navigating
Fixed review text size setting not working
Fixed various issues with navigation and reviewing items from the map or saved

Buildings mask not working

5021107 — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 09:38:21 GMT

Hello,
I have an H1 GPS with the latest software and Maps (Outdoors Map+).

I always use the Topo Pro map background.

Although selected, the Buildings mask sometimes disappears inexplicably. It's annoying.

I also found a setting for hybrid maps, but it's not documented.

Any explanations?

Rust appearing on screws after splash water

EliasMustermann — Sun, 05 Apr 2026 16:52:51 GMT

Hello everyone, about a month ago I was out kayaking. My H1 only got some splashes of water on it and was never submerged. Even so, three screws are already starting to rust. Has anyone else had similar problems or experiences? @Garmin, why would you use steel screws on a device that is advertised as waterproof?!