Loading maps forever... now 3+ minutes after eject from Garmin Express

Have you loaded non-original maps files maybe?

No, have only used right out of the box, with the software updates Garmin Express installs. Though I have now tried using 2.64, but with the same results - long wait while it says loading maps....

Maybe it's always been 'this slow'. Mine takes a minute or two to load. It's certainly not instant.

I had the same happen to me shortly after getting my 945. I bought mine in the US with the North America maps as primary. I deleted and then reinstalled all my maps and they now load much quicker.  I also have maps I purchased from Talkytoaster on my watch and it takes 20-30 seconds to load after disconnecting from Express. 

Thanks for the thought, though it was not always slow. Something changed and I think it had to do with after I loaded Spotify. I'm not sure though as I don't know exactly when it started. Slow is about 2 minutes. I can hold the power button down and do a hard reboot and come back up faster than it can come back after having it plugged into USB and unplugging.

You might not need to delete the maps. Hook up to Garmin Express and choose to reinstall them from there.

Definitely best to follow what Philip describes and try reinstalling the maps first. My experience of having one TopoActive map update on my MARQ making things run slow was fixed by reinstalling the map (as described above). You could also try to locate and delete the cached download of the TopoActive maps that Express keeps (on a win10 pc that’s usually somewhere in the ProgramData folder), in case there was some sort of corruption to that downloaded file; Express then has to download the required map files afresh. Also worth doing the map updates/re-installs one at a time, so you can ID which one causes any issues and ID the respective files from the date/time stamp on those files.

I recall from the Fenix 5+ forums that someone deleted their TopoActive map files, without taking a backup, and Express then didn’t give the option to install them afresh. So if you do want to mess around with the TopoActive map files, definitely make sure you have backed them up somewhere beforehand.

I went into the Garmin folder and removed all of the img files and saved them elsewhere on my computer in case there was a problem like Crispin_Ellisdon mentioned. As philipshambrook said you can try reinstalling the maps. I tried that first and had no luck. Maybe it will be successful for you though. I didn't have Spotify on my watch at that time, so our issues may be different.  I added Spotify weeks later and all remained OK. 

Thanks both of you for additional options. I tried both reinstalling all the maps. No change at all. Still over 2 minutes of Loading Maps after removing from USB. Then I copied all the IMG files to my computer and deleted them off the watch, then removed from USB.

This temporarily worked as the 1st time I removed from USB it showed Loading Maps for about 15 seconds then it was ready to go - this is without any maps. I then tried to reload maps from Garmin Express and got an error. Removed watch from USB, then it was back to 2 minute wait - without any maps loaded.

Copied the maps back. Still 2 minutes of Loading Maps after I removed from USB.

So whatever causes this was removed with the maps, but was regenerated/recreated when it was Loading Maps or when Garmin Express attempted to reinstall the maps after they were removed.

Maybe be some sort of indexing process that happens only when removed from USB. I can hold the power button and force a hard reboot and it loads fast after it reboots, but if removed from USB, it Loads Maps for 2 minutes before being ready to use.

Any other thoughts on things to try? I have strong doubts Garmin Support can help, but will try that if no new ideas.