TranslationI work for a company that conducts field surveys*. We recently bought 6 Garmin GPSMAP H1i Plus devices believing it would be an upgrade. We have previously used the GPSMAP 66/66i, GPSMAP 67/67i, and Montana 700. One key aspect we were looking forward to was the ability to include more detailed notes when marking waypoints, which is why the H1i Plus appealed to us with its on-screen keyboard.
Unfortunately, the H1 series devices are an unmitigated disaster. Garmin have released an unfinished, feature-poor, buggy, regressive device camouflaged by an attractive sleek and modern hardware refresh.
The most frustrating part of the whole experience is the sheer number of bugs that make the device borderline unusable. I'm sure Garmin can work many of those out with software updates over time - but we're not interested in being their beta testers while they do so.
Below are a handful of issues (both UI issues and bugs) we've encountered while using/trying to use the device across 2 survey projects to date (not including an exhaustive list of the many, many software bugs). Input on any of these issues would be appreciated, but at this point we are most likely going to attempt to return all 6 devices and potentially commit to the Montana series instead. Though at this point we're keen to move away from Garmin devices altogether.
Exporting points with notes
The most critical issue for us. We cannot find a way to reliably export waypoints with their associated notes.
When marking a waypoint, the H1i allows you to add a “Note”. This seems to be an exact parallel of the “Note” function when marking a waypoint on e.g. the 66/66i. But when exporting from the GPS through Basecamp or Garmin Explore in a PC browser, the notes are not carried over. When syncing to the Garmin Explore app (at least, on iOS), the notes are carried over, so clearly the data is there. But I cannot find a way – nor any documentation – to keep the notes when exporting to a PC.
Use of courses instead of tracks
Previous generations of Garmin device have not supported polygons, but the workaround was to convert the polygon to a track which would allow it to be shown as a shape on the map. Since the H1i no longer uses tracks and only uses courses, this is still technically possible, but courses always show with start and end symbols on the map. I cannot find a way to hide these symbols, which makes the map very cluttered and, if you are using small polygons, also hides them completely unless you are very zoomed in.
We attempted to work around this issue by making our own base maps (using a QGIS plugin for map tiling), which sort of worked for loading raster basemaps onto the device, but these are a really poor substitute for vector data and don't work very well, particularly given that it's not possible to manually set the zoom level at which these maps appear.
It would be far simpler if Garmin could allow importing polygons onto the device, but at the very least the ability to turn off those start/end symbols or a return to the tracks/courses distinction would help.
The boot loop of death
As many other users have found, it's not difficult to trigger a boot loop on the H1 series, which is very difficult to resolve.
We did find a workaround for doing a hard reset on the device, but after a boot loop was triggered during a survey, we've resorted to carrying our older devices as a secondary recording system - rendering the new H1i Plus essentially redundant.
Check in
When set up with an active InReach plan, the Check in applet shows a very basic screen. By default, it is set as “To: Check-in 1”. The three buttons below are:
- [checkmark] check-in content 1
- [play symbol] check-in content 2
- [stop symbol] check-in content 3
It is unclear as to what each of the check-in options is meant to do. It is only through tapping the buttons and triggering emails to myself stating “starting my trip”, “Delayed, but everything is OK.”, and “Pick me up here.” That I was able to work out what they do.
Referring to the manual, I find this section:
(pp.35 GUID-A494ACED-FFD6-481B-9DAF-D521E717FE5F v4)Check-in messages are messages with predefined text and recipients.
TIP: You can customize check-in message recipients in the Garmin Messenger app. From the Device tab in the app, select Check-In > Edit Check-in Contacts.
But then when looking in the Garmin Messenger app (iOS), I navigate to the Device tab and cannot find a Check-In section. Importantly, no amount of searching has turned up any way to edit my check-in contact or nor to edit the preset content of the check-in messages themselves.
Map zooming issue
When using pinch-to-zoom on the touchscreen, the map frequently jumps a significant distance to the north, usually off the original extent of the screen. This also sometimes occurs when using the physical buttons.
Broken “Help & Info” button on Garmin Explore app (iOS)
I've included this just to show how lazy and unhelpful Garmin's software development is. In the Device tab, under Settings, at the bottom of the screen is a button labelled “Help & Info”. This is a dead button that does nothing.
*N.B. we are aware of the limitations of handheld GPS receivers. We also use mobile dGPS setups and stationary RTK systems as needed. But handheld GPS receivers are our bread and butter for preliminary survey work, as we work in very remote areas and rely on lightweight, minimal equipment, as is standard in our industry.