GPSrChive Discussion Forum

It seems like Waypoint notes are easily lost when the device is synced with Garmin Explore App. This is, not good.

Steps:
- Create a waypoint on the eTrex Solar.
- Edit waypoint, and add some text to notes. We can see entered notes in waypoint view screen right under coordinate.
- Sync etrex with Garmin Explore app.

Actually at this point, the notes DO show up on garmin explore app for the waypoint. (I don't think this was the case yesterday, but today it worked, oh well). BUT,

- Edit the notes on the phone (modify the text, since it's much easier to type on phone).
- Sync with device again in App.

At this point, when we check the waypoint on the device. Note is blank! BLANK. Not only is the new notes entered on phone didn't transfer over, it clobbered the previous value.

- Furthermore, edit the note on the device, set the text to something else.
- It is immediately lost when you return to the Waypoint page. Note remains BLANK!

Setup:
eTrex solar: v4.21
Garmin Explore: v4.2.1 for iphone (latest as of today)

I checked your problem in GPSMAP67.
The note added to the point on the GPS device after synchronization with Explore is next to the point in the application.
I edit the note in Explore and re-synchronize. The new note appeared next to the point also in GPSMAP67.
Now I modify the note in GPSMAP and re-synchronize. In Explore the point has a modified new note.
Your problem does not occur for me, everything works properly.
After changing the content of the note in Explore, did you press the save button?

Nail wrote: Wed Mar 12, 2025 8:04 am I checked your problem in GPSMAP67 ...

Thank you for testing this on 67 @Nail.

I tried again, and I am able to reproduced the bug, multiple times.
- Create a waypoint on eTrex Solar. Edit notes to “Aaaaa”, make sure to click DONE (done is not necessary, see below).
- Find waypoint on eTrex Solar, confirm notes visible right under coordinates.
- Open Garmin Explorer on phone, click “Devices” tab, tap sync (2 circle arrow) button. Wait for it to finish.
- Go to “Saved” tab, find and select waypoint, confirm Notes section shows “Aaaaa” (so far so good, no bugs).

To trigger the bug, edit the notes on the phone:
- Edit waypoint on phone, and change “Aaaaa” to “Bbbbbb”, click “Save” on top right on phone.
- Confirm “Bbbbbb” is shown in waypoint info on phone.
- Go to Devices tab, and sync again.

On the device:
- Find waypoint on device, note Notes is now blank [BUG-1, clobber]
- Change notes on device to “Cccccc”
- Notice that on device, the Note section is STILL BLANK [BUG-2, edit didn't work]
- Do sync on phone again.
- Notes on phone still shows “Bbbbb”.

Now to see if I can recreate the problems with a smaller set of steps, I tried to create a waypoint on the phone first, and then sync it back to the device. NO BUG IN THIS APPROACH!

- Create a new waypoint on phone, with notes, sync back to device.
- Device correctly shows notes entered on phone. [NO-BUG]

Furthermore!!
- Edit notes on device, looks ok afterwards on device (unlike the bug case where edit didn't work)
- Sync back to phone, look on phone, notes is retained! [NO-BUG]

I repeated the changing notes more times:
- Change notes on device, click done.
- Notes on phone automatically updated and showed the new string (i was in the page that showed the waypoint).
- I tried edit the notes on the device again, as soon as I finished editing, even before I clicked DONE on device, the phone showed the new notes.

But lastly, if I edit the notes on the phone, and sync back, the device again shows a blank notes.

Conclusion

Waypoint created on device have issue when notes are edited on the phone.

Waypoint created on phone seems to be fine when notes are edited on the device after sync, but not edits on the phone afterwards.

It seems the problem is with eTrex. Your test works fine in GPSMAP67.

I am really curious if someone can try this with the eTrex SE, as that one is almost the same as the Solar so I won't be surprised if the same issue is also there.

I've further tweaked /simplified the bug reproduction steps to below:

Setup:
- eTrex Solar: setting / phone / Status: ON (this turns on bluetooth)
- iPhone Garmin Explore: under “Devices” / eTrex Solar shows as connected

Steps:
- Create waypoint on eTrex Solar. Set notes to text “Aaaaaa” (easy to type).
- Waypoint should sync to phone automatically shortly after.
- In Garmin Explore: Under “Saved” / find and open the new waypoint. Scroll slightly up to ensure you can see the notes “Aaaaaa”. [OK-1]
- On device, change notes now to “Bbbbbbb”
- Within a few seconds, you’ll see the notes on the phone automatically changes from “Aaaaaa” to “Bbbbbbb”. [OK-2]

So far so good. This shows that waypoint data is correctly synced from DEVICE -> PHONE. No bugs yet.

Bug:
- Update waypoint notes on the phone to a different text such as “phone text”.
- After a few seconds (or do an explicit sync in Explore), go to eTrex Solar and find the waypoint. You’ll see the Notes is BLANK [ISSUE-1].
- Edit the notes on the device to “Ccccccc”, click DONE. Note on device is STILL BLANK [ISSUE-2]
- On Explorer, notes for the waypoint still shows as “Bbbbbbb” [ISSUE-3]

Deleting the waypoint on the device actually works, and will remove the waypoint from Explore also.

I'll try to call Garmin this week to report the issue. This is a data corruption issue that's pretty bad.

While I am certainly no fan of Explore (which I commonly refer to as Perses) - the most destructive and disastrous software ever produced by Garmin (to date) - I have been thus far unable to duplicate your issue using my Android phone with Explore app and an eTrex Solar with v4.21 firmware loaded.

Multiple edits on both the phone and the eTrex, and every single time, after the sync is complete, both devices display the waypoint notes properly.

Thank you for trying this on Android. I don't have an Android device, but it's good to know that it works fine on Android. So this feature is not totally broken.

I've also reported the issue to Garmin via email. Let's hope they respond.

I didn't realize you were using iOS, I do see the reference now. I only have android to test myself.

I tested this on an eTrex SE, and on an Android phone.

The same issue exist on eTrex SE 4.20 with iOS Garmin Explore App. Same as observed on eTrex Solar. Sympton is exactly the same. (The eTrex SE was master-reset after upgrade firmware to latest via Garmin Express).

However, when using Android Explore App, I am NOT able to reproduce the issue. The "Notes" on Waypoints synced correctly back and forth, as you've observed @GPSrChive.

So this issue only happens with iOS Explore App and both SE and Solar.

It's not clear to me whether it's a device issue, or an App issue.

I have not heard anything from Garmin. Do they response to email bug report?

Do you have the latest Explore software? I recently had a problem with my Explore that I didn't have before. It turns out there was a software update that fixed the problem.