Garmin GPSMAP H1i Plus Overview: Path Examined

Highlights

Certainly one of my long-standing annoyances with Garmin is that new fashions have often felt like small, incremental updates. The H1 collection breaks that sample. Garmin redesigned each the {hardware} and the software program to make the GPSMAP sooner, extra intuitive, and simpler to make use of. If you happen to’re used to the usual GPSMAP 6x mannequin, the H1 will really feel acquainted but additionally improved. That stated, it’s not good, however hats off to Garmin for making some daring strikes.

{Hardware}

The H1i is bigger and heavier (10.2 oz / 290g) than the 67i, however it sits effectively within the hand and doesn’t really feel unwieldy. IP67 mud and water safety is a step up from earlier fashions. The construct is plastic with steel accents, together with the brand new Backbone Mount 2 attachment level. Older backbone mount equipment usually are not suitable. It ships with a small nylon loop and carabiner for attaching on to a pack.

The bodily buttons carry over from earlier GPSMAP fashions, which is the best name. In moist or sloppy situations, tactile buttons with a transparent click on are a significant benefit over a touchscreen-only gadget. There’s additionally an arrow rocker for transferring the map pointer.

Display

The “H” in H1 stands for hybrid, and the three.5-inch touchscreen is the centerpiece of that. It’s noticeably bigger than earlier GPSMAP screens and responds effectively to thumb navigation whereas holding the gadget. Vibration suggestions is offered in settings however was faint and inconsistent in my testing. Firmware problem, probably.

The display is dim out of the field. Turning off auto-brightness and manually elevating the brightness degree makes an actual distinction. In outside use it’s acceptable, notably in direct daylight, but when the 67i’s display feels dim to you, the H1 might be worse.

Software program

The brand new interface works like a smartphone in broad strokes: swipe down from the highest for settings, swipe facet to facet for pages, swipe up from the underside for open apps. After a few minutes it clicks. A number of issues to know:

• Swipe down (or maintain energy) for settings.
• Swipe facet to facet (or use arrow keys) for pages.
• Swipe up (or use Web page button) for open apps.

Web page and data-field customization is restricted in comparison with all of the layouts and knowledge fields on an older 6x mannequin, and even towards an Edge biking laptop, which has way more customization choices. In case you are coming from and older mannequin, some settings and options moved or modified. It’s takes a couple of minutes to refind all the pieces.

Voice

Voice instructions work offline and use pure speech detection, so that you don’t want actual phrases, and it labored effectively in my testing. I mapped the motion button to set off voice instructions. Voice-to-text for messages isn’t accessible but, which might be a helpful addition for a tool on this class.

GPS

Map scrolling and routing are sooner than different Garmin gadget, however nonetheless slower than a telephone. Route calculations that took near a minute on older GPSMAP items occur virtually immediately right here. Exercise controls sit on the house display, and you may default an exercise to start out with inReach monitoring on. Navigation prompts embrace vibration and voice instructions, and route recalculation is fast.

Accuracy in Auto Choose mode averaged 12-18 toes in my testing. Switching to All Programs + Multi-Band introduced that all the way down to 7-9 toes constantly. That’s acceptable however inferior to the older 67i, which holds 6-9 toes. The H1 appears to lock onto much less satellites.

A number of different notes from testing:

• Recording intervals at the moment are Auto or Each Second solely, dropping the time/distance choices accessible on older items. That’s a significant regression for anybody recording trails.
• Basecamp works, however map switch speeds are nonetheless sluggish.
• Customized maps exported from CalTopo imported and displayed accurately.
• TOPO U.S. 24K maps on microSD loaded high quality.
• Inner storage is 64GB, up from 16GB on the 67i.
• Altimeter calibrated at a benchmark and held inside 0-20 toes.

Battery

Battery life has been a constant disappointment. With 10-minute inReach monitoring, auto satellite tv for pc mode, and lively navigation, I averaged round 4% drain per hour, which falls wanting Garmin’s printed spec. Switching to All Programs + Multi-Band or rising monitoring frequency made it worse. Accounting for variables like display brightness and Bluetooth, I nonetheless couldn’t attain Garmin’s numbers.

inReach

The H1i Plus runs Garmin’s inReach Plus protocol on the Iridium community, the identical because the Messenger Plus, with two modes:

• Efficiency Mode retains the satellite tv for pc hyperlink open for sooner sends
• Low Energy Mode checks for messages roughly as soon as an hour.

Messaging labored effectively general. Textual content and multimedia messages, together with photographs and voice notes, despatched and obtained with out points. The one constant failure was satellite tv for pc climate forecasts, which returned a “no forecast” error each time regardless of a strong sign.

Digital camera

The H1i Plus has an 8MP rear digital camera and a 5MP entrance digital camera. Picture high quality is fundamental however helpful for documenting path junctions, springs, or landmarks. Photographs are geotagged and might be despatched over satellite tv for pc to different inReach customers or Garmin Messenger contacts.

The voice recorder enables you to document quick audio messages for satellite tv for pc transmission. Recipients get each a transcript and the unique audio. In testing it labored cleanly and has actual sensible worth for reporting path situations or sending updates from the sector.

Reliability

Like most new Garmin units, the H1i Plus launched tough, and sadly has continued tough. Each firmware launch is usually 3 steps ahead, 1 step again. Points for myself and others have included random reboots. That is alleged to be a dependable gadget which you can belief your life with, and I don’t get the nice and cozy fuzzies from all of the bugs.