Humminbird Technical Bulletin

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Technical Bulletin


Units Effected: All GPS Combo Units with Card Slots

We have seen issues where consumers obtain Navigation Data (Waypoints, Tracks and/or Routes) from various sources such as Lowrance or Garmin waypoints, GPS Babel, Google Earth, unknown origin from friends etc, and then load this data onto a SD card and download this data directly into their Humminbird unit.  

Each GPS company has a unique format that is required for their data in order for it to work properly in their units. This is true with Humminbird as well.  Humminbird uses .gpx file extensions.  Loading unknown sources of navigation data into your Humminbird unit, without first properly converting it through HumminirdPC 4.3.3 to configure it into the correct format (.gpx), can lead to corrupt data which can cause the unit to lock up or malfunction. These types of malfunctions can make it impossible to retrieve waypoints from the unit; therefore, when this happens all existing navigation data on the unit could be lost.  

With this in mind the following guidelines should be followed:

1.    Always maintain a backup copy of your navigational data such as waypoints, routes and tracks. This is very simple to do. You just need to insert a blank SD card into the unit, go under the Navigation tab and select Waypoints, Routes and Tracks and export a copy of your waypoints to the blank card. Navigational data can also be backed up by connecting your Humminbird unit to Humminbird PC. If you have any questions as to how to do this or any other questions about this bulletin you can also check out the FAQ section of our website or contact our Consumer Service department

2.   Never load any navigational data into your Humminbird product unless you have converted the data by running it through the Humminbird PC program. The Humminbird PC program is available free of charge whenever you register your Humminbird fishfinder. If you follow this step you should never encounter any problems as living by guideline #1 is always a good practice whether with your Humminbird unit or with your personal computer.

The latest versions of software provide you with a prompt, when you insert a SD card into the unit, asking if you want to download the navigation data from the SD card onto this unit. You can use this prompt as a reminder that you should only download data onto your Humminbird unit after you have run the data through the Humminbird PC program to ensure that it has been formatted properly.

3.   Make sure you have a stable power source when downloading navigational data into your Humminbird unit. If power is lost during the download process it can also result in corrupted data or unit failure.  The only remedy for this is to return to our facility for service.  This is not covered by warranty.  

4.   If you have already installed waypoints from an outside source and it has caused your unit to lock up there is a process you can follow to get your unit operating properly again.  Unfortunately, if you haven't backed up your waypoints outside of the unit you may not be able to recover your waypoints. Please contact our consumer services group or check out the FAQ's on our website.

[djkimmel]

Very good information and I thank you for taking the time to share it with us. I can remember a full-time pro angler, who you think would know better, lamenting about losing ALL his Lake St. Clair waypoints because his (other brand) GPS unit reset and he didn't have a backup. That was maybe 15, 20 years plus of important, hard-earned data gone.