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 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
Thank You,
Deborah @ Humminbird
Very good info to have. Thank you for posting it here on UB.
Great information thank you for getting this out to our members.
Great to see Ultimate Bass bring in HB Deborah. Hope she frequents this forum in the future. That is fantastic support.
Very good info. I'm going to Sticky this to keep it at the top of the page. Thanks for stopping by Deborah and passing this information along. :-*
Deborah Excuse my jumping in on your post but when you find the right source its not hard to ask.
my HB 587 Hd unit is amazing, it has a navionics sd card which I purchased, very pleased with the unit and its been problem free.
question: is it ok for my dock neighbor to try my sd card in his lowrance unit to see if he likes the detail etc. Thus when I reinstall it will it work ok? thanks for your time
I got with Navionics on this and here is their input.
"You can use the same Navionics chip multiple units. The same chip that you have in a Lowrance will work in Humminbird. Provided that both units can run that chart."
I have had no problem using my Bird Nav Chips in the Lowrance's to date ~shade
You will not see any problems switching the cards from one unit to the other just make sure your not damaging the SD Card and make sure the MSD card does not disappear.
Quote from: HBirdDeborahCRC on July 30, 2012, 08:19:06 AM
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 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
Thank You,
Deborah @ Humminbird
Deborah...I recently have had to send to HB Service my HB859 and then 2 weeks later my HB899 for whats called a software replacement and a factory reset. I do use way points created with Google Earth - GPSBlabel but before placing on my SD card I use Hummingbird PC to Import them and only then Export to my SD card. Once the SD has been read into each unit the way points seem to work fine...however the next day each unit does the following and has to be returned to service.
Turn on HB
Press Menu...make any of the 3 selections
Press Exit
The units both say "Shutting Down" and then reboot back to Menu...they do this over and over until I remove the power.
I am using both LakeMaster or Navionics SD cards depending on what lake I am fishing.
I have the 899 - 859 - MK Ipilot Link all connected thru HB Ethernet Switch
Thanks, Jim
IMPORTANT
If in HBPC you see waypoints with blank time&date fields, then HBPC will later fail to open that GPX.
This "bug" has existed since around 2012.
So if you observe this, then immediately download this data to a SD-card, then upload the data from the SD-card to create a new GPX which you can rename. All the waypoint time&date fields should be populated.