Garmin GPSMAP 67, Garmin GPSMAP 67i, Garmin GPSMAP H1, Garmin GPSMAP H1i plus, GPSMAP comparison - August 14, 2026

Garmin GPSMAP 67i vs H1 vs H1i Plus: Which Should You Buy?

If you are buying a Garmin handheld GPS today, three models will be on your shortlist: the proven GPSMAP 67i, the newer GPSMAP H1 and the satellite-enabled GPSMAP H1i Plus.

All three are serious outdoor navigation units. The right choice is not about buying the newest or the most expensive one. It is about which differences will actually change the way you navigate, and which you will never notice.

We sell all three, we train people on all three, and we carry them ourselves. Below are two videos where Andy puts them side by side, and our honest view on who should buy which.

The short answer

GPSMAP 67i - you want satellite messaging and the longest battery life, and you are happy with buttons and a 3 inch screen.

GPSMAP H1 - you want the easiest unit to actually live with: bigger touchscreen, far simpler handling of GPX routes, and you do not need to message from off-grid.

GPSMAP H1i Plus - you want everything the H1 does and the ability to send messages, share your location and trigger an SOS with no phone signal.

Worth knowing: the H1i Plus works out around £90 cheaper than buying an H1 and a separate inReach Mini 3 - the sums are further down.

Garmin GPSMAP 67i, H1 and H1i Plus compared

	GPSMAP 67i	GPSMAP H1	GPSMAP H1i Plus
Price from	£499.99	£549.99	£849.99
Screen	3in, buttons only	3.5in touchscreen + buttons	3.5in touchscreen + buttons
Satellite messaging (inReach)	Yes - text, tracking, SOS	No	Yes - plus photos and voice
Message length	160 characters	-	1,600 characters
Cameras / microphone	No	No	5MP front, 8MP rear, mic
Voice commands	No	No	Yes
Battery, GPS mode	Up to 180 hours	Up to 145 hours	Up to 145 hours
Weight	230g	276g	290g
Internal memory	16GB	64GB	64GB
Built-in speaker	No	Yes	Yes

Prices are for the base unit with TopoActive Europe mapping. Adding Ordnance Survey mapping increases the price - the current figure for every option is on each product page.

Garmin GPSMAP 67i v GPSMAP H1i Plus

The GPSMAP 67 series has been one of our most popular handheld ranges for good reason. It is robust, the battery life is exceptional, and the button controls work in any weather, in any season, with gloves on.

The H1 series takes the range in a different direction. You still have physical buttons, but they are now paired with a 3.5 inch touchscreen. Everyday jobs - panning the map, changing a data field, turning a map layer on or off - are noticeably quicker.

In this video, Andy puts the two units side by side and looks at the differences that matter when you are actually out using them.

Moving around the map

On the 67i you nudge the map with the cursor, and you wait for the arrow to reach the edge of the screen before it scrolls. On the H1 series you drag it, exactly as you would on a phone, and it moves as fast as your thumb does. You can still use the buttons if you prefer - and you can switch the touchscreen off altogether if you would rather not have it.

What we have found is that the screen works properly in the wet, which is not always true of a phone. It is the same transflective screen technology as the 67, so it gets easier to read as the light gets brighter, and the battery is not being spent lighting it up.

Routes, tracks and GPX files - the change most people underestimate

This is the difference we would put first, and it is the one that never shows up on a spec sheet.

On a 67i, a GPX file could arrive as a route, a track or a course depending on which planning tool it came from, and each behaved differently. Routes had a point limit. Send one with too many points and it simply would not work, so you had to send it as a track instead. It caught people out constantly, and it is one of the most common things we get phone calls about.

On the H1 series, that has gone. Whatever you send it - route, track or course, from a computer or from an app - arrives as a single thing called a course, with no limit on the number of points. You can keep loading GPX files until the memory is full. Everything you have sent to the unit sits in one folder, and everything you have recorded sits in another.

Garmin has also drawn direction arrows inside the magenta line. On a route that crosses back over itself, you can now see at a glance which way you are meant to be going. It is a small thing that removes a real moment of doubt in poor visibility.

Battery life and weight

This is where the 67i still wins. It will give you up to 180 hours on GPS alone against 145 hours on the H1 series, and it is around 50g lighter. If you are out for weeks at a time and away from any means of charging, that matters. For a long weekend in the hills, or a big day out, both are far more than you need.

The 67i remains an excellent GPS and there are plenty of people for whom it is still the right unit. But if you want a larger screen, faster handling and a much simpler relationship with your route files, the H1 series is a genuine step forward.

GPSMAP H1 or H1i Plus?

If you have decided the H1 series is right for you, there is a second decision to make - and a £300 difference between the two.

For navigation, the units are all but identical. Same 3.5 inch touchscreen, same physical buttons, same operating system, same maps, same accuracy, same battery life in GPS mode.

The difference is communication.

The GPSMAP H1i Plus has Garmin inReach satellite technology built in. You can spot it instantly by the red antenna and the protected SOS button under the red flap on the side.

Andy demonstrates the differences here.

What the inReach actually gives you

With an active subscription, and nothing more than a view of the sky, the H1i Plus can:

send and receive text messages with no mobile signal, up to 1,600 characters
send simple check-in messages so family know you are fine
let friends and family follow your progress on a map
send photographs taken on the unit's own camera, or on your phone
send short voice messages, recorded on the built-in microphone
trigger an SOS to a 24-hour international coordination centre, which knows exactly where you are and will message you back to tell you help is coming

The camera works front and rear - 5 megapixel on the front, 8 megapixel on the back. The microphone also drives voice commands, so you can set a button to listen and simply say "compass" or "map" to jump straight to that screen.

What the subscription costs

This is the part people want a straight answer on, so here it is. The entry-level inReach Enabled plan is £7.99 a month, with unlimited SOS and messaging with Garmin Response included, then 10p per check-in message or tracking point and 50p per text message or weather forecast. Plans with more included messages cost more per month. You can suspend the plan out of season, and as long as you restart within 12 months there is no re-activation fee.

Rather than guess, put your own usage into our Garmin inReach plan cost calculator and it will tell you which plan works out cheapest for the walking you actually do.

Is the H1i Plus worth £300 more than the H1?

Our honest view: if you always walk in company, in places with reasonable phone coverage, and someone at home knows where you are - the standard H1 is the better buy, and we will tell you so.

If you walk alone, if you go out in winter, if you head for the Cheviots, the Cairngorms or the middle of the Pennine Way where a phone is a decoration rather than a tool - then it is not really £300 for a camera. It is £300 for the ability to tell someone you are fine, and to be found if you are not.

The comparison most people miss

Plenty of walkers plan to buy a navigation unit and carry a separate satellite messenger alongside it. It is a perfectly sensible approach - but it is worth doing the sums before you commit.

Option	Cost	What you carry
GPSMAP H1 + inReach Mini 3	£549.99 + £389.99 = £939.98	Two devices, two batteries, two things to learn
GPSMAP H1i Plus	£849.99	One device, one battery, one set of controls

The H1i Plus comes out around £90 cheaper than buying the two separately - and it adds the cameras, the microphone, the voice commands and 1,600 character messages on top. If you were always going to carry a messenger anyway, the H1i Plus is not the expensive option. It is the cheaper one.

The same subscription applies either way, so there is no difference in the running cost.

Still torn between the three?

Tell us how you walk and we will pick one for you

These are all excellent units and the right answer depends entirely on where you go, whether you want Ordnance Survey mapping on the unit, and whether satellite messaging genuinely matters for the trips you do. Tell us a little about your walking and we will come back to you personally with the one unit we would choose, and a walk and talk video of it out on the hill. Free, and no hard sell - if the cheaper option is the right one for you, we will say so.

Get my free GPS recommendation →

Takes about a minute. A real person will reply, usually the same day.

Which Garmin GPSMAP should you buy?

Start with what you actually need rather than with the specification sheet.

Buy the GPSMAP 67i if: you want satellite messaging and SOS at the lowest price, you value the very longest battery life, and you are perfectly happy driving a GPS with buttons. It is still one of our best sellers and we would not talk anyone out of it.

Buy the GPSMAP H1 if: you want the easiest unit of the three to live with. Bigger screen, quicker to use, no more wrestling with route point limits, and a torch and siren built in. If you are coming from a GPSMAP 67, this is its natural successor. It is the unit we sell most of and the one our own guides carry.

Buy the GPSMAP H1i Plus if: you want everything the H1 gives you, and you regularly go where there is no mobile coverage. Solo walkers, winter hill days, long-distance trails, expedition work and anyone leading groups. The camera, the voice messages and the voice commands are the extras - the reason to buy it is the peace of mind.

All three are capable navigation devices. The important thing is choosing the one whose features you will actually use.

Upgrading from an older unit?

We will take your old GPS or GPS watch in part exchange. Get an instant trade-in estimate in a couple of minutes.

Get your trade-in price →

Buy with GPS Training support

When you buy your Garmin GPS from us, you are not just buying the unit.

Every unit comes with our Gold Support Package for a year at no extra cost, worth £145. We set the unit up before it goes out, you get our online training course and printed factsheets in the box, and you get telephone and email support from people who use these units themselves.

We also see these devices in customers' hands every week on our Garmin GPS training courses, which is how we know where people get stuck. Owning a capable GPS is the easy part. Trusting it on a wet hillside in poor visibility is the part we help with.

Frequently asked questions

Is the GPSMAP 67i being discontinued?
No. The navigation-only GPSMAP 67 has been discontinued by Garmin, but the 67i, with inReach satellite messaging, is still in production and remains one of our best sellers. We wrote more about this in is Garmin discontinuing the GPSMAP 67.

Can I turn the touchscreen off on the H1 and H1i Plus?
Yes. You can disable the touchscreen entirely and drive the unit on buttons alone, or use whichever suits the moment. Most people end up using a mixture of both.

Does the H1i Plus need a subscription to work as a GPS?
No. Navigation, mapping, tracking, the torch and the siren all work without any subscription. Only the satellite messaging, tracking and SOS need an active inReach plan.

Do my old GPSMAP 67 mounts and cases fit the H1 series?
No - the H1 series uses a different mount. There is a good range of dedicated accessories now available, including bike mounts, powered mounts and an AMPS/RAM adapter. You can see them all in the GPSMAP H series accessories section.

Which map option should I choose?
Every unit comes with TopoActive Europe mapping as standard. If you want Ordnance Survey mapping on the unit, you can add 1:50k, or 1:25k, 1:50k and 1:250k together. As a rule of thumb 1:50,000 is plenty for hillwalking; 1:25,000 earns its keep on lowland footpaths and in poor visibility. If you are not sure, ask us rather than guess.