I've created waypoints that I want to upload to my UHD93. Everything looks fine when the data is like this:

 

<wpt lat="32.829283" lon="-83.772517">
    <name>Claystone marina docks & ramp</name>
</wpt>

 

But if I add a comment lines it fails to import:

 

<wpt lat="32.829283" lon="-83.772517">
    <name>Claystone marina docks & ramp</name>
    <cmt>Early/late: pitch 5–6" curly-tail Texas rig (red shad/green pumpkin) under floats work dock lights after dark. Midday backup: slow a shaky head along shade lines.</cmt>
</wpt>

 

I also replaced <cmt> and </cmt> with <desc> and </desc> and it still fails.

 

It's frustrating because when I export my existing waypoints the schema looks like this and includes the <cmt> tags:

 

    <wpt lat="34.7973000258" lon="-82.8965000063">
        <time>2025-08-31T11:56:52Z</time>
        <name>Oconee Nuc</name>
        <cmt>TEST COMMENT</cmt>
        <sym>Fishing Area 4</sym>
        <extensions>
            <gpxx:WaypointExtension>
                <gpxx:DisplayMode>SymbolAndName</gpxx:DisplayMode>
            </gpxx:WaypointExtension>
            <uuidx:uuid>5740d844-d6c2-4f2b-a562-7cfc7d202b6f</uuidx:uuid>
        </extensions>
    </wpt>

 

I tried truncating the comment line to less than 25 characters and it still fails.

 

Any suggestions?

Your XML is not valid. You have some invalid characters that cannot be used directly in XML.   & and "  characters are used in XML notation so you must substitute &amp;  for the & character and &quot; for the " character.  I cannot explain why your first example worked because the & character should be a problem.  The following should work.

 

<wpt lat="32.829283" lon="-83.772517">
    <name>Claystone marina docks &amp; ramp</name>
    <cmt>Early/late: pitch 5–6&quot; curly-tail Texas rig (red shad/green pumpkin) under floats work dock lights after dark. Midday backup: slow a shaky head along shade lines.</cmt>
</wpt>

 

If that doesn't fix the problem then Gamin is not following all the rules and you may just need to remove any special character that you cannot enter on the Garmin unit itself but I think it will work.

 

There are a few zillion xml editor apps that will check what you type for you and if you reference the GPX schema  they make sure you have a valid GPX format as well.

1 hour ago, Tennessee Boy said:

Your XML is not valid. You have some invalid characters that cannot be used directly in XML.   & and "  characters are used in XML notation so you must substitute &amp;  for the & character and &quot; for the " character.  I cannot explain why your first example worked because the & character should be a problem.  The following should work.

 

<wpt lat="32.829283" lon="-83.772517">
    <name>Claystone marina docks &amp; ramp</name>
    <cmt>Early/late: pitch 5–6&quot; curly-tail Texas rig (red shad/green pumpkin) under floats work dock lights after dark. Midday backup: slow a shaky head along shade lines.</cmt>
</wpt>

 

If that doesn't fix the problem then Gamin is not following all the rules and you may just need to remove any special character that you cannot enter on the Garmin unit itself but I think it will work.

 

There are a few zillion xml editor apps that will check what you type for you and if you reference the GPX schema  they make sure you have a valid GPX format as well.

Thanks. I thought about special characters and removed them in another test and it still failed using <cmt>. That field is limited to 25 characters on my unit so I did another test import with the comment field only 22 characters and it failed.

 

I did send an email to Garmin this morning. In the meantime, I'll revisit what you said and try some XML editors.

Have you tried using a comment that is less than 25 characters and does not have anything but text.  (No special characters or any kind)?

 

If it worked with the & in the name as you said then Garmin is not following the rules on how special characters work.  That would explain a lot.

3 hours ago, Tennessee Boy said:

Have you tried using a comment that is less than 25 characters and does not have anything but text.  (No special characters or any kind)?

 

If it worked with the & in the name as you said then Garmin is not following the rules on how special characters work.  That would explain a lot.

I got it to import my map symbols, but still not the comments.

 

So, I downloaded Garmin BaseCamp, imported my file, then added my comments. That ended up working.

 

Looking at the file exported from BaseCamp, it called additional schema that I had not included in my test files. But it wasn't perfect. For example, in BaseCamp the map showed an empty area and not Lake Tobesofkee. Then, on my UHD 93 import it did not import the symbols for humps or for rocks. I had to edit that from the UHD93.

 

Garmin really needs to allow for more than 25 characters in the comment / description field.

 

I'm going to import these into my Helix next.

Does it fail to load when it over 25 characters?  I can maybe understand if it ignores the extra characters but it shouldn’t fail to load.

5 hours ago, Tennessee Boy said:

Does it fail to load when it over 25 characters?  I can maybe understand if it ignores the extra characters but it shouldn’t fail to load.

It just cut off the extra characters.