August 23, 2026

Customizing the Garmin 66i in 2026

First of all, the screen only stays fully lit for about 2 seconds, making it impossible to do anything. Yes, we want to extend battery life, but we also want to be able to use this thing.

Main menu -- Display -- Backlight Timeout. I change this from the default 15 seconds to the maximum 2 minutes.

Second of all, it launches into saving activity on start up. I don't want this.

Main Menu -- Setup -- Recording. Change "auto start" from on to off.

Reinstall the battery indicator app

It is astonishing how bad the Garmin software is.

The battery app requires Connect IQ -- which shows my 66i as "not connected". But "Connect" shows it as connected. I try uninstalling and reinstalling the Connect IQ app. It lists the 66i, but still shows it as not connected. There seems to be no way to get it to delete the device and start over. The usual Garmin software runaround and hassle.

Now we are on to "rain dance" experiments. I restart my phone and the 66i. Nothing new. Connect shows everything OK, but Connect IQ says "not connected". On the 66i, the Connect IQ "button" only shows Wikiloc, which apparently is always installed. I get android to clear the cache and storage for Connect IQ, but that does no good.

I could delete both Connect and Connect IQ that start over entirely installing both and repairing my 66i. Maybe tomorrow.

Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's backpacking pages / tom@mmto.org