If I get a Montana what else do I need?

You have a camera that will create waypoints from your pictures? Awesome. How well does it do at navigation?

Hope you remembered the Rugged Mount. If all you ordered were RAM mounts, you're going to be powering that thing with USB, and that would be a shame.

Rugged mount ordered but on back-order due to problems with the "securing screw" ?. Garmin is addressing this per GPSCity.

I ordered a Montana 600 and CNNA 2013 DVD last night from GPSCity and seen that the rugged mount was gonna be 3 weeks out to ship. I ordered the mount from Amazon where they were in stock and ready to ship.

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Do you know if you are getting the old model or the newer one that GPSCity is waiting on?

Best

This is what it says on their website:
**IMPORTANT NOTE** This item is undergoing a minor design change from the factory in order to address customer feedback. New inventory will not ship until December 13th. We are not selling older inventory.

I can wait.

Hope this is not a dumb Q but...

can the Montana be used without buying any maps from Garmin?

I'm doing a trek in Patagonia in January and since there are no Topo maps for the area available (from Garmin) can I buy the Montana and load waypoints for the trek and just follow them on the Montana without loading any purchased maps?

Considering this as a backup to my compass.

Thanks.

Yes, it can be used without buying Garmin maps. It'll still come with a Worldwide Basemap but I don't really know what that will show. It would be interesting to try.

It may be worth asking Garmin's map experts perhaps through their forums.

I don't, but from what I've read here if the one I get has issues Garmin will replace it, so either way I don't mind. My guess is it's the older one.

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Not all the old ones are flawed. I have 4 good 'old ones'.

Why does it say on the Garmin Specs sheet that the 600/650 (non-T) "pre-loaded maps - No" ?

EDIT: OK, I see where it says "Basemap - Yes"

So, is the Montana worth the extra coin over the Oregon?

I don't need the camera feature, would use it on all/any of my bikes.
Dirt, dual sport and street.

I'm seeing Oregons for cheap in the Bargain Cave at Cabela's, But don't mind spending the more if a Montana is truly that much better.

If you have the budget, the screen size advantage of the Montana is worth it. The Montana is twice as much as the Oregon.

The power source alone is worth the extra money. Just say no to Mini USB as a power source. It sucks.

Thanks, two solid reasons right there.

Probably won't get anything until spring, as the ground here is white and getting whiter by the minute

USPS delivered the Montana today (quick delivery from both GPSCity & USPS!). Charging now, Ill play with it after the FL / FL St. game..... Go Gators!!!

Check with these guys they have remote maps like this one for Chile: http://store.gpstravelmaps.com/Chile_p/chile.htm

I bought and received all of the above. I loaded theCity Navigator DVD onto my PC and the Garmin site required my 650t attached and (i guess) proceeded to update the map. The site said complete after about a 2 hour download. My questions (please):

1 When I use a "Where To" the unit says there are no active maps. Where are the maps I just loaded?

2 When the unit is connected to the PC it shows that connection symbol on the unit but otherwise does not appear active. Is this normal.

3 The 650t manual is very basic and does not discuss maps and routing very well (at least to me). Can you suggest another source of information/knowledge?

Thanks

Best

1. You've got to 'turn on' the maps in the GPS itself:
setup
map
map information
tap the map product you loaded in to enable it.
Back out to the main menu.

2. Yes. The GPS will not display anything but the USB interface logo while its connected to the computer. If you're using a Windows system, you should see the Montana show up as a drive in "my computer". If you've got an SD card in the slot, that will show up as well.

3. The big Montana thread is pretty good, as is Garmin's online documentation.

The City Navigator map may be on your computer but not loaded to the gps yet. Have you used MapInstall to load the maps?

Here's a Garmin page describing how to use MapInstall.

I have the 650t and purchased and installed City Navigator on the unit.. I am having difficulty when wanting to use the unit for hiking. My back yard joins into a 2500 acre state park that has dense tree coverage. I want to explore the woods but be able to press Go Home and have the unit map a straight path to my house. I can disable the City Navigator and then try to navigate from point A to B and the unit will say "Maps do not have routable roads in this area. Given I am hiking I am willing to walk offroad. How do I get the unit to overcome this.