New Garmin Montana

[moto-treks]

Originally Posted by _cy_

just received Montana 600 ... there's NO road maps with it!!
that really sucks to have to buy maps to make it function

OK.. what's the best place to buy maps?
Montana needs to at least function equal my old Nuvi.

need coverage for North & South America to start with.

For North America (us) I'd get the garmin's North America City Navigator. For South America look at South America GPS maps

[Abenteuerfahrer]

Originally Posted by Spiritwalker2222

I think that's determined by how you wire up the GPS. If you connect it directly to the battery or always live wires, than yes. But if you have a relay or whatever so you cut the power when the bike is off then no.

Even when the bike is shut down and the Montana is "off" ?? I still charges in the background ??

Thank you....

[cablebandit]

Originally Posted by Abenteuerfahrer

Even when the bike is shut down and the Montana is "off" ?? I still charges in the background ??

Thank you....

Depends how you wire the mount. If it's wired to switched power then it won't charge. If it's wired to an always on source (like directly to the battery) then it will charge all the time.

[Spineasy]

Does anyone have any experience with the battery life on the Montana? Is it really as advertised to be 22hrs for the AA and 16 for the lithium-ion?

[GH41]

Originally Posted by Spineasy

Does anyone have any experience with the battery life on the Montana? Is it really as advertised to be 22hrs for the AA and 16 for the lithium-ion?

Probably if you enable the battery save mode after the back light timing out but the screen will be black and of no use until you touch and wake it up. My Li battery went 12 hours without using the save mode and the back light timing set to 15 seconds. GH

[Spineasy]

Thank you for the quick response. I am trying to figure out if it will be possible to swap between multiple bikes just using the battery option, or do I just wire both bikes.

[DRTBYK]

Originally Posted by _cy_

just received Montana 600 ... there's NO road maps with it!!
that really sucks to have to buy maps to make it function

OK.. what's the best place to buy maps?
Montana needs to at least function equal my old Nuvi.

need coverage for North & South America to start with.

I would agree with the Garmin City Navigator North America (DVD version) reco from moto-treks and if you want a free South America routable map, I'd go with OSM South America map build. There are other SA country maps out there at various prices some a little better in detail outside of major cities but in general the OSM maps will get you to most places and back - should you decide to come back

Cheers,

[_cy_]

Originally Posted by Callahan

Get the DVD(CD) version of CNNT, so as to only download the - States, sections, regions along your path of travel. Apparently this can only be done (downloading of maps only path) from use with the DVD(CD) version and thus does not consume excess memory.

Originally Posted by Emmbeedee

With the Montana able to use up to 32 gigabyte SD cards, why worry about keeping maps from filling the card?

Originally Posted by moto-treks

For North America (us) I'd get the garmin's North America City Navigator. For South America look at South America GPS maps

many thanks for all the help!!!

looks like North America pay $65 for City Navigator CD, then search for world maps that's much better than Garmin.

what about the lifetime renewal maps from Garmin?

[woodsatyr]

Originally Posted by marco polo

But, have you sent a message to Garmin to let them know this? It's: MontanaBeta@garmin.com

Yep! Sure did!

[Emmbeedee]

Originally Posted by _cy_

what about the lifetime renewal maps from Garmin?

You still need to buy the maps first before buying the Lifetime updates but with a Montana, I think the Lifetime Updates is worth getting. Odds are you'll have the Montana for quite a long time.

[Abenteuerfahrer]

Originally Posted by cablebandit

Depends how you wire the mount. If it's wired to switched power then it won't charge. If it's wired to an always on source (like directly to the battery) then it will charge all the time.

I guess I never connected to switched power instead straight to the battery. Ahem..no wonder my venerable Odyssey battery did show some weakness in starting this spring. The Zumo 450 been on the bike all winter...now added the Montana, ahem.! So what do you use for switched power on a 1200 GS ? Can anyone chime in...Thanks in advance.

Cheers...

[Callahan]

Originally Posted by Abenteuerfahrer

I guess I never connected to switched power instead straight to the battery. Ahem..no wonder my venerable Odyssey battery did show some weakness in starting this spring. The Zumo 450 been on the bike all winter...now added the Montana, ahem.! So what do you use for switched power on a 1200 GS ? Can anyone chime in...Thanks in advance.

Cheers...

http://compare.ebay.com/like/3505550...Types&var=sbar

or similar

[moto-treks]

Originally Posted by emmbeedee

you still need to buy the maps first before buying the lifetime updates but with a montana, i think the lifetime updates is worth getting. Odds are you'll have the montana for quite a long time.

+1

[WoodButcher]

Originally Posted by Abenteuerfahrer

I guess I never connected to switched power instead straight to the battery. Ahem..no wonder my venerable Odyssey battery did show some weakness in starting this spring. The Zumo 450 been on the bike all winter...now added the Montana, ahem.! So what do you use for switched power on a 1200 GS ? Can anyone chime in...Thanks in advance.

Cheers...

The zumo won't charge in the bike mount if the zumo is off. So it is different from a montana in that regard.

[Bill Murray]

Originally Posted by Abenteuerfahrer

I guess I never connected to switched power instead straight to the battery. Ahem..no wonder my venerable Odyssey battery did show some weakness in starting this spring. The Zumo 450 been on the bike all winter...now added the Montana, ahem.! So what do you use for switched power on a 1200 GS ? Can anyone chime in...Thanks in advance.

Cheers...

On my R1200GSA, I wired my Montana power to the BMW accessory plug located under the front oil cooler. You will need an approximately $25 BMW-made adapter for that plug. This post has a picture of the adapter plug:

http://advrider.com/forums/showpost....45&postcount=7

The adapter has three wires -- you only use wires #1 and #3 (I think wire #2 is voltage-variable and used as a speed input for certain BMW GPS receivers). This post tells you the pin outs:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showp...8&postcount=15

The adapter plug is switched (i.e., it will shut off about 30 seconds after the ignition switch is shut off). Once the adapter circuit powers down, your Montana will display a message asking if you want to keep the unit powered on using it's internal battery. Otherwise, the unit shuts off in 30 seconds.