New Garmin Montana

[Jan from Finland]

Originally Posted by DRTBYK

It has come to my attention that the Touratech Mount for the Montana Series can be configured for either the Landscape or Portrait position. You will need to do a little disassembly/assembly to make the switch but none the less it is doable.

Below is the original Landscape setup:



And, here is the re-configured Portrait setup:



Just make sure that you have clearance for the "clamshell" to open and for the Key to be used in either case.

In the portrait you will need spacers on top of rubber isolators and longer bolts for fixing the spacers.
Otherwise you have no clearance for vibration and the set up doesn't work as designed.

Especially, if you accidentally bent the back plate while fastening it.

[Pete O Static]

Anyone having issues with false elevation information? Most GPS units by virtue of knowing their position on the surface of the earth, have the elevation of that position. Now I know that the Montana is supposed to have its own barometric altimeter which is basically useless unless you constantly re adjust for ambient atmospheric pressure but I like to have my current elevation ( which should be independent of any barometric device ) displayed on one of my data fields.

The problem is, yesterday I rode into Montreal, which is on the St Lawrence seaway and the Montana was telling me that Montreal sits about 100 ft below sea level. Last time I checked, water doesn't flow uphill.

Does anyone know if the elevation plot on the Montana sources its info only from the onboard barometric altimeter?

[DRTBYK]

Originally Posted by BobM

I create all my DualSport routes in Mapsource (but I'm trying to switch to BC for the future) and they are intended to be used in Direct mode as there's only about 80% of the roads we use that are on CNNA.

Just as a test I tried some on the Montana and set them to "Motorcycle" Activity (i.e. follow road navigation) as they had less than 50 waypoints. Obviously they didn't go across the "roadless streches", but when I tried Route Manager they were both Editable and Reversible.

Don't think we have the full story yet about Reversing Routes.

Bob

The Activity Mode you used in BaseCamp to create the route is noted in the GPX file data. When you change the Activity mode on the Montana it doesn't change that fact that the GPX data say's Direct Route - hence, the route is editable on the Montana because it is still a Direct Route. When you change it to Motorcycle on the Montana the thinking [by development] was probably that you would know you are going to get a recalculated route - therefore, editing remains.

Cheers,

[DRTBYK]

Originally Posted by arraflipper

I got my new Montana 650 yesterday afternoon, it was here when I got home from work. Charged it up and tried to load the DVD of C N. My connection speed was to slow, and I was having trouble so took it to a computer guy. Even with his high speed internet it took almost an hour to load and get all the updates. Wow a lot to learn but am gaining, I guess. I programed it to an address three miles away, true to all the other Garmin GPS it missed it by three tenths of a mile. I had hoped Garmin had changed it as I have delivery drivers that always have trouble as Garmin turns them the wrong direction at the intersection. I had taken a picture of my house just playing with the camera. I used the picture as a location and it brought me back to the spot I had taken the picture, so maybe there is some hope. This is going to be interesting, for sure to learn all it has to offer.

The Address geocoding in the Navteq map data that Garmin uses for City Navigator is the problem. You can report these conditions to Navteq directly and to Garmin.

Cheers,

[DRTBYK]

Originally Posted by Rocky TFS

Sorry Dan, that isn't quite accurate. If you create a route in BaseCamp in any activity mode, but change the route activity to direct before sending it to the Montana, it will be editable and reversable.

However, that route will still be subject to the differences between how BC autoroutes and the Montana autoroutes.....this has been driving me crazy!

In spite of everything I have learned here, I still can't predict with any accuracy when the Montana is going to do something weird with my carefully edited BC route. Many times it does exactly what I think it should, sometimes it does something nonsensical from my point of view.

Oh well, it's still a great moto GPS.

My grammar was quite poor. Sorry for that. Along-road Routes can be edited on the Montana only if they were created on the Montana. Direct Routes can always be edited no matter where they were created.

I too have had no problem with the Montana recalculating any of my transferred Along-road routes (maps being equal).

I do still "test" my transferred routes by creating a Track of the Route before transfer and using both the Route and Track on the Montana when navigating if the routing is critical - to me.

Cheers,

[Pete O Static]

Originally Posted by atlas cached

Which Data Field were you using?

The 'Elevation' data field is based on barometer input.

The 'Elevation Above Ground" or "GPS Elevation" data fields may provide better results, without need of calibrating your barometer each use.

Also, if [Setup | Altimeter | Auto Calibration | Yes] is selected, the barometer should auto calibrate each time you power the Montana on.

Thanks for the input. I do have " Elevation" selected in the data field. The term " elevation" usually refers to an elevation regardless of barometric pressure which is why I selected it. I did suspect that Garmin had somehow coupled this to the units barometer. I will try your suggestion and see if that works.

Since the unit has the abilty to display barometric pressure and it has an " auto calibrate " function, then one variable it needs to know is actual elevation for it to calibrate. I will try your suggestion when I get home.

Thanks again.

[Abenteuerfahrer]

Amigos por favor....while going through a bump in the road my GS developed a constant wobble for the remainder of the trip which had to be rectified at the BMW dealer..however the Montana 650 which is mounted onto the rugged mount developed a strange thing. I always had the bike symbol in the middle of the screen while the map moves underneath it; NOW the bike moves across the screen and I now have to constantly move the map ahead for the next session of bike travel..why is that?? Thank you...

[Emmbeedee]

Originally Posted by Abenteuerfahrer

Amigos por favor....while going through a bump in the road my GS developed a constant wobble for the remainder of the trip which had to be rectified at the BMW dealer..however the Montana 650 which is mounted onto the rugged mount developed a strange thing. I always had the bike symbol in the middle of the screen while the map moves underneath it; NOW the bike moves across the screen and I now have to constantly move the map ahead for the next session of bike travel..why is that?? Thank you...

Sounds to me like your antenna broke and it's no longer connecting to the satelites. Open up the Satelite app and see how many birds you're connecting to.

[atlas cached]

Originally Posted by Pete O Static

Since the unit has the abilty to display barometric pressure and it has an " auto calibrate " function, then one variable it needs to know is actual elevation for it to calibrate. I will try your suggestion when I get home.

Thanks again.

Yes, if you select [Setup | Altimeter | Calibrate Altimeter] you can manually calibrate altimeter by answering a series of questions.

The Montana will ask:

Do You Know The Correct Elevation?
Do Yo Know The Correct Pressure?
Do You Want To Use The Current GPS Altitude?

[Rocky TFS]

Originally Posted by DRTBYK

I do still "test" my transferred routes by creating a Track of the Route before transfer and using both the Route and Track on the Montana when navigating if the routing is critical - to me.
Cheers,

And what has been the outcome of these "tests"?

I'm still struggling with getting it to do what I want while autorouting. If I do a direct route in BC with lots of via points (<50), and don't change the activity (in either BC or Montana), it works just like every other Garmin I've had for the last 20 years. However, there are no directions or turn warnings, which is the coolest part of the new technology. And the magenta line may be hundreds of yards off the road!

[DRTBYK]

Originally Posted by Rocky TFS

And what has been the outcome of these "tests"?

I'm still struggling with getting it to do what I want while autorouting. If I do a direct route in BC with lots of via points (<50), and don't change the activity (in either BC or Montana), it works just like every other Garmin I've had for the last 20 years. However, there are no directions or turn warnings, which is the coolest part of the new technology. And the magenta line may be hundreds of yards off the road!

If you have the same map versions for both BaseCamp and the Montana, you can create an Along-road route in BC and it will not be recalculated on the Montana. If your Montana is not operating in that manner and you are at v4.20 then I would consider calling Product Support.

[Abenteuerfahrer]

Originally Posted by Emmbeedee

Sounds to me like your antenna broke and it's no longer connecting to the satelites. Open up the Satelite app and see how many birds you're connecting to.

Got a punch of birds..think that the antenna is ok. Maybe my profile got "shocked". Amigo's what profile should I use where the the "motorcycle or car-arrow" should always be on the screen but the maps move forward once the vehicle comes close to the end of the map?

Thank you, cheer....

[Emmbeedee]

Originally Posted by Abenteuerfahrer

Got a punch of birds..think that the antenna is ok. Maybe my profile got "shocked". Amigo's what profile should I use where the the "motorcycle or car-arrow" should always be on the screen but the maps move forward once the vehicle comes close to the end of the map?

Thank you, cheer....

They are all supposed to work the way you want. I've never heard of scrolling the map manually unless I was doing so intentionally.

[moto-treks]

Originally Posted by DRTBYK

If you have the same map versions for both BaseCamp and the Montana, you can create an Along-road route in BC and it will not be recalculated on the Montana. If your Montana is not operating in that manner and you are at v4.20 then I would consider calling Product Support.

And if you switch it from along-road to direct just before sending it you the Montana you will be able to select the route on the Montana and change it back to a along-road routing and be able to edit the map on the Montana. I've had the Montana always recalculate the same original along-route routing.

[Abenteuerfahrer]

Originally Posted by atlas cached

As others have stated, regardless of Track Up/North Up, the map will scroll automatically unless you touch the map screen, which will freeze it in the current view.

Thanks Embeedee and atlas cached....WOW..!! I guess something is awry. Should I do a "Master Reset"?