New Garmin Montana

[Shov3BR]

I prefer to have as little cable as possible on my dash or bars so I shorten everything where possible. Here's the Montana install on my KTM 990 ADV.


The mount is home brew that uses a bicycle axle skewer for tilt. It is semi-easy to remove. The cradle tilt plate is slotted on one side only so the skewer nut has to be fully removed to get the cradle off the base bracket. The cradle removal is a 5 minute exercise and prevents the 10 second ripoff. This lets me leave the cradle on almost all of the time without having to worry about it "growing legs".

I shortened the Montana harness between the cradle and the "Y" and again at the power cable. The plug is one of our Baryl plugs. The audio cable was left full length. I curl it up between the speedo and GPS cradle.



The power cable plugs into a Baryl panel-mount socket that is connected to switched power rather than direct to the battery. The Montana gives the option to "Turn Off" or "Stay On" when the bike is switched off so it doesn't have to be restarted after a fuel stop.

[mass-klr]

Thanks for all the advice guys...

[levain]

Comments on a 36hr. 600 mile RT I just completed.
Prior to leaving, I uploaded a few different routes. One I stole off the internet somewhere cos it looked so damn good. I don't know if my issues were user error or Montana quirkiness. Frankly, none of what I describe ever happened with my zumo, so I'm guessing Montana quirky.

The routes I made, that started as tracks in BC, worked fine. No issues. They were also very short.

The route I stole off the internet did not. The route was completely different. I'm assuming due to Montana doing its own thing-which is ok. However, the bigger issue was that it would only load sometimes. I'd tell it load, and it wouldn't or it might. Then, it would route me back to the beginning. Or, sometimes to the end. On the rare occasion it actually routed anything, and it was acceptable, I didn't touch the gps for fear of it losing me and not being able to route again. It was very frustrating. I'm happy to accept user error and be educated here. It seems weird that I'd find the route under routing, touch it, and nothing though.. well, sometimes nothing! Sometimes part. Sometimes all. Different everytime!

Oh, and occasionally I'd look down and Montana would be off taking a nap maybe? It would just be off. Hit the power button and it would fire up like nothing happened.

Another annoyance with my particular unit is the search. Often times the arrow (enter button) won't work. I need to touch it many times and it might. Or might not. I tried to find an address on Main st. in Concord, NH (state capital) and it couldn't fine main st.

When it works, its great. Mostly, though I miss my Zumo

[mbabc]

Followed Emmbeedee's plan...





I keep the coiled extra in my tank bag on both the Tenere and WR. I cut the audio and heat shrinked the nubs.

[Emmbeedee]

Originally Posted by levain

Oh, and occasionally I'd look down and Montana would be off taking a nap maybe? It would just be off. Hit the power button and it would fire up like nothing happened.

Another annoyance with my particular unit is the search. Often times the arrow (enter button) won't work. I need to touch it many times and it might. Or might not. I tried to find an address on Main st. in Concord, NH (state capital) and it couldn't fine main st.

When it works, its great. Mostly, though I miss my Zumo

There are so many variables in Routing that I'm not even going to touch that issue but the unit powering off might be caused by battery vibration. Do you have the earplug on the battery to stop it bouncing around?

And regarding the address on Main st in Concord, my gps finds that street in City Navigator.

[levain]

Originally Posted by Emmbeedee

There are so many variables in Routing that I'm not even going to touch that issue but the unit powering off might be caused by battery vibration. Do you have the earplug on the battery to stop it bouncing around?

And regarding the address on Main st in Concord, my gps finds that street in City Navigator.

I'll try the earplug. The main st. issue was one of the times enter didn't work

[Emmbeedee]

Originally Posted by levain

The main st. issue was one of the times enter didn't work

In the Search menu it's the "Check" in the bottom right of the screen you're calling Enter"? Always works for me. Were you wearing gloves?

Also, when searching, the less information you put into the search, the more likely you are to be successful. As long as you put in enough letters in the search to make your result easily findable, it usually works.

So if I was looking for "Woodroffe" street, I'd put in "Woodr" then hit the check and let it bring up all occurrences. I would not put the full word in, and I wouldn't put "st" or "Street" or anything like that.

Let the gps find the first part, then choose from the results to find the right one.

Often even leaving the city name out is helpful.

[levain]

Originally Posted by Emmbeedee

In the Search menu it's the "Check" in the bottom right of the screen you're calling Enter"? Always works for me. Were you wearing gloves?

Also, when searching, the less information you put into the search, the more likely you are to be successful. As long as you put in enough letters in the search to make your result easily findable, it usually works.

So if I was looking for "Woodroffe" street, I'd put in "Woodr" then hit the check and let it bring up all occurrences. I would not put the full word in, and I wouldn't put "st" or "Street" or anything like that.

Let the gps find the first part, then choose from the results to find the right one.

Often even leaving the city name out is helpful.

Thanks for the help. Yeah, the check is what I'm referring to.

That's how I do it. Same as I always did with my zumo. I just tried doing the same thing from the comfort of my couch, and still had some problems. Eventually, I was able to find the address, but it took too many tries for my comfort. Seems like something isn't right. When it finally did find the correct address, it took a long time to find it. Finally, the address popped up. Sorry to seem so high maintenance, but I appreciate the help.

[Emmbeedee]

Originally Posted by levain

When it finally did find the correct address, it took a long time to find it. Finally, the address popped up. Sorry to seem so high maintenance, but I appreciate the help.

Which maps do you have on the unit? If you have multiple maps, you should not have them all enabled at once. When you have the City Navigator enabled, you should also have the Basemap enabled - this makes searches faster according to many experts.

I created multiple map based profiles so anytime I want to check a particular map, I go to it via its shortcut and that way all the right settings are switched accordingly.

One thing to note - if you do a map update, then that updated map becomes enabled on all profiles. So getting the latest City Navigator will make that map enabled, and dominant in all profiles.

City Navigator is the highest map in the draw order - it always takes precedence over all other maps, hiding the other map detail in the process.

Annoying, but easy to deal with as long as you're aware of it.

[Emmbeedee]

Originally Posted by levain

Thanks for the help. Yeah, the check is what I'm referring to.

That's how I do it. Same as I always did with my zumo. I just tried doing the same thing from the comfort of my couch, and still had some problems. Eventually, I was able to find the address, but it took too many tries for my comfort. Seems like something isn't right. When it finally did find the correct address, it took a long time to find it. Finally, the address popped up. Sorry to seem so high maintenance, but I appreciate the help.

Also, when you did the search "on your couch", was the unit in Demo mode or still searching for satellites indoors? That can cause slowdowns. Using it indoors, you should always go to Setup/System/Demo first.

[Jon_PDX]

Originally Posted by Emmbeedee

Which maps do you have on the unit? If you have multiple maps, you should not have them all enabled at once. When you have the City Navigator enabled, you should also have the Basemap enabled - this makes searches faster according to many experts.

I created multiple map based profiles so anytime I want to check a particular map, I go to it via its shortcut and that way all the right settings are switched accordingly.

One thing to note - if you do a map update, then that updated map becomes enabled on all profiles. So getting the latest City Navigator will make that map enabled, and dominant in all profiles.

City Navigator is the highest map in the draw order - it always takes precedence over all other maps, hiding the other map detail in the process.

Annoying, but easy to deal with as long as you're aware of it.

Good point on the maps. It is a hassle to have to make the changes for each profile though. I don't suppose there is a global setting that will enable/disable maps for all profiles is there? I looked but could not find anything like that.

Also, do we really need all default the birds eye stuff that came with the unit enabled?

And how about the USGS Quads? What's it for?

If that stuff (birds eye and quads) is not needed, can we safely remove it from the Montana (after backing it up) instead of having to disable it in all the profiles?

Jon...

[Emmbeedee]

Originally Posted by Jon_PDX

Good point on the maps. It is a hassle to have to make the changes for each profile though. I don't suppose there is a global setting that will enable/disable maps for all profiles is there? I looked but could not find anything like that.

Also, do we really need all default the birds eye stuff that came with the unit enabled?

And how about the USGS Quads? What's it for?

If that stuff (birds eye and quads) is not needed, can we safely remove it from the Montana (after backing it up) instead of having to disable it in all the profiles?

Jon...

I removed all the Birdseye and USGS stuff. Haven't missed it at all.

And you're right: there are very few 'Global' settings on the Montana, settings that persist through the different profiles.

[Rocky TFS]

Originally Posted by Jon_PDX

I don't suppose there is a global setting that will enable/disable maps for all profiles is there?

If that stuff (birds eye and quads) is not needed, can we safely remove it from the Montana (after backing it up) instead of having to disable it in all the profiles?

Jon...

Nope, each profile has to be individually tailored for what maps enabled. Updating or adding a map will turn them all back on.....now THAT"S the really irritating part!

I deleted the Birdseye and quads the first week I had the unit....didn't even back them up.

Now, I use JaVaWa to back up all the maps, because some, like CNNA, are only partial loads, I'll never use the Eastern or Canadian sections (searches are faster too) and the backup means I won't have to go through Mapinstall and click on what I want for each map all over again. If my micro card dies, I'll just get a new one and dump the backups onto it, complete with unlock codes.

[Emmbeedee]

Originally Posted by Rocky TFS

Nope, each profile has to be individually tailored for what maps enabled. Updating or adding a map will turn them all back on.....now THAT"S the really irritating part!

I found that updating a map only enables that map in each profile, not all maps in each profile. I went through that just this week - the only map I needed to enable/disable depending on the profile was CNNA.

[Rocky TFS]

Originally Posted by Emmbeedee

I found that updating a map only enables that map in each profile, not all maps in each profile. I went through that just this week - the only map I needed to enable/disable depending on the profile was CNNA.

Hmmmn....maybe it's only when adding a state 24K map I get from GPSFileDepot. I sure thought I had seen it do this, turning on all the other 24K maps in each profile.