New Garmin Montana

[Emmbeedee]

Originally Posted by dresda

What blew ME away was that both our units seemed to be possessed by demons today, neither one had a clue how far we were from our destination even when TRACKING BACK!

Yeah, they were behaving strangely, weren't they?

[Rocky TFS]

Originally Posted by Emmbeedee

Yeah, they were behaving strangely, weren't they?

Must be the solar flare......

[Emmbeedee]

Originally Posted by Rocky TFS

Must be the solar flare......

I sure hope it was. Neither gps could do the simplest task: navigate to home. They kept telling us to get off the highway and do a u-turn to go off in the opposite direction. It was bizarre.

[gspdbill]

Originally Posted by gspdbill

Anybody else having the grey/white screen on startup? I've had this problem occasionally since I got the unit 4 months ago but it happened infrequently, until this past week. I've had it happen 4 times this week. Tried to search the Garmin Forums but their forums don't seem to be set up for questions like this. Google search found a Geocaching forum that has a thread on this problem from about 18 mos. ago but they report it mostly happens when the Montana is installed in a cradle, mine does it both when installed in the cradle and when hand held. Usually powering down the unit 1 or 2 times will bring it back to normal startup but yesterday I had to remove it from the cradle and cycle power in handheld mode to get it to start normally.

The condition is when starting the unit up the screen lightens up a little (what I call "gray" screen) but goes no further than that. Holding the power button down gets you the normal 2 beep power down signal and it will usually power down. Hitting the on button again the unit may power up normally or I may have to repeat the process again. On the Geocaching forum they reported they had to remove the battery to get it to shut down.

This problem has occurred in both 4.60 and with my current 4.70 F/W installed.

I'll be calling Garmin on Mon.

Called Garmin, 1st guy I talked to said he'd never heard of this problem before, put me on hold to ask someone else about it and about 2 min later hung up on me.

Called Garmin back, this time got James, he too said they never heard of this problem, wanted to know if I had any other s/w loaded on the unit (I said just CN & Topo) then wanted to know if I had a SD card installed (yes I do) said the SD card may be hanging up the unit to remove the card and see if it still happens, if it does next step is master reset of the unit.

I think Garmin is hoping the problem (me) will go away, not a chance.

At least I got a ticket no. from James to refer to later.

Don't think I'm going to wind up being real happy w/ Garmin on this......

Update: 3rd time I powered the unit up after removing the SD card (and after hanging up w/ Garmin) the unit went into White Screen mode..... (it's not a SD card issue)

3rd call to Garmin I did the Master Reset with them on the line followed by 5 reboots, came up each time (not surprising), will be using the daylights out of it to see if it fails again.

Do we have a separate thread for Montana "issues"?

[Rocky TFS]

Has anyone else had this problem? I came back from a trip with the Li-on battery fully charged in the cradle for many hours, turned it off, put it away, and 2 weeks later turn it on to see the battery nearly dead.

Does anyone think there is a small parasitic draw in these units that behooves one to remove the battery for longer term storage, since Li-on batteries generally don't like being fully discharged?

[ramz]

From my post on 11/19/2012:

My Garmin rugged mount is wired directly to the battery. When my bike's ignition is switched off with the key, the rugged mount is still powered.

I measured 8 ma draw from the rugged mount when my Montana is in the rugged mount and is turned off and my bike's ignition is switched off.
I measured no draw from the rugged mount when my Montana was removed from the rugged mount.

I use non-rechargeable lithium AA batteries in my Montana for those rare instances when I want to use my Montana and it is not in the rugged mount nor connected to my iMac.

Others do not detect this parasitic draw....

[cablebandit]

The way I read your quote they DO see a parasitic draw. If there is a draw when the GPS is in the cradle and none when it's removed then logic dictates the GPS is drawing the juice.

It's probable never "off" I'm sure it checks it's location from time to time when powered down to help with satellite acquisition when you fire it up.

[Emmbeedee]

Originally Posted by cablebandit

The way I read your quote they DO see a parasitic draw. If there is a draw when the GPS is in the cradle and none when it's removed then logic dictates the GPS is drawing the juice.

It's probable never "off" I'm sure it checks it's location from time to time when powered down to help with satellite acquisition when you fire it up.

If the gps is in the mount, I'm sure it still draws power, but the mount alone uses none, AFAIK.

[Rocky TFS]

Originally Posted by Emmbeedee

If the gps is in the mount, I'm sure it still draws power, but the mount alone uses none, AFAIK.

Sorry, I did not make it clear that I removed it from the mount and put it away in my desk drawer for that two weeks.

[Emmbeedee]

Originally Posted by Rocky TFS

Sorry, I did not make it clear that I removed it from the mount and put it away in my desk drawer for that two weeks.

Did you have the barometer set to record while the gps is off? That would use some power.

[Boughton]

I have a few questions that I have yet to find the answers to within this forum, or maybe I have just overlooked them.

1. I just bought a Montana 600 and now need to decide what maps to purchase?

2. I plan to use the GPS to navigate on streets and dirt roads across Idaho mainly. I also plan to ride the GDR.

3. I would like to trace a route on my MAC computer using the map software (basecamp?) then load it into the Montana and follow the route on the GPS.

4. I know I need to get the street navigator, but the question is what topographic map to get 100k or 24k? I was thinking 100k for a generalized map use. Can I trace a route with the 100k maps, I've read yes and no to this question.

5. ALL COMMENTS WELCOME!!!

Thanks

[Albie]

Originally Posted by Boughton

I have a few questions that I have yet to find the answers to within this forum, or maybe I have just overlooked them.

1. I just bought a Montana 600 and now need to decide what maps to purchase?

2. I plan to use the GPS to navigate on streets and dirt roads across Idaho mainly. I also plan to ride the GDR.

3. I would like to trace a route on my MAC computer using the map software (basecamp?) then load it into the Montana and follow the route on the GPS.

4. I know I need to get the street navigator, but the question is what topographic map to get 100k or 24k? I was thinking 100k for a generalized map use. Can I trace a route with the 100k maps, I've read yes and no to this question.

5. ALL COMMENTS WELCOME!!!

Thanks

For street and dirt road City Navigator or you could get free OSM maps.

The 100K topo maps are not routable, the 24K are.

[Boughton]

Is road city navigator routable?

[Yossarian™]

Originally Posted by Boughton

Is road city navigator routable?

The product is known (for our neck of the woods) as City Navigator North America. And yes, it is routable.

The 100K topo map from Garmin is not routable.

I don't have any of the Garmin 24K map products, but believe that they are routable (if not, someone will doubtless correct me.)

[FireDog45]

Originally Posted by Boughton

Is road city navigator routable?

City Navigator North America (CNNA) is routable and also contains a lot of other info such as fuel, shopping, dining, lodging... I recommend CNNA over OSM (open source maps) because of the this. OSM will get you in the general vicinity but not to a specific address. It also doesn't have seem to contain as extensive a list of the other goodies I mentioned. For example: I live on a county road and OSM will get me to the approx 3 mile section I live on but not my specific address. It also didn't know there was 3 fuel stations 5 miles from my house. It showed the closest fuel was more than 10 miles away.

These may be minor to some but to me the $80 that Garmin charges was worth it.

I do have the OSM topo maps installed but haven't a chance to give them a workout yet but on first glance they look like they'll do fine for me. Though these are not routable like the 24K Garmin maps are.