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Chris
New Hartford, NY
Apr 30, 2012
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GOOD UNIT, BUT...
Pros: water resistant, dual battery system, reception
Cons: expensive, heavy
This unit is solid, but it's quite expensive. Satellite reception is very good. For the price, it should come with more internal memory (you need to purchase a micro SD card to load both a City Map and a full Topo map). And given recent developments in app usability, Garmin's UI is primitive and clunky.
Recommend? NO
9 viewers found this helpful.
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Troy
Washington
Apr 27, 2012
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This mount is probably the best mount I ever bought for an electronic mobile device. Stable, quick and easy.
Recommend? YES
15 viewers found this helpful.
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Gary
Cranbrook, BC
Apr 15, 2012
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GARMIN MONTANA 650
Pros: everything
Cons: a little heavy
A little heavy, and the touch screen doesn't work as nice as my iPhone. But being that it's a gps it works brilliantly, the screen colors are sharp and crisp, the brightness is excellent, battery life is way better than I expected. Tottaly recommend this item
Recommend? YES
11 viewers found this helpful.
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Bidou
Ontario
Apr 12, 2012
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MONTANA 650 AWSOME WHEN USED WITH BIRDSEYE
birdseye will not give you the image of a HD TV set but will let you have a very good idea of the terrain your in if you ever need to modify you route it becomes a priceless tool.
Recommend? YES
9 viewers found this helpful.
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Wesley
San Antonio, TX
Apr 10, 2012
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ITS A HULK
Pros: bright screen, easy to use.
Cons: none yet
This GPS far outshines the Garmin Oregon 550 I upgraded from. The screen on the Montana 650 is SO MUCH BRIGHTER and easier to see when in the sun. The only drawback (if you even want to call it that) is that this thing is a BEAST! Its HUGE! But thats ok with me...
Recommend? YES
10 viewers found this helpful.
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Bighopper
Edmonton
Apr 5, 2012
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GARMIN MONTANA 650
Pros: small, touch screen functioning with gloved finger
Cons: a bit over priced, and lack of bluetooth
I purchased the 650 after doing a lot of research, for use mainly on my motorbikes. I have found that I can use OSM maps that are better than Garmin City navigator for current roads being shown. I like all the possible changes that can be made to how the unit display can be changed to suit your needs. The touch screen is really great & so far I haven't had any problems with the unit freezing that has been reported earlier.
Recommend? YES
10 viewers found this helpful.
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Anon
Summerside
Apr 3, 2012
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THE BEST YET
Pros: easy to setup and easy to use
Cons: none so far
I have owned 3 handhelds so far and this one is the best yet
Recommend? YES
11 viewers found this helpful.
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Wirenut2266
Minnesota
Apr 2, 2012
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GARMIN MONTANA 650.....AWESOME UNIT!
Pros: ease of use
Cons: no wrist strap, only have one waypoint symbol.
The Montana is an awesome unit. Fairly straight forward to use and is easy to customize the screens to your likings. Only takes about 20 seconds to lock on signals, and to calibrate the compass outdoors is a snap. Plenty of memory for map installs or the micro-sd slot can also be utilized. Battery life seems par for the course, and the option for AA size or the rechargeable batteries which comes with the unit is a very nice feature. Screen is plenty bright even in direct sunlight. The only negatives I can come up with the unit are no wrist-strap supplied, and it would be nice to have multiple way point symbols, not just the generic dot. Sweet unit, you will not be disappointed!!!
Recommend? YES
11 viewers found this helpful.
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mario
québec
Mar 26, 2012
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MARIO TRES BONNE ACHAT
je l,utilise pour la trappe ainssi que l,auto ,atv il a une réception de satellite tres rapide tres facile à utilisé très bonne achat
Recommend? YES
11 viewers found this helpful.
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mtbeckto beck
Montana
Feb 27, 2012
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GREAT GPS
Pros: accurate and easy to use.
Cons: high price
Much faster, accurate and more features than the Colorado. Easy to use, and the size, although larger is not a problem. When searching for a geocache, the list will not update depending on location, you have to refresh the screen the same as the Colorado. The 550 nuvi does, but not this unit.
Recommend? YES
11 viewers found this helpful.
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Edgardo
Salmiya, Kuwait
Feb 25, 2012
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MORE THAN I COULD ASK.
Pros: sensitive, user friendly, functioned as advertized
Cons: thick, heavy and expensive.
I use this mainly to verify location of real state property. Its accuracy is excellent and the menus are friendly.
Other function of this product I have not yet fully explored at this time. But for my purpose its performance is more than I could ask.
Recommend? YES
11 viewers found this helpful.
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Eddie
Malaysia
Feb 24, 2012
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BEST HANDHELD GPS UNIT
Pros: everything is good about this unit, except....
Cons: bulky, heavy,
Despite its size and weight, it's worth the while to take it for jungle tracking etc. Full customizable display and lots of feature, too much to mention.
One serious fault is when you attach it to the car kit, it sometime won't start when turning on the car key, then if you turn the unit on, you get a blank screen, sometime prompt you to delete all data, somehow, I lost two full days of valuable jungle tracking data, that's 13 kilometers of blood sweat and tears' work!!! No such issue for my Colorado or Oregon.
Unlike the other two model, it can't stand the heat from the windshield, must turn on the aircond! or else it just stop functioning and also lost all the data!
Recommend? YES
10 viewers found this helpful.
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Gavin
Chile
Feb 14, 2012
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MONTANA REVIEW
I have mainly used this device for 4x4 road and trail navigation here in Chile. I also purchased a Chile topo map to use with this device and for some reason when I try to set a navigation path it keeps telling me "there are no routable roads in the area." I have had some success in the city but as soon as I try to navigate between towns I have this problem. other than that it seems ok
[Ed. note: You need to put your unit in to offroad mode to do direct routing. The mode you are currently in requires routable roads that your map does not have.
Setup -> Routing -> Activity -> set to Direct routing]
Recommend? NO
13 viewers found this helpful.
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h8chains
Burbank
Feb 13, 2012
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DEAD AFTER 2 DAYS ON DUAL SPORT RIDING
Pros: big screen and works with gloves on.
Cons: unreliable
won't communicate wirelessly with another 650 on the 2nd day.
after 400 miles of dirt and pavement, lost the ability to receive satellite signal
before the 650, i had the 600 and that too died while riding in baja @ 600 miles of mixed dirt and pavement. error message saying "unsupported battery detected"
Recommend? NO
16 viewers found this helpful.
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John-e-B
MENA
Feb 13, 2012
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GARMIN MONTANA 650 - GREAT BUT IT TAKES A WHILE
Pros: great , easy to see, can load all sorts of maps
Cons: interface takes a while
This is a great piece of kit and does everything all the good reviews state. It just takes a while to get used to the interface - for example Changing the Profile is extremely important (e.g. Road or trail etc)- otherwise it will drive you nuts.
Recommend? YES
13 viewers found this helpful.
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Ken
Sweden
Feb 7, 2012
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GREAT GPS
Not tried it yet but the specs meet my exp.
Recommend? YES
10 viewers found this helpful.
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Bob
Canada
Feb 3, 2012
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MONTANA 650
Pros: large screen, calendar, fast start-up
Cons: buggy software
Love the larger screen and the ability to use it like a Nuvi with the windshield mount with speaker. I can now read the screen without glasses like I needed with my Oregon 550. Found it to be a full featured GPSr. I especially liked the calendar showing how many geocaches I found on any day. But there are some problems like dropping tracks, system hanging and calendar refusing to count geocaches, but I still like it better than any other GPSr I've had.
Recommend? YES
11 viewers found this helpful.
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OldGarminGuy
Washington, D.C.
Jan 17, 2012
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GARMIN ROUTING KNOWS BETTER. AND NOT IN A GOOD WAY
Pros: rugged.
Cons: useless for serious trip planning and routing.
This unit will automatically override and re-route ANY route that you created and uploaded from Base Camp. It begs the question of why one would bother to plan a route in the first place. A classic case of developers coding lots of nifty "options" as opposed to creating code that is actually useful. The developers of this software really, really need to get outside of a cubicle and, you know, use the software.
[Ed. note: This video may help this issue: http://youtu.be/YWf_gQH1VBA]
Recommend? NO
29 viewers found this helpful.
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rough-country
Revelstoke,B.C.
Jan 5, 2012
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FIRST ONE LASTED A DAY
Pros: large screen,touch screen, easy to set up
Cons: may not work well under -10c
I would like to start off with saying the people at Garmin are a #5. When I recieved my new montana 650 I needed to transfer the data from my 76s and they were more than helpfull. Setting up the 650 was very easy and again any questions I had were answered over the phone with little wait. On my first day something broke loose inside which sounded like a large rock rattling around. GPS City in Calgary sent me a new one the next week.The problem that I am having now is at about 50% battery power it will go from my current track to the dashboard and then turn off in -6c temp. It still keeps my track when turned back on. There are more pros than cons.
Recommend? YES
28 viewers found this helpful.
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Rolando
Panama, Panama
Jan 4, 2012
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TOP OF THE MOMENT
Pros: almost totally customisable
Cons: havent a shortcut to save waypoints like 276csx
Great GPS, with customisable profiles and so many features can be used for different porpuses. Is not a cheap equipment to come without a memory card.
Recommend? YES
9 viewers found this helpful.
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Roger
Ontario
Jan 2, 2012
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AWESOME
Great unit, I can see the display much better than my 450 (getting old sucks). Also purchased an extra battery but have never had to use it yet, I am getting about 5 hours at this time...
Recommend? YES
26 viewers found this helpful.
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dean
asutralia
Dec 13, 2011
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650 FOR MOTORCYCLE USE
Pros: everything.
Cons: no music player or bluetooth. small gripes.
i use my 650 exclusively for motorcycle use - still getting to know it, but so far i'm really impressed. So many functions, and totally customisable, makes getting it just right for me really easy.
the mount is really tough and easy to install with the ram mount hardware.
it does so much more than the zumo that i cant really compare them, will just point out a few things.
1) the specs say that it wont do avoidances, this is not correct. (i even called gps city to check this and was told the same so maybe it's a newer firmware that i have). this would be a disabvantage on a bike if you travel asia where we arent allowed on some freeways. The avoidances are the same as for the zumo or nuvi's - avoid highways, tolls, offroad etc etc.
2) it's not as easy to change between north up and track up as it was on the zumo or nuvi (where you tap the north arrow to cycle between modes). Instead i have created 2 shortcuts on the main menu that let me toggle between the two modes and relaunch the map with one press. This is the advantage of all the customisation, altough it would be nice if it worked the same as the others in this respect.
3) the screen is fine with gloved hands.
4) extra battery life is welcome over the zumo, i can use it for hours at night to get routes and poi's sorted. the old zumo only went for 30mins!
5) waterproof - so far so good, and the claim of 1m for 30mins is encouraging.
6) satellite imagery available from garmin for $30/annum - really cool!
7) it feels much faster than the 660 or my old nuvi too,
8) some of the road navigation is not quite as street focussed as the 660, the guidance text takes up too much space in landscape mode for example, i turned it off.
9) really great to be able to set things like the position of the zoom controls and the order of things on the main menu.
10) screen is really easy to read, even in sunlight.
[Ed. note: Awesome review - thanks Dean fron down under!]
Recommend? YES
23 viewers found this helpful.
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Jack2U
Kingston
Nov 30, 2011
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IMPRESSED SO FAR...
Pros: map size, features, rechargable battery, etc...
Cons: none so far
While I haven't have it for that long, I'm more impressed with my 650 than I thought I'd be. Basically I thought I was getting a larger Oregon which isn't the case.
It looks like Garmin has taken a lot of good features from a bunch of GPSr and combined them. Some of the features I really like are Day/Night map colours, changing the order of lists so the ones I use most often (to geocache) are at the top - eliminating having to scroll through different pages.
The screen is very bright and easy to see in full sunlight (much more so than my 450), the adding/removing various compass dashboards from my map page without having to leave the map is great - touch the map screen once and I can see which geocaches are closest while still navigating and the speed in which I can scroll through a list of geocaches. There is no comparison in the speed compared to my 450. The screen capture function is also a pretty cool function.
Hopefully the longevity will be as impressive as the features.
Recommend? YES
16 viewers found this helpful.
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~RWT
New England, USA
Nov 14, 2011
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CAN'T GO WRONG WITH 650. SOLID DESIGN & FEATURESET
Pros: great for ageing eyes / responsive / customizable
Cons: firmware ~ not quite there.(3.60)
Great unit. I love the size (for hunting) I have it on a tether in a Badlands magnetic closure pouch on my waste-band of my backpack...... Love the one hand retrieval....
Still one major firmware problem: You can set bot the compass, and the mini pointer to display on the same screen. While navigating to a waypoint. When you do, they both point in different directions as you get closer.... Little pointer is correct. (IE: don't trust the compass, how ironic!) ~I think the compass is trying to point all the way around the earth, back to the starting point (first waypoint)...... WEIRD....
Also, some of the features (ie: Point & Go to a Projected Waypoint) do not work properly when compass is set to display magnetic north. (Projected waypoint is about 7 degrees off.) FOR NOW, USE TRUE NORTH SETTINGS....
Unit is very responsive, (usually) even when displaying topo and BirdsEye.
Used to have many more issues a month ago. They're working on the firmware. Version 3.60 is getting close, but haven't seen an update in a few weeks.... (Garmin knows about these issues.)
Recommend? YES
19 viewers found this helpful.
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Ken
NW Ontario
Nov 2, 2011
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MONTANA 600 VERSION 3.60 STILL HAVING SOME ISSUES
Pros: large screen and memory
Cons: still has bugs as of nov 2 /11 or mines a dud.
After haveing a 2plus, V and a 60cx me and this Montana are still butting heads. I bought t in Aug. We upload tracks to find areas we need to treat for the local paper company. I can upload the perimeter of several area into this unit with no limit (at least up to 4500)of the number of points in each file. Where are my 60 cx is limited to 20 files with a max of 500 points in each. However the 60 cx shows any file that i'm in the vicinty of n the screen. Where the 600 I have to select each file and show it on the screen. The 60cx will let me do a area calculation (we are paid by area treated so this is critical)by selecting with the pointer where i want the calculation to start and end. Perfect. The 600 you must tell it at the begining when you want to start calculating the area and then to calculate at the end. So while you are traveling the perimeter you can't use any other other gps functions (boo) The other issue is after I do a area calculation, my uploaded files will no longer display on the screen until I clear and upload them again from the laptop. (boo)
The other day it lost all its user setting and the track log it was recording for the day. That only happened the once but everthing went back to factory default except the trip odometer and the pictures I had loaded into the unit.
I love the big screen, and I like the unit over all but I'm still waiting for the bugs to get worked out and there have been no more updates lately. I hope they bring back the 60cx area calc feature. In the mean time I'm looking for another 60cx because this unit is still in testing imo Either there is something wrong with mine or they need to get to keep working on the firmware. I'm wishing had waited until next year Ken Kreger Kreger Forest Products
Recommend? NO
17 viewers found this helpful.
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PK
Spore
Oct 24, 2011
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GREAT GPS
Few weeks of use till now. Easy to use. Features are good and I do not find any lacking. No problems with the touchscreen so far. Uploads/downloads to and from device is not difficult. Access from PC is problem free.
Recommend? YES
22 viewers found this helpful.
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koss99
San Luis Potosi, México
Oct 11, 2011
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TOCUH SCRENN DOSEN'T WORK
Pros: great size of the screen
Cons: poor tochscreen
I bought recently this GPS great size, but dosen't work i do a hard reset, a light reset and calibrate the screen and nothing
Recommend? NO
21 viewers found this helpful.
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LordRJD
Ottawa
Oct 7, 2011
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ROUTE RECALCULATION ISSUE IS FIXED!
Pros: nice bright screen
Garmin has fixed the route recalculation issue in the latest beta version of the firmware.
Recommend? NO
32 viewers found this helpful.
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GIS_PRO
Eugene, Oregon
Sep 25, 2011
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JUNK BRICK
Pros: none!!!!!!
Cons: everything!!!!!!!!
Junk touch screen. Convoluted menu. If you have money to throw away buy one or buy a few thousand and build your self a brick house. If you want a good well designed unit go with the 76csx. These newer garmin units look like candy wrapper mapping and are slow. STAY AWAY!!!
Recommend? NO
21 viewers found this helpful.
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Savant9
BC
Sep 22, 2011
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GREAT UNIT
Pros: big screen, holds tons of caches, customizable
Cons: screen calibration problems seem common.
Totally love this fatty! Despite having a screen calibration issue (that gpscity allowed me to exchange)it is the most intuitive and easy to use gps garmin has yet produced. Accuracy is great as is battery life. The massive screen is a dream to view in all lighting conditions. I highly recommend this gps.
Recommend? YES
20 viewers found this helpful.
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final64
Wisconsin
Sep 22, 2011
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GARMIN MONTANA TOUCH SCREEN
I called Garmin yesterday as I had an issue with my touch screen no longer working. They confirmed they have faulty units in the field and as customers report the touch screen issue they are replacing them. This means you have to send your unit back to Garmin and wait an additional 30-60 days for a replacement. This is longer than normal delivery period due to the volume of complaints coming in and the backlog of Montana’s that actually work.
Beware before you by your new Montana as it’s likely faulty. It will appear to work for a few days in the field but then the touch screen will become unusable. The Garmin rep I talked with acknowledged this has been occurring for “awhile” and though stores are suppose to stop selling them, they can’t enforce it.
Recommend? NO
32 viewers found this helpful.
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Kinnie
Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Sep 20, 2011
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GOOD REPLACEMENT FOR THE 276C
Pros: large screen, good visibility, ease of operation
Cons: none
Great GPS. And, as far as I am concerned, the only replacement for the Garmin 276C.
Althouggh some negative sentiments were observed on internet forums regarding teething problems with the firmware of the unit, Garmin responded in due time and rectified all mentioned problems.
Great unit that is a logical upgrade to the Oregon series. I have already tested it on a scouting trip - worked great and recoded data better than expected.
Recommend? YES
20 viewers found this helpful.
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Roofsters
Michigan
Sep 8, 2011
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EVEN WITH ISSUES STILL GOOD UNIT.
Pros: very good overall
Cons: touchscreen off and price
Had for several months. Unit still has the best options and much better screen then the Oregon's. Have a issue with the touchscreen being off. The 2.30 update fixes the compass calibration issues. Updates keep making it better. Waiting on results of touchscreen fix.
Recommend? YES
20 viewers found this helpful.
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LT42F (geocaching)
France
Sep 2, 2011
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GREAT SCREEN AND REACTIVITY, BUT NO WHEREIGO CACHE
Pros: large screen, paperless geocaching
Cons: didn't work for whereigo cache
I use it specially for geocaching in France. so it's a great hardware for this game the large screen is a real plus for viewing map and have paperless tool. But I don't see that it haven't the whereigo founction....
the postal delivery is quick in the US...but with "customer cleareance" it take a long time to have the hardware (
before that I use 60CSX and the difference beetwen the 2 tools is a very large gap !)
i hope that garmin will give an update to WhereIGo function ASAP.
Recommend? YES
24 viewers found this helpful.
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Wilde1 Paul
BC
Sep 1, 2011
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QUESTION ON THE MONTANA
I have a bunch of GPS. I am an Exploration Consultant. since the demise of the 276 range, there has been nothing that can hold more than 2,000 waypoints. Garmin says that this holds 4000, any other spec sheet says 2000, anyone know the answer. I'm looking at purchasing in Canada. maybe there's a difference in specs? Are these waypoints readable on the unit in the field. One of my GPS is the oregon with sd card can hold 1000's of waypoints, just not readable unless you are using a computer, not an option in my case.
Recommend? NO OPINION
27 viewers found this helpful.
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LT42F (geocaching)
France
Aug 31, 2011
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WIDESCREEN, BUT WITHOUT WHEREIGO CACHE...
Pros: wildscreen, touchscreen, big as well
Cons: no whereigo cache engine ((((((
I buy this GPS for Geocaching only, before I had the 60Csx, so the screen is perfect, detail for cache are well, but i think there is the engine for WhereIGo cache type, but not (( The delivery from las vegas to france it's very very long...about 3 weeks but it delevery well after I paid the French taxes. the touchscreen answer quickly, and the navigation (without reading any paper) is ok after a little bit "exercise"...
This GPS is very big, but not to large when you walk with it. I was sad to discover that there isn't any "dragonne" to attach the gps with you.
I think that a will buy the "soeasyrider" bag to carry it on my arm.
But at the finish it's a very good product. It's to soon to tell you if the battery are enough big to deliver a full day power.
as we say in France : you can buy it with "close eyes".
I only hope that garmin will delivery an upgrade for the WhereiGo cache.
Recommend? YES
29 viewers found this helpful.
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Bruce
Ladysmith, B.C.
Aug 31, 2011
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FABULOUS OUTDOOR GPS
Pros: easy to use touch screen...super easy to read
Cons: cannot seem to be able to calibrate the compass
I use this to track our horseback riding routes and trails in the backcountry. Combined with the back road mapbook sd card, this is a excellent tool. Easy and quick to use, great display screen. Great tracks. Great to use from the back of horse and to slide into the saddle packs. Nice big screen, turns map profile for better viewing. Excellent battery life from previous garmin units.
Recommend? YES
30 viewers found this helpful.
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Curt
Omaha, Nebraska
Aug 30, 2011
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GREAT GEOCACHING UNIT
Pros: clarity
Cons: size
An absolute 'MUST HAVE'.
Recommend? YES
47 viewers found this helpful.
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Mark
Toms River, NJ
Aug 22, 2011
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TOUCH SCREEN ISSUES
Pros: otherwise no complaints
Cons: touchscreen reliability poor
Larry wrote: "I have the 650T and have been well pleased until the touch screen started freezing and not preforming as it should - touch a button and the one above is activated!!! Re- calibrating has no effect and I went so far as to reset to factory settings after upgraging to the version 2.50 software. Try using tha calculator much less any other function and meet with unexpected results."
I have the same problem and eventually the screen became completely non-responsive. Garmin warranty replaces these units with refurbished models - I'm not too happy about that!
Recommend? NO OPINION
41 viewers found this helpful.
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dhcmca
Niagara Falls, ON
Aug 11, 2011
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WIDESCREEN GPS
Pros: love the screen!
Cons: no wherigo caching, no lanyard or carbiner
The accuracy of this Montana seems to be the best of all the Garmin units I have owned to date. I have enjoyed the versatility that it provides by doubling as an outdoor GPS and Auto routing unit as well. It appears that there are still a few software bugs to be worked out but the folks at Garmin seem to be working on that end. It takes a little while to get used to the larger size of this unit when used as a handheld, but after a few weeks of use I don't even think of it until someone else mentions it.
Recommend? YES
45 viewers found this helpful.
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jace
Honolulu, HI
Aug 3, 2011
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INTUITIVE GPS
Pros: geotagged images, good receiver, quick to learn.
Cons: no custom attribute fields. lame point averaging.
This is a great unit for basic point and track capturing. Our field botanists & biologists love the camera option for getting evidence of special flora and fauna. Although there are no options (yet) for setting up fields to capture more data the format seems easy enough to alter for savvy techs.
I was disappointed with the point averaging function. I was hoping for a way to set a number of points to average per position as a default setting. Instead, the process is quite cumbersome especially if you are taking pictures as well. I'd like to see the averaging as a setting instead of another function that has to be administered after a waypoint is taken. Right now the process we most often use is 1)take picture 2) set as waypoint then 3) average the waypoint. It would be quicker to combine these three steps into one with some sort of macro.
Recommend? YES
131 viewers found this helpful.
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hawkin
Trondheim, Norway
Aug 3, 2011
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BIG SCREEN GPS
Pros: big screen, quick
Cons: heavy, low resolution
Just got the Montana and tried it with alot of maps (car, topo and marine) and it works very nice with all. It is speedier than its smaller brother Oregon when navigating the maps. The screen is also nice. In sunlight it works fine without any back-light and in darkness 50% works fine. It is sad they have not included multitouch, still want to pinch zoom. The resolution of the display is also not on pair of the mobile phones these days, but for the map it works fine anyhow. The rechargeable battery runs for a long time, but cause of its continuously tracking the battery goes down unless you power the unit down. Have not figured out a way to turn of the tracking.
Recommend? YES
59 viewers found this helpful.
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Diesel
Kelowna, B.C.
Aug 2, 2011
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MONTANA 650
Pros: everything
Cons: none
Excellent GPS.This unit is replacing my 76CS which is still working 100%(my son now has this unit). The 650 compared to the 76CS is much easier to learn, easier to view screen as it is much larger. This unit is also much more rugged. The 650 has many more features as well.It appears to be much easier to download charts, maps, etc. . Compared to the Oregon 450T which I purchased for my son at the same time, I enjoy the Montana 650 much better. Although I haven't tried the camera yet, it is a 5 megapixel compared to a 3.
Recommend? YES
63 viewers found this helpful.
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Bob
Calgary
Aug 2, 2011
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NEEDS SOME FIXES IN SOFTWARE
Pros: hands free directions by voice prompt to caches
Cons: as above
Compas does not like to calabarate and unit does not like to change from auto mode to pedestrian when you type in coordinates. I am sure the fixes are comming but has been fraustrating.
Recommend? NO OPINION
59 viewers found this helpful.
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Falcon
Fla
Jul 21, 2011
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UPDATED REVIEW
I had posted a better review over at ETS with lots of pictures, here is the link below that sums up my review.
http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=228158#Post228158
Recommend? YES
75 viewers found this helpful.
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Roofsters
Michigan
Jul 20, 2011
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GREAT HAND HELD
Pros: screen size and briteness
Cons: needed two updates to work right
After a few update unit works well. Works both for geocaching and as a nuvi type device. The screen is awesome compared to the Oregon series. The cost is a bit high, but like everything else will probably go down later. Good unit overall and really like the size.
Recommend? YES
103 viewers found this helpful.
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Jean-Luc
San Francisco
Jul 20, 2011
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GREAT HARDWARE, SOFTWARE UNFINISHED
I use GPS mostly for adventure riding in motorcycle. No Garmin was really satisfactory for that since the 276 I was still using. The Montana is the first that offers similar screen size and definition and is much easier to see, even in full sun. The touch screen works fine too, even with gloves. The unit looks really rugged. One of the best selling points is that the Garmin mount to install it on a bike is cheap and sturdy, saving big bucks in Touratech mounts. The software is easy to use and very customizable with different profiles of use that I find very useful and practical. The only issue is that they are still many quirks proving that the "paint is still not dry" on the software. Hopefully they will be solved rapidly.
Recommend? YES
90 viewers found this helpful.
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Falcon
Fla
Jul 19, 2011
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FINALLY A RUGGED NUVI
Pros: 38.5 gigs of memory capibility, bright screen
Cons: heavy, large
I have been running this through the pace, I have maps of most of the world on it with 38.5 gigs at the disposal. I have ran the unit with no batteries off a 40 watt solar cell and shot pictures underwater in a pool. It uses AA batteries and I can get them anywhere or recharge off the cell. Has some minor software bugs but the updates are helping. All in all it's a great first generation tough Nuvi, the only thing I would improve on is a smaller size and weight and being able to load waterway maps together with the street and topos. Garmins are bad for having waterway maps on a separate micro sd or loaded independent.
Recommend? YES
72 viewers found this helpful.
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Kim P
Worcester, MA
Jul 19, 2011
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GREAT DEVICE
Pros: acurate, screen good in sunlight, battery life
Cons: expensive
I bought this device because I wanted a hand-held (my frist) and a second auto GPS. I was initially apprehensive about the size/weight, but it does fit nicely in your hand when hiking. It workks fine as an auto GPS, though there are a few features missing compared to my Nuvi. I find non-auto navigating a little complicated, both hiking and on my bicycle. The manual is not overly helpful about when to the use which feature. Admittely, this may be my lack of experience with GPS other than over the road. I have had a few issues with loading multiple maps and with the compass. I called Garmin 3 times and support has been outstanding I have been more than impressed Bottom line: great device, though expensive.
Recommend? YES
107 viewers found this helpful.
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Larry
Waco, Texas
Jul 14, 2011
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TOUCH SCREEN
Pros: gps works great.
Cons: the touch screen works poorly.
I have the 650T and have been well pleased until the touch screen started freezing and not preforming as it should - touch a button and the one above is activated!!! Re- calibrating has no effect and I went so far as to reset to factory settings after upgraging to the version 2.50 software. Try using tha calculator much less any other function and meet with unexpected results.
Recommend? NO
303 viewers found this helpful.
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Roofsters
Michagan
Jun 26, 2011
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ROOFSTERS
Pros: screen viewability and size, rechargeable.
Cons: compass calibration and high price.
Great GPS unit. Works like a Nuvi but just As good as a handheld. Have a issue calibrating the compass, but other than that, this unit rocks. Gamin did a great job with this one, other than price.
Recommend? YES
144 viewers found this helpful.
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Yogazoo
Helena, MT
Jun 23, 2011
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BULKY BUT WORTH IT
Pros: excellent screen, user interface, rugged build
Cons: size and weight for a handheld (doesn't bother me)
The Garmin Montana series may not be for the go-lite crowd. It's a portly gent and those sensitive to size may not find the Montana something they can get used to. That being said, the unit is perhaps Garmins most full featured Hiking/Recreation GPS on the market.
The most intruiging piece of hardware is the screen. Recently Garmin touchscreen handheld GPS has suffered from what some consider to be less than ideal viewing ability in certain lighting conditions. The Montana's touchscreen does not warrant the same critique. The screen highly visible in direct sunlight even with terrain shading enabled. In bright, non-direct daylight, the unit's visibility drops a bit but the much brighter screen backlight kicks in and eliminates any issues. With the backlight, the units screen is superbly visible in all lighting conditions. The color and contrast of the new screen is very pleasing to the eye. Make sure you get some kind of screen protector though as the touchscreen surface is high-gloss and will probably scratch easily without one.
The menu system is the second vast improvement over other touchscreen models. The amount of taps it takes to access menu setups, features, and items has been drastically reduced from the Oregon and Dakota series. This is one touchscreen interface that is well thought out and intuitive in every way. Nothing you need to acess seems to be more than two taps away.
Reception is exceptional and WAAS lock is quickly found (and held) where available. Tracklogs are high-fidelity and impressive. The orientation of the unit does not seem to affect reception.
The camera is as good as can ge expected. Not really for indoor and low light photos, outdoors under normal sunny to overcast conditions, the camera will do it's job. If you don't really need geo-referenced photos and already have a dedicated point and shoot, you might want to save a few bucks and get the 600.
Aside from the improved hardware (larger, highly visible screen), and vastly improved interface, for an outdoor user, this GPS doesn't really add too much more functionality from the previous newer Gamin models (Colorado, Oregon, Dakota, 62). If you always wanted the best handheld unit combined with Nuvi performance, this model is the manifestation of your wildest dreams. The tradeoff is size and weight.
Fits perfectly in the Nite-ize medium-tall case.
Recommend? YES
180 viewers found this helpful.
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(4.1/5.0 based on 60 ratings)
