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Recent reviews for this item: snooker, March 21, 2013 I use the Montana on a dual sport motorcycle to replace a Garmin 60Csx that was my 1st GPS and used for the last 2 years. I could never see my route on the 60 it was so small and the sun angle had to be perfect.
The best thing about the Montana for me is the giant brightscreen. I can pretty much see the route on it day or nightand only need my reading glasses for text. I have the ruggedmount on the bike (NICE!) and auto mount (w/speaker for turnby turn prompts) for the car and they both are great.
The multiple Profiles are a very flexible feature: Each iscustomizable in terms of layout of data fields, "apps", mapsetup, autorouting rules, etc. It can be intimidating forawhile but is very powerful once you get used to it.
The early Montanas had firmware bugs but this now seemsstabilized. A power issue (even when plugged in) can befixed by adding a foam earplug inside the battery cover topress against the Lithium battery pack, (if still needed asthe new units come with some foam).
It can do BOTH Tracks for off road (typically, and are10,000 points each!) AND Routes for street trips (typically)which are HUGE features. MUCH more on that now:
In the past on the 60 I only used tracks but now am learningroutes. A common use model is to build a route (and track!)in Basecamp (BC) software on your computer then upload oneor both to your Montana. From weeks of researching othersbest practices, here is what I learned:
First, terms: - TRACK: a Track is simply a series of FIXED individual"breadcrumb" points. You can record your own tracks ordownload them from the Internet for upcoming trips (Moabtrails for example). The track is independent of whatevermap you have, the track points are basically overlaid ontothe map as if on separate layers. The set of points thatmake up a track are fixed and will never change when youlook at them on *any* map, GPS or PC. Tracks are ALWAYS reliable - and completely different fromRoutes which are "autorouted" by software. If you want toplan a trip in BaseCamp and have it look the same foreveryone in your entire group even on different GPSreceivers, then use TRACKS, you can always count on them tobe displayed identically!
- ROUTE: a Route is created automatically starting withproviding only a MINIMUM of 2 points (start anddestination). The autorouting software (in BC on thecomputer) or firmware (in the GPS) will use available datafrom whatever "routable" map you have installed, in order toautoroute between these points and generate the Route itself.The autorouting algorithm is controlled by which RoutingActivity you select which has its own settings for roadavoidance preferences (avoid interstate, etc). A lot of motorcycle guys planning trips want to control theexact route chosen which is typically done in BC by manuallyadding extra points right AFTER each intersection ofinterest, to force the autorouting.Because they use map data, only Routes can provide turn byturn directions and trip info (time or distance todestination, etc).
So: Autorouting depends on the "input" points provided, theautorouting FW or SW algorithm and its Routing Activity andavoidance preferences, and the data from the selectedmapset. When you transfer a route to a GPS, it *MAY*re-autoroute and create a new Route which may be differentfrom the original Route in BC. It depends on many variablesbut for the Montana I have had pretty good luck so far usingthe steps below.
Maps: To do Routes (i.e. autorouting) you MUST have a"routable" map installed. The main mapset used is CityNavigator North America NT (I use the DVD which I haveinstalled on multiple PC's but locked to 1 Montana).
Best Practice: (using BaseCamp and transferring to Montana):RULES: -Use the same routable map on BOTH (e.g. City Nav sameversion). -Use the same Routing Activity (e.g. Motorcycle) and sameavoidance preferences on BOTH.STEPS:1. Create the route in BC, inserting Via Points until youget the desired route. Max of 50 points per route.2. Track: With the route the way you want it, save it as aTrack. AWESOME!3. Route - Now change the Routing Activity to DIRECT andSAVE the Route. Direct is key! (I put Direct in its name).4. Transfer the (Direct) Route and its sister Track to theMontana. 5. On the Montana select the proper Routing Activity (e.g.Motorcycle). Use Where To? and pick this Route to navigatewith. Because it was saved from BC as a DIRECT Route it willnow autoroute which should display the Route correctly.6. In Track Manager, make the "sister" Track also visibleand set its color to Black. The skinny black Track line isvisible inside the wider magenta Route line.
On the Montana, the Route Planner app allows youto Edit a route only IF it is a DIRECT Route (reverse it,insert via points like gas stations, etc.) Dave, August 29, 2012 I upgraded to the Montana from a much older Garmin GPS and
what a difference! This unit works indoors as long as it
is relatively near to a window. It locks onto satellites
very quickly and never loses them. The GoTo Address
feature is easy to use and it actually FINDS addresses in
the USA, unlike other GPS units, including those built into
vehicles . . . The screen is clear and automatically
adjusts from day to night. The battery DOES last for 11
hours. The unit is so good that I carry it in one of my
vehicles that has GPS because the Montana actually knows
where it is! I also use this on a motorcycle and while
hiking. Michelxb, April 6, 2012 Je n'ai pas encore fait le tour du Montana mais à date, j'en
suis très satisfait. Les cartes de route, topo, marine en
accès sur le même gps, j'aime beaucoup. J'en suis à créer
mes cartes personnels et aussi en auto-formation sur les
relations Google Earth et le Montana). Contrairement à ce
que certains avaient fait comme commentaires, je trouve que
le "touch-screen) va très très bien. J'y ai mis une
protection d'écran, que je crois indispensable. Cet été je
serai plus en mesure d'en parler puisque je l'aurai utilisé
à "toutes les sauces". Alan, September 5, 2011 Would not recommend this unit just yet as there are issues
which still need to be resolved. The biggest one is that of
cutting out or powering down when searching POI's.
Also my unit has a mark on the screen which I am concerned
about, and which Garmin quality Control should have picked up.
