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Garmin Montana 650


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Changes made from version 3.30 to 3.40:

 

Fixed shutdown viewing routes on map

Fixed satellite dashboard on the map

Fixed issue where parts of map review page were not responsive to touch

Fixed issue with right side controls where dashboard and icons could overlap on main menu

Fixed issue where some auto-archived tracks would be named in English regardless of user language

Fixed issue where background would not update correctly behind dashboards

 

Just noticed the last issue today while I was out driving. I'm glad there is a fix already but I am getting nervous that I am developing a second mis-calibrating display. I was concerned when my replacement had a lower serial number than the original Montana that I bought. Anyone heard anything official from Garmin on this?

Thanks

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I have never been totally disappointed with a Garmin product, but all the threads about the Montana seem to be about problems, so to the folks who actually own a Montana and cache with it, would you recommend it?

 

I've been an early adopter since the Colorado series and had to ride the bugs all the way through to the Oregon 300, then again with the 450, dakota, 62S etc. The Montana is the best GPS yet with the most ease of use. The screen cannot be beat on any of todays hand-held GPS units. The units firmware always gets better over the course of about a year until they can work it out. And remember, people don't usually gloat about how rockin' awesome a unit is on these boards. Generally it's a place to gripe about, discover, and overcome problems.

 

After owning 10 Garmins going way back, The Montana 6XX is the best yet and comes highly recommended.

Thank you Yogazoo, I couldn't have said it any better.

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Anyone have any info on the boot lock-up when in the auto mount. My first unit unit would freeze regularly during power-on in the powered auto mount w/speaker and the replacement unit is doing the same thing.

 

Is this software or hardware? Should return for a third unit? Anyone else having this problem? Post #73 on this thread comments on the issue.

 

I updated to latest firmware and this did not fix the problem.

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My Montana came without auto power charger

 

Can I use my iphone car charger to charge my montana knowing that the i-phone charger has no transformer (straight 12v dc outlet)

 

The reason I am asking because when I look at the montana home power charger output it is rated at 5v dc.

 

For the time being I am carrying extra AA batteries wherever I go

 

Thanks for the help

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I was wondering if there is any way to hide the geocaches from showing up on the map. For example, if I want to just go for a hike and want the map with topos / poi / streets showing, but not the geocaches, is there a way to filer them out of the map? I don't want to remove my sd card with the gpx files though. I tried switching profiles but that didn't seem to work. I am coming from the etrex series so getting used to the new UI is interesting and exciting, but the manual is so pathetic unfortunately.

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I was wondering if there is any way to hide the geocaches from showing up on the map. For example, if I want to just go for a hike and want the map with topos / poi / streets showing, but not the geocaches, is there a way to filer them out of the map? I don't want to remove my sd card with the gpx files though. I tried switching profiles but that didn't seem to work. I am coming from the etrex series so getting used to the new UI is interesting and exciting, but the manual is so pathetic unfortunately.

 

Turn off "User Waypoints" in the advanced section of the map setup menu. I believe the Geocache Icons are considered User Waypoints and not Map Points.

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AFAIK the IPhone charger has NO mini Usb connector, if you have a mini Usb connector fitting the Montana the voltage is about 5V and suits the Montana.

 

It looks like Iam missing something

the usb chargers dont seem to have any transformer (voltage let down) function

 

Where does the volt drop from 12 to 5

 

Many thanks

Edited by TheArabianHunter
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I was wondering if there is any way to hide the geocaches from showing up on the map. For example, if I want to just go for a hike and want the map with topos / poi / streets showing, but not the geocaches, is there a way to filer them out of the map? I don't want to remove my sd card with the gpx files though. I tried switching profiles but that didn't seem to work. I am coming from the etrex series so getting used to the new UI is interesting and exciting, but the manual is so pathetic unfortunately.

 

Turn off "User Waypoints" in the advanced section of the map setup menu. I believe the Geocache Icons are considered User Waypoints and not Map Points.

 

Thanks, that's great but not obvious to be under the "zoom" submenu. It would have taken me a while to figure that out on my own.

 

Another question but for Mac users. When I go to eject the Montana, I try to eject both the Garmin and the uSD Card but I can't seem to get both ejected to disconnect the gps. When there is no uSD Card, then the Garmin ejects just fine, but when there is a uSD Card as well, I try to eject both, but they immediately remount. I tried to eject both at once, the Garmin first, and the uSD first, but they won't eject safely. Not sure if there is a subtle trick to this or not.

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AFAIK the IPhone charger has NO mini Usb connector, if you have a mini Usb connector fitting the Montana the voltage is about 5V and suits the Montana.

 

It looks like Iam missing something

the usb chargers dont seem to have any transformer (voltage let down) function

 

Where does the volt drop from 12 to 5

 

Many thanks

 

USB is specified at 5 volts, so anything that claims to be USB and/or has a USB plug or jack is at 5 volts.

 

The voltage gets reduced from 12 to 5 in there:

 

usbcarcharger.jpg

Edited by dfx
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Another question but for Mac users. When I go to eject the Montana, I try to eject both the Garmin and the uSD Card but I can't seem to get both ejected to disconnect the gps. When there is no uSD Card, then the Garmin ejects just fine, but when there is a uSD Card as well, I try to eject both, but they immediately remount. I tried to eject both at once, the Garmin first, and the uSD first, but they won't eject safely. Not sure if there is a subtle trick to this or not.

 

Known and reported issue and hopefully will be fixed soon.

 

Cheers,

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Long story short and explained in another thread, but I have a new Montana and want to transfer all my settings that I copied on my computer to the new replacement unit. Anyone know how to do this? Just thought I could save time with my profiles and settings if I could copy them over to the new unit somehow. I figured I could just copy the folders and replace them in the new unit, but I'm not sure that it won't mess up something. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. Thanks.

Edited by Nabrag
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Long story short and explained in another thread, but I have a new Montana and want to transfer all my settings that I copied on my computer to the new replacement unit. Anyone know how to do this? Just thought I could save time with my profiles and settings if I could copy them over to the new unit somehow. I figured I could just copy the folders and replace them in the new unit, but I'm not sure that it won't mess up something. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. Thanks.

Copy your old \garmin\profiles .gpf files into the new unit and you'll get most of it back. Beware that firmware version 3.5 has a bug where the main menu dashboard cannot be set to small or large data fields or it will crash when changing profiles. You can edit the gpf files to reset values 5 or 6 for MainMenuDashboard to 7 for instance if you're crashing too much to do it from the GPS.

 

Wayne

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Long story short and explained in another thread, but I have a new Montana and want to transfer all my settings that I copied on my computer to the new replacement unit. Anyone know how to do this? Just thought I could save time with my profiles and settings if I could copy them over to the new unit somehow. I figured I could just copy the folders and replace them in the new unit, but I'm not sure that it won't mess up something. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. Thanks.

Copy your old \garmin\profiles .gpf files into the new unit and you'll get most of it back. Beware that firmware version 3.5 has a bug where the main menu dashboard cannot be set to small or large data fields or it will crash when changing profiles. You can edit the gpf files to reset values 5 or 6 for MainMenuDashboard to 7 for instance if you're crashing too much to do it from the GPS.

 

Wayne

Wasn't planning on upgrading to the new 3.5 just yet anyhow. Thanks for the info on the profile folder. Was wondering if I could do the same for my vehicle and wapoint files also without any ill effects. Thanks for the help.

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Long story short and explained in another thread, but I have a new Montana and want to transfer all my settings that I copied on my computer to the new replacement unit. Anyone know how to do this? Just thought I could save time with my profiles and settings if I could copy them over to the new unit somehow. I figured I could just copy the folders and replace them in the new unit, but I'm not sure that it won't mess up something. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. Thanks.

Copy your old \garmin\profiles .gpf files into the new unit and you'll get most of it back. Beware that firmware version 3.5 has a bug where the main menu dashboard cannot be set to small or large data fields or it will crash when changing profiles. You can edit the gpf files to reset values 5 or 6 for MainMenuDashboard to 7 for instance if you're crashing too much to do it from the GPS.

 

Wayne

Wasn't planning on upgrading to the new 3.5 just yet anyhow. Thanks for the info on the profile folder. Was wondering if I could do the same for my vehicle and wapoint files also without any ill effects. Thanks for the help.

Yes I think you can copy them over too to the respective folders. Or, if they're in basecamp's database, just copy them when you plug in the new gps.

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Long story short and explained in another thread, but I have a new Montana and want to transfer all my settings that I copied on my computer to the new replacement unit. Anyone know how to do this? Just thought I could save time with my profiles and settings if I could copy them over to the new unit somehow. I figured I could just copy the folders and replace them in the new unit, but I'm not sure that it won't mess up something. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. Thanks.

Copy your old \garmin\profiles .gpf files into the new unit and you'll get most of it back. Beware that firmware version 3.5 has a bug where the main menu dashboard cannot be set to small or large data fields or it will crash when changing profiles. You can edit the gpf files to reset values 5 or 6 for MainMenuDashboard to 7 for instance if you're crashing too much to do it from the GPS.

 

Wayne

Wasn't planning on upgrading to the new 3.5 just yet anyhow. Thanks for the info on the profile folder. Was wondering if I could do the same for my vehicle and wapoint files also without any ill effects. Thanks for the help.

Yes I think you can copy them over too to the respective folders. Or, if they're in basecamp's database, just copy them when you plug in the new gps.

Thanks, that worked great. Pretty much got everything transfered over from the old unit. Took awhile to download, but its all there. Thanks for the help, much appreciated. God, I love this forum!!!

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In the U K it has been recalled from the dealers I have had it on order most of September but so far all I know is all the stock was recalled I have tried a few authorised dealers they now are not in stock again with no dates Fo sale

Any one know why the recall

 

Maybe they just sold all of their stock?

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In the U K it has been recalled from the dealers I have had it on order most of September but so far all I know is all the stock was recalled I have tried a few authorised dealers they now are not in stock again with no dates Fo sale

Any one know why the recall

 

Maybe they just sold all of their stock?

No three different dealers have said it is recalled at 1st I thought the dealer was selling stock he didn't have but I have hard the same with another 2. Trouble is the web pages always say they are available it is only after I place the order I get told of the recall

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Assuming these recall reports are true, I wonder what exactly the Montana is being recalled for? I wouldn't think that the screen issues would be enough. Perhaps it's the battery and perhaps it's Europe specific (batch, charging voltage). This is of course going of mere hearsay and second hand reports that it's been recalled in some places in Europe

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Assuming these recall reports are true, I wonder what exactly the Montana is being recalled for? I wouldn't think that the screen issues would be enough. Perhaps it's the battery and perhaps it's Europe specific (batch, charging voltage). This is of course going of mere hearsay and second hand reports that it's been recalled in some places in Europe

Apparently GPSCity isn't selling Montana's now. I saw another message that somebody talked to a Garmin rep and he said they couldn't stop vendors from selling, but suggested they stop (or requested units be sent back?).

 

I just exchanged my Montana 650t for the screen calibration issue. The tech didn't mention what he knew about it, but had a checklist (did you do a master reset ...). I managed to get a new one back Monday by giving them my credit card to cover the interim while mine was in transit. Based on the file dates, the new one I have was loaded on Sept 3rd. Serial 28V003xxx, about 800 higher than the one I sent in (which had files loaded from July 19th).

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In the U K it has been recalled from the dealers I have had it on order most of September but so far all I know is all the stock was recalled I have tried a few authorised dealers they now are not in stock again with no dates Fo sale

Any one know why the recall

 

Maybe they just sold all of their stock?

No three different dealers have said it is recalled at 1st I thought the dealer was selling stock he didn't have but I have hard the same with another 2. Trouble is the web pages always say they are available it is only after I place the order I get told of the recall

 

Pentagon GPS (UK) currently list all three models as in stock. I have a Montana in the UK (early serial number and no screen probs yet - 28W0007xx) and there has been no official recall from Garmin (at least not for the end user). The Nuvi recall took place last year.

Edited by Keith.BB
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I have a question about City Navigator with the Montana - I've recently tried navigating with it and for the most part it works fine. But I realized there are some things missing or maybe I'm not looking in the right place - re-routing around roadblocks/traffic congestion would be the main thing. Is there any option to navigate around roadblocks or does anyone know if that is in the works for this? I would really love it if I could use the Montana for *all* of my GPS needs instead of having a handheld outdoor unit and an automotive unit.

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I have a question about City Navigator with the Montana - I've recently tried navigating with it and for the most part it works fine. But I realized there are some things missing or maybe I'm not looking in the right place - re-routing around roadblocks/traffic congestion would be the main thing. Is there any option to navigate around roadblocks or does anyone know if that is in the works for this? I would really love it if I could use the Montana for *all* of my GPS needs instead of having a handheld outdoor unit and an automotive unit.

There is no way for the Montana to know that there is a road-block and automatically reroute you around the road closure.

 

You can however instruct the Montana to find another route to your destination. This is how I would do it.

 

Where to>Find Another>(choose the same waypoint)>Go>Automobile Driving>Select A Calculation Method>(if you originally choose Minimum Time, now choose Minimum Distance, and visa versa.) It's not an elegant way to reroute, but it should work.

Edited by Barrikady
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But I realized there are some things missing or maybe I'm not looking in the right place - re-routing around roadblocks/traffic congestion would be the main thing. Is there any option to navigate around roadblocks or does anyone know if that is in the works for this?

In order to do this, the unit would require an external connection (RDS-TMC or better, 'cell' based connection to a traffic server). Both Garmin and TomTom offer 'live' services of that sort, but only on select models of their automotive GPS units.
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A couple more details:

 

There is a MAP SPEED selection in the map setup. From what I can tell, having it set to "FAST" makes the map update while driving seem smoother. Instead of the herky-jerky one second updates to the map you can now have a smooth scroll.

 

You can select the "VEHICLE" in any profile. There are a number of pre-loaded cars, boats, and others.

 

Custom backgrounds can be loaded but you need to create both Landscape and Portrait images for each one.

 

The altimeter screen has two displays. When you have the elevation plot selected, the main display will show your elevation and a smaller screen will show the barometer plot. When you switch to view the barometer in the main view, the smaller view switches to the elevation. Cool!

 

The internal "BEEP" tone, which has been traditionally faint in the opinion of many, is much louder. It almost scares me when I'm not expecting a beep.

 

I can't get the Topo 24K maps to calculate a route in "Pedestrian" mode. It just gives me a route calculation error message.

 

This unit fits in the garmin carry case designed for the 60/62 series. It will also fit nicely in the Nite-ize case (the larger one).

 

Hey, I was just wondering...I ordered the Garmin Montana 650t but had to keep reordering due to incompetence on Amazon but that's another story -- my question is that you stated "you can select the "Vehicle" in any profile, there are a number of pre-loaded cars, boats, and others. By others, do they by chance have an "airplane" as a choice. I used my old Oregon on board flights military and civilian and it worked like a charm and I want to do the same with this one. The airplane would be really cool. Can't wait to find out.

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I've been watching this topic since it started as I am considering purchasing either the Montana or the Magellan 610. Both have their problems. Good to see though the problems being reported for the Montana are slowing down. I'll give it 12 months to see how it performs by which time Garmin will probably release the Virginia or the Tasmania & it'll start over again.rolleyes.gif

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WEB UPDATER:

 

"Help Files"

 

I think this is a new feature. Run web updater and upload the "Help Files" update. After that every setup screen has a "Help" button in the menu button on each screen that explains in detail what all the settings mean. Very useful for beginners!

Yogazoo, Nice find; thanks for the heads-up.

 

A very useful addition to the Montana both for beginners... and old-timers!

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Check out the "Garmin Garage": http://www8.garmin.com/vehicles/

 

where they have both vehicles and instructions on how to install them onto your unit. I have seen airplanes there.

 

Thanks you got me interested

 

What I am looking for is a thin arrow with the present point at the tip (not at the center of a thick arrow as their default)

 

I will go to the link and experiment with it.

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Check out the "Garmin Garage": http://www8.garmin.com/vehicles/

 

where they have both vehicles and instructions on how to install them onto your unit. I have seen airplanes there.

 

Thanks you got me interested

 

What I am looking for is a thin arrow with the present point at the tip (not at the center of a thick arrow as their default)

 

I will go to the link and experiment with it.

 

By default I think all the garmin pointers have their marker at the center of them. However, if you google it, there all quite a few custom pointers that have the marker at the tip I believe.

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