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Montana v2.60 Available

michaelnel
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michaelnel

+michaelnel

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I did the full factory reset by holding the upper left corner of the screen and then powering on, and it prompted me as to whether I wanted to reset all user settings. I chose to do that, then it came up, Setup -> About -> BLACK SCREEN DEAD.

 

So don't bother to reset yours, it won't fix it.

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ryan3295

+ryan3295

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Haha... did the upgrade to 2.60, went through the powercycle thing to load it, it came back up, I opened "Setup" and then when I chose "About" to check the version....

 

BLACK SCREEN, powered off.

 

What a buncha clowns. It does it EVERY TIME.

 

Installed 2.6 on my 600 and this seems to be working.

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yogazoo

yogazoo

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Sorry your having problems man but mine works as well. There is a bit of hesition before the about screen comes up but no shutdowns. Try removing yor SD cad and all mapsets. Then re-add one by one to see if it makes a difference. Also try changing profiles once or twice before you check the about screen. Just some things to try and help.

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michaelnel

+michaelnel

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OK, I moved all the birdseye, all the .gpx files and all but the basemap off of it and then rebooted. It acted like it had had a factory reset again (asked me to choose a language) but then came back up.

 

I did Setup -> About and this time it hesitated for a second or two and then brought up the About text.

 

Now to start adding stuff back in to see what breaks it.

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michaelnel

+michaelnel

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With birdseye stuff reloaded, it crashes again on the About screen. I can live without birdseye just fine though, so I will remove it and then just put back the minimal stuff I was going to use today, before all this started.

Edited by michaelnel
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ecanderson

+ecanderson

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It works OK with the three .jnx files I have that cover SF in high

resolution. Since they seem to have fixed birdseye downloading this

morning I am going to try to replace those three with one big one.

Alas - the initial portion is working, but I can't get any of my downloads past about 500~700 images of 15,000 or so. Restarting BaseCamp doesn't help. Am talking to Garmin now.

 

Also tried selecting within the old limit of about 70MB (about 4700 images) and am still stalling out well before completion.

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michaelnel

+michaelnel

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I went out caching with v2.60 today and it was very disappointing. It didn't black screen on me, but 1/2 the time it didn't know where it was. I tried both with CN 2012 and Topo 2008, and I would be walking down the street and the little blue arrow would stay in one place, even after moving around a corner and down a half a block.

 

The only way I could navigate was with direct routing. Pedestrian and bicycle routing was FUBAR.

 

Then, when I would manage to find a cache in spite of the wild inaccuracies (I found one just because I am familiar with the cacher's hides, and he generally provides VERY good numbers, but the GPS said it was 160 feet away. As I said, it didn't know where it was a lot of the time.

 

The "stalling" and not updating the position was something my Magellan 710 did that drove me nuts. I hope I can get a fix for this PDQ.

 

So, find a cache, mark it as found, select "Find Next Closest", and it will lead you to the one you just found. I would then have to cancel the navigation, and then manually choose the next closest.

 

Now I am sure that nobody else in the world will have any of these issues with 2.60, but *I* have them and 2.60 has caused me grief from the moment I installed it.

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yogazoo

yogazoo

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Search for a cache, log attempt from the dashboard on the map screen, search for next closest, back out of the map screen.

 

1) The dashboard on the main menu is gone

2) It never comes back

3) If you tap on the tray arrow the unit crashes.

 

I'll be bumping around my neighborhood later on. It will be dissapointing to see a bunch of hiccups. I'll put it through it's paces and report later.

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yogazoo

yogazoo

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My issues so far:

 

v2.6

 

1) If you log an attempt at a geocache and choose to find next closest it takes you to the map screen. If you exit the map screen you will go to the main menu and your dashboard (any dashboard) will be gone. If you press the arrow to open your tray the unit crashes.

 

2) The geocaching dashboard compass does not refresh as regularly as the compass screen or compass dashboard. It jumps mostly at one second intervals and isn't smooth in it's rotation.

 

3) The 3D view position indicator arrow is often in the wrong place. Test: toggle between the main map screen and the 3D view screen. For some reason this prompts the error more often . I'd say about 1 out of 10 times that I open the 3D view my position indicator is a city block or two off of my actual position. When I toggle between the main map screen and the 3D view screen the ocurrence jumps to about 7 out of 10.

 

4) Navigate to any poi or waypoint then view the pointer on the compass screen or dashboard. Now stop navigation and observe that the red arrow remains on the compass rose locked in the last position it was in before you stopped navigation.

 

I've experienced other random freezes and shutdowns as well. I haven't even been out for my evening hike yet. :unsure:

 

For those thinking about the upgrade I wouldn't recommend it. 2.5 worked much better.

Edited by yogazoo
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yogazoo

yogazoo

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Has anyone else noticed that the speed at which the electronic compass is turned off (when set to AUTO in the setup) is around 2mph? The problem with this is that the GPS calculated direction at such slow speeds is never worth a dam and constantly jumps around. I noticed this tonight as I was trying to hike to some caches. The bearing pointer was jumping around erratically and behaving very strangely and it was driving me mad. I stopped walking and the compass kicked in and it was smooth sailing, until of course I started walking again. I'm going to suggest to Garmin that they make the cutoff speed at least 5mph. That setting used to be customizable on the old 60CSX, which would be another way to go.

 

Another issue with version 2.6 is that screen redraws, when panning and zooming away from your current location, are sometimes slow. With topo maps enabled that is. It depends on your zoom scale too. Try panning and zooming around for a while and see if your unit has trouble with redraws at certain zoom levels when your panning around away from your location.

Edited by yogazoo
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andregixxer

andregixxer

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"3) The 3D view position indicator arrow is often in the wrong place. Test: toggle between the main map screen and the 3D view screen. For some reason this prompts the error more often . I'd say about 1 out of 10 times that I open the 3D view my position indicator is a city block or two off of my actual position. When I toggle between the main map screen and the 3D view screen the ocurrence jumps to about 7 out of 10."

 

2.50 and 2.60..same problem in both FW

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michaelnel

+michaelnel

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I took mine out to Twin Peaks (900' mountain) this morning and let it sit outside for 1/2 hour to refresh the ephemeris and almanac. Preliminary testing afterwards seems to indicate much improved position accuracy, but I'll need to actually go out geocaching to be sure.

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yogazoo

yogazoo

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I think the 3D view thing is primitive and useless. I looked at it once, never will again.

 

I agree, it is rather primitive but in mountainous regions it has visual utility. In the Oregon/Dakota/Colorado/62/78 series the rendering was so sluggish and choppy that it was too cumbersom to use. In the Montana however the refresh rate is smooth and very nice once it's loaded. I've found practical utility in the 3D view and hope they get the arrow placement bug ironed out soon.

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DRTBYK

+DRTBYK

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Custom Shortcuts still not working.

 

Dashboard lose does seem to be linked to Navigation of a Route/Track/Waypoint/Geocache/POI.... I have not had v2.60 loose a Dashboard and then crash. So far, if I go back to any other function then back to the Menu, the Dashboard is back.

 

I have an update process with all of my Garmin "newer" GPS's. First I remove all user data (I only store my data on the microSD card so it's easy to remove. Then I backup my \Garmin\ directory to my Mac (actually I put the "GPS" on a microSD card). Next step is to do a Master Reset. Then I install the update. If the update reboots automatically upon USB disconnect I let it finish then I do another Master Reset. After this reboot I copy back my Profiles to the \Garmin\Profiles\ folder from my backup. Set the User pref's and I'm back in business.

 

I also re-aquire Sat tables and Calibrate Compass. . .

 

I found after many issues on the zumo 550/660 that this really cut down on "issues" after updates.

 

Cheers,

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kb6ooc

kb6ooc

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Wow been a member for 9 years and this is my 1st post!

 

I'm using 2.60 (not sure if this problem was in prior versions or not)...

 

1st problem...

 

* Go to the Proximity Alarms page

* Click the menu button

* Select "change units"

* Select "feet"

* Click "create alarm"

* Choose a geocache or waypoint (doesn't matter) and hit "use"

* Montana asks you to enter the YARDS not the FEET

 

2nd problem...

 

* Go to the Proximity Alarms page

* Click "create alarm"

* Select "geocaches"

* Pick a geocache (mine were loaded from the geocaching website directly into the Montana)

* Hit "use"

* Select the radius (it was asking me for yards, even though I wanted feet from the above test, so I entered 10)

* The alarms page shows a completely different point - AND it shows 9.98 ***FEET*** (not yards)

 

I emailed montanabeta about it this morning.

Edited by kb6ooc
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michaelnel

+michaelnel

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I'm using 2.60

 

So am I.

 

1st problem...

 

* Go to the Proximity Alarms page

* Click the menu button

* Select "change units"

* Select "feet"

* Click "create alarm"

* Choose a geocache or waypoint (doesn't matter) and hit "use"

* Montana asks you to enter the YARDS not the FEET

 

Yep, verified here.

 

2nd problem...

 

* Go to the Proximity Alarms page

* Click "create alarm"

* Select "geocaches"

* Pick a geocache (mine were loaded from the geocaching website directly into the Montana)

* Hit "use"

* Select the radius (it was asking me for yards, even though I wanted feet from the above test, so I entered 10)

* The alarms page shows a completely different point - AND it shows 9.98 ***FEET*** (not yards)

 

Good catches! In the second example, it comes up with a location that is 8040.23 miles NE of me. <grin>

Edited by michaelnel
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michaelnel

+michaelnel

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OK, another v2.60 strangeness.

 

As I mentioned, I did go out early this morning and let the Montana sit outdoors, on top of a mountain, turned on, for almost 40 minutes. That should have refreshed whatever sat crap needed refreshing after the factory reset I did.

 

I uninstalled all maps and built new mapsets, one for city navigator 2012 and the other for topo 2008, and installed them and renamed them so I can use them separately. I removed all the birdseye stuff and re-downloaded a segment that covers San Francisco in "highest" resolution.

 

I whacked the waypoints.gpx and geocaches.gpx and reloaded them.

 

I took it out for a walk. I told it to find me a geocache nearby that I had previously found with my GPSMap 62S, so I knew for certain the coordinates were correct. I set it to use City Navigator only. I cleared all the trip data, set the altitude, calibrated the compass. I set out down my street. The gps wanted me to go the other direction, according the compass display and the compass on the geocaching dashboard. But in reality, to get to the cache it's a matter of:

 

1) out the front door

2) turn right, walk 1/2 block

3) turn right, walk 2 blocks

4) turn left, walk 1/2 block

 

... and you are at the cache.

 

So, when I walked out the door and turned right and started walking down the street on the correct route, the gps compass and compass widget on the geocaching dashboard were both pointing backwards.

 

I continued 1/2 block to the corner where I have to turn right in step 2 above. The gps still insisted I should be going the other way, although the magenta line with the arrow on the map display was showing the correct route.

 

I turned right for the 2 block walk, the gps still showed me back on my street, around the corner and 3/4 of a block from where I was. Wacko! I kept walking down the street on the two block walk and suddenly the gps caught up with my current position and both the compass and the compass widget showed the correct direction. The magenta line showed I should go forward to the correct street and then turn left.

 

I got to the right street and turned left. The gps compass arrow once again disagreed with the magenta line and wanted me to turn right instead of left. I ignored it and followed the magenta line, which took me right to the cache location. However... the distance to go on the compass showed the cache to be 180 feet behind me, and the compass and compass widget arrows both insisted it was behind me.

 

This thing is useless to me now. I bought it for geocaching, and it simply does NOT work well enough to use it for geocaching.

 

I do have a copy of the 2.50 gcd file, do I just put it in <DEVICE>:\Garmin and reboot the gps to install it?

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yogazoo

yogazoo

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Bad news. It does the same thing with v2.50. Starting to think I have a hardware failure here.

 

Nah, I noticed it in 2.5, and think I remember it from 2.4. If your compass works fine when you're not routing, after calibration, and while standing still you're unit is ok. The inability to make up it's mind seems to be a symptom of the routing and the associated issues. I really don't think you have a firmware problem but then again not many people are joining this little compass discussion so we don't have very many data points to determine one way or the other.

Edited by yogazoo
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michaelnel

+michaelnel

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The compass works OK if I am doing direct routing. It is completely nonsensical when doing routing with City Navigator. And actually, the ROUTING with CN works OK if you just ignore the compass and follow the magenta line.

 

But I didn't pay over $500 to have a GPS that works this poorly. If I had it to do over again, I'd keep my GPSMap 62S.

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yogazoo

yogazoo

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The compass works OK if I am doing direct routing.

 

Exactly, the compass knows where to point. WHen routing it seems like it gets confused. GPS talking to itself, "Should I point to the start of the route? the closest part of the route, next turn, or the destination? Oh my gosh I'm so confused".

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yogazoo

yogazoo

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If I had it to do over again, I'd keep my GPSMap 62S.

 

Remember, for a long time now, it's taken the Garmin software people about a year to get everything worked out after a new release. The 62 was no exception from that rule. Delorme, Magellan, and Lowrance don't seem to be an exception either.

 

I knew coming in that it wouldn't be pretty for a few months.

Edited by yogazoo
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michaelnel

+michaelnel

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Me: "Why oh why did I trust Garmin again to do it right with a new unit?"

 

It seems MontanaBeta@garmin.com has gone silent, too. I have sent them regular updates and they responded the first couple times, but no more. I like to hope they are too busy fixing the problems to respond, but there's been no evidence of that so far.

 

Well, they did fix the compass calibration issue.

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yogazoo

yogazoo

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Yup, I report most of what I discuss here in the forums.

 

You know how things go in a corporate environment. Perhaps they got pulled for a few days to work on something else or maybe they had a corporate meeting for a couple of days. It has been quiet for a few days but I can imagine the barrage of emails their getting must be quite hard to manage sometimes. Yeah, it's frustrating but I try to be as patient as I can. Lord knows they've been patient with me. :rolleyes:

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andregixxer

andregixxer

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they answer me today..developers write me they are following forums ( and yes, this thread .. ) for a complete users error log

 

original :

 

We do read several of our user forums including this one and are working with several of their forum members on some of these issues.

 

Thanks

Garmin Montana Software Team

Edited by andregixxer
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michaelnel

+michaelnel

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they answer me today..developers write me they are following forums ( and yes, this thread .. ) for a complete users error log

 

original :

 

We do read several of our user forums including this one and are working with several of their forum members on some of these issues.

 

Thanks

Garmin Montana Software Team

 

Thanks. Not sure how much longer I can hold out on returning this POS to Amazon for a refund. So far, it's almost as buggy as the Magellan 710 I returned, and about as useful to me. Right now my Android cell phone running the geocaching app is more useful and more accurate.

Edited by michaelnel
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