Brand new Garmin Montana 750i accuracy issue!

[+MountWolfCacher]

Okay so a little back story, I recently got back into Geocaching from a long hiatus! I came from a old Garmin Map60CSX (great handheld back in the day) but mines been lost or gone somehow. Anyway since getting back out there I've bought a Garmin Colorado 300, Colorado 400t, Oregon 300, Montana 550t and now the Garmin 750i (top of the line $800 GPS!) But my question is what's the deal with these newer Montana's accuracy bouncing all over the place? Shouldn't they actually be better then the older units? My Colorado 300's LCD screen burned up so I got the 400t and it was very accurate and never seemed to bounce around much same goes with the Oregon as well. But both Montana's are all over the place! I'm talking sometimes saying over 100-150 feet in the wrong direction! I've calibrated them multiple times but get the same results. Am I missing something here? After I bought the Montana 550t (mainly because of the bigger screen) and this started happening I got frustrated thus the reason I went all out and bought the Montana 750i I mean at this rate I might as well just use my cell phone! Anyone else have this issue? Or any idea as to what I should try? These newer GPS's can't be this bad compared to the older ones! Any help would be appreciated. 

[+Atlas Cached]

Will need more info, and perhaps a video, as what you describe is not typical. I also have every model you show, and my Montana 6x0 and 7x0 do not 'bounce all over the place.'

 

Where are you when this happens, how is the device held or mounted, and what are your surroundings? 

[+MountWolfCacher]

Okay I'll go out tomorrow with it and take a video showing what's going on. Often times I'm actually out in the open but this happens all times! It only gets worse when I'm in the thick woods. Also I'm holding my Montana upright in my hand, it does have a silicone cover on it but if you think that will make a difference I'll take it off. Thank you for your reply. I'm hoping it's just a simple setting or user error! 

[+Mineral2]

The silicone cover shouldn't be the reason. I would start by disabling multi-gnss and using the GPS satellites only. Then report back.

[+kunarion]

5 hours ago, MountWolfCacher said:

Okay I'll go out tomorrow with it and take a video showing what's going on. Often times I'm actually out in the open but this happens all times! It only gets worse when I'm in the thick woods. Also I'm holding my Montana upright in my hand, it does have a silicone cover on it but if you think that will make a difference I'll take it off. Thank you for your reply. I'm hoping it's just a simple setting or user error! 

 

Can you return it for a refund?  Depending on when and where you bought it, you may have at least a couple of weeks to return it for a full refund.  Go ahead and try what you can, but don't lose that option if it's still available.  If you can't return it, Garmin can send a replacement while it's still under warranty, but the replacement may be one that was previously returned.

 

Have you updated to the latest software?  I don't have a Montana, but pretty much all of my Garmins had big strange bugs at first, that were addressed by updates.  "New" ones arrive factory-fresh with software that's a few versions out of date.

 

I've tried Mineral2's plan when my GPSs flake out.  Changing GPS settings sometimes helps, and it's not always a setting I expected would improve anything.  I've turned WAAS on or off, for example.

[+Atlas Cached]

GLONASS Is very flakey. Use GPS only with WAAS enabled

[+kunarion]

20 minutes ago, Atlas Cached said:

GLONASS Is very flakey. Use GPS only with WAAS enabled

 

Sometimes my GPSrs have been kind of "off target" and I shut off WAAS and it improves the situation.  And I've been told that WAAS only helps.  But I do it anyway.  

[+MountWolfCacher]

First I want to say thank you folks for the help! I think it's figured out, I turned off GLONASS and enabled WAAS and now it seems to be fine! Worked great this morning during testing it. I had no bouncing around at all. HUGE THANK YOU

 

Also yes I could return it, I got it from Best Buy but I truly want it to work for me but if more issue's come up that would be an option for me. After reading a bunch of reviews on the 700 series most people love them and don't have many problems with it. I think it's a great unit, the screen is great and I like how geocaching works on it! Now if I could only get a car mount for a reasonable price! LOL, but that's a whole other thing! 

[+Atlas Cached]

11 hours ago, Atlas Cached said:

GLONASS Is very flakey. Use GPS only with WAAS enabled

 

36 minutes ago, MountWolfCacher said:

I turned off GLONASS and enabled WAAS and now it seems to be fine! Worked great this morning during testing it. I had no bouncing around at all. HUGE THANK YOU

 

Excellent!

 

Thank you for sharing your solution so others can se what worked!

 

 

[+kunarion]

58 minutes ago, MountWolfCacher said:

First I want to say thank you folks for the help! I think it's figured out, I turned off GLONASS and enabled WAAS and now it seems to be fine! Worked great this morning during testing it. I had no bouncing around at all. HUGE THANK YOU

 

Also yes I could return it, I got it from Best Buy but I truly want it to work for me but if more issue's come up that would be an option for me. After reading a bunch of reviews on the 700 series most people love them and don't have many problems with it. I think it's a great unit, the screen is great and I like how geocaching works on it! Now if I could only get a car mount for a reasonable price! LOL, but that's a whole other thing! 

 

Glad you got it working!  I'd suggest saving up for the docking cradle, the Garmin one that has a built-in charging connection.  Totally worth it!  

[capt caper]

I wonder if were one uses it matters. I know how one carry's it matters. I have used the Montana 680 series for years with GPS/Glonass with WAAS on and always had excellent accuracy. I do turn it on at the trailhead or before use for a few mintues first and often use it 3 4 5 hrs or more with it tracking the whole time.

 

I download ever single track that was saved  for that day and analyze on PC then save in a folder. Done this since 1995 with many different gpsr's. 

 

And now with the 700 I use gps/galileo with waas on. Same results. 

Edited May 17, 2021 by capt caper