Garmin Montana

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Philipp
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Garmin Montana

Post by Philipp » 18 May 11 7:47 pm

Just found that one in the German forum - some pics can be found here http://www.navigation-professionell.de/ ... raet-test/ - cheers Philipp:

Image
Garmin Press Release wrote:The Ultimate in Touchscreen Toughness: Garmin® Montana™ Gives New Meaning to Rugged and Versatile

OLATHE, Kan./May 18, 2011/Business Wire — Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), the global leader in satellite navigation, today announced the Montana™ handheld GPS device – the most advanced Garmin handheld featuring a ruggedized design with multiple mounting and battery options, dual-orientation and screen layout options and support for a wide range of Garmin cartography. It has a barometric altimeter for elevation profiling and ability to profile the route ahead using included worldwide elevation model. The included 3-axis compass gives it a heading while standing still, even when the unit is mounted or not held level. Montana’s responsive touchscreen is a sprawling 4-inches and the photos taken by its 5-megapixel autofocus camera are displayed in sunlight-readable brilliant color. It’s versatile. It’s tough. It earned the name Montana.

“Montana was designed with the ‘get dirty, go hard then go home crowd’ in mind, who are always after adventure,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “We now have one device to fulfill all of your rugged GPS needs. From navigating waterways in your boat and traversing the back country in your ATV, to hiking the Austrian Alps and even receiving spoken turn-by-turn directions on the way to the grocery store, Montana has the versatility and mapping compatibility to do what you need it to.”

Anywhere and everywhere: With Montana’s new ruggedized design there is no longer a need to hold back, regardless of your adventure. Montana is fully waterproof and capable of withstanding all the mud and grit you can throw at it, even when connected to its optional powered mount. Use the power mount capability and City Navigator® for spoken, turn-by-turn driving directions, or the rugged mount for your motorcycle or ATV. If you are on foot, simply plug headphones into Montana’s 3.5mm audio jack to hear the spoken prompts. To see Montana in action go to, http://www.garmin.com/Montana.

When it comes to mapping, Montana has you covered with support for Garmin’s wide array of detailed topographic, marine, and road maps. Montana also supports BirdsEye™ Satellite Imagery (subscription required), that lets you download satellite images to your device and integrate them with your maps. In addition, Montana is compatible with Custom Maps, free software that transforms paper and electronic maps into downloadable maps for your device.

Stay powered: Montana offers two battery options to keep your device powered during remote hunting trips or other outdoor adventures. When you have a chance to rest and recharge each night, a thin, light weight lithium ion battery pack, lasting up to 16 hours, comes in the box. For those trips where you’re off the grid, Montana also works on three AA batteries, giving users an additional 22 hours of use without being weighted down.

Go paperless: Montana supports geocaching GPX files for downloading geocaches and details straight to the unit. Montana stores and displays key information, including location, terrain, difficulty, hints and descriptions, which means no more manually entering coordinates and paper print outs! Simply upload the GPX file to your unit and start hunting for caches. Caches can be downloaded from OpenCaching.com, a completely free online community for creating, sharing and finding geocaches around the world.

While you are out searching for your next cache or trekking through untouched wilderness, capture locations and memories with Montana’s 5-megapixel digital camera. Each photo is automatically geotagged with the location of where it was taken, allowing you to navigate back to that exact spot in the future. Snap and view pictures in landscape or portrait orientation. For more storage, insert a microSD card; you can even view pictures from other devices on microSD with Montana’s picture viewer.
Montana is the latest breakthrough from Garmin, which has spent more than 20 years developing technologies and innovations to enhance users’ lives, making Garmin a household name in the automotive, aviation, marine, wireless, outdoor and fitness industries.

Earthbound Chief
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Re: Garmin Montana

Post by Earthbound Chief » 18 May 11 10:01 pm

[-o< ooooohhh.
likee, likee.

thanks philipp for sharing, I had trouble with the link, try this one: https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=75228
i dont know if I've done the link properly, lets hope

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Re: Garmin Montana

Post by tatty » 19 May 11 8:51 am


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Re: Garmin Montana

Post by oz lurker » 19 May 11 9:13 am

Hmm, the only difference I can see is a camera in the 650 for an additional 80$ usd.

Still, I'd pay that - not having to lug my camera around makes me very happy to have my 550 :lol:

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murf
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Re: Garmin Montana

Post by murf » 19 May 11 9:20 am

Looks cool!
But does anyone else find it interesting that Garmin seem to have dropped Whereigo support out of the new device:
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/compare.do? ... duct=26876

Hmmmm...

Philipp
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Re: Garmin Montana

Post by Philipp » 19 May 11 9:59 am

murf wrote:But does anyone else find it interesting that Garmin seem to have dropped Whereigo support out of the new device
I think it's not really a surprise. Groundspeak and Garmin are not best friends anymore >> the whole story around chirp and opencaching.com showed it a bit. On top of that wherigo has been abandoned by Groundspeak despite them saying differently.

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Zalgariath
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Re: Garmin Montana

Post by Zalgariath » 19 May 11 9:04 pm

I was wondering about WIG... it will be interesting to see if the next Magellion (has one been released recently?!) still support WIG... another nail in the WIG coffin here. Shame, done right they are my favourite type of cache :cry:

covert
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Re: Garmin Montana

Post by covert » 02 June 11 10:14 am

WIG has been on it's way out since 2008 when groundspeak stopped development on the builder. The gps makers should of followed suit a lot sooner and not waited 3 years. RIP WIG

I like the new Montana. Big screen. A car mount that will charge the gps !!! This time I will wait a few months so I don't get stung like I did on the mgellan tough case that was as us full for geocaching as a smokes packet with a gps screen drawn on the front in texta.

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Re: Garmin Montana

Post by shonkylogic » 08 June 11 10:09 pm

It says 'daylight readable' display. I wonder how true that is. I think they said that about the Oregon too, which turned out to be 'marketing speak'. I would be interested to know if there has been any improvement - is the Montana as readable and clear in daylight as ... say the 60Cx?

covert
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Re: Garmin Montana

Post by covert » 08 June 11 10:42 pm

there is a screen comparison on youtube side by side with the Oregon and the montana looks a lot brighter.

Been doing some other reading on it and it looks like first build productions of Garmin devices should be avoided. I am keen for one of these but I am going to wait for the early adopters to iron the bugs out for me before I spend my $

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Re: Garmin Montana

Post by noikmeister » 28 August 11 11:07 pm

First day out in the bush with the Montana and I was impressed. The large screen made it much easier to read and the higher resolution touch made selecting the right object a breeze. 4.5 hours and I still had 70% battery charge left at the car on the in-built rechargeable.

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Re: Garmin Montana

Post by Tuena » 29 August 11 11:31 am

I've been following a Montana discussion topic on the GC forum - many pages of woe. If I was to purchase one it would be a good twelve months after initial release when the problems hopefully have been ironed out. Seems the beta testers are the purchasers.

Here is a comment that typifies the overall experience the forum contributors have had with their Montanas- "All is well....once you get one that works, it is the best ever."

covert
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Re: Garmin Montana

Post by covert » 29 August 11 12:48 pm

Tuena wrote:I've been following a Montana discussion topic on the GC forum ....
That thread has been on my watch list for a while too. It is still too beta in my eyes to consider purchasing one.

Garmin have a stable track record of releasing GPS unit's with problems and then fixing it up in future releases of the same model.

I did read in one reply a user saying when it is in road mode it is not as featured as a Garmin Nuvi. I will give this point serious consideration if and when I decide to make a purchase of a Montana.

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Re: Garmin Montana

Post by McPhan » 29 August 11 8:23 pm

I have a Montana (albeit one that has been returned for a replacement due to the screen calibration issue) and it's the duck's nether bits.

Seriously.

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Re: Garmin Montana

Post by Tuena » 16 October 11 11:04 pm

Is it still the duck's nether bits?

The various Montana topics on Groundspeak's forum point to these units being lemons released on an unsuspecting geocaching community who then become unpaid beta testers. How do you describe your Montana as being the duck's etc when you had to return the initial unit?

What has been the experience of other Montana owners? What problems have you had? How helpful has Garmin been? How many times have you had to return your Montana? Do you return it personally or by post? Who pays the postage?

You read on Groundspeak's site in particular how much better Garmin is in comparison to Magellan but the Montana topics don't support this view.

Am interested as would like to upgrade to a high end unit but the Montana topics & Magellan reviews make me think I should stick to my 60CSx/Nuvi combination & add an X21 to my LED Lenser collection instead.

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