New Garmin Montana

[DRTBYK]

Originally Posted by levain

Wait. I've never quite understood what was happening during the "mass storage mode". I hit no once, and I couldn't get anything to load. From then on, I just say yes, and it behaves as it should. Not sure what Mass storage mode is...

When the unit is in Mass Storage Mode it's just like connecting any other USB storage device to your computer. When the Montana is in MSM you can read/write data to it but you cannot use the functions of the Montana.

When the unit is not in MSM but is connected to your computer you can use the Montana's functions and the USB connection just provides power to the Montana.

Cheers,

[number9]

Originally Posted by Emmbeedee

Download Garmin's WebUpdater here and run the program. Only Beta versions can be downloaded - official releases are through WebUpdater.

So with the 60CSx and 2720, I used to download the firmware updates and keep them on my PC so if one was quirky I could roll back to an earlier one. This option is no longer available with the Montana and Garmin WebUpdater? How / is there a method of rolling back firmware if needed?

....

[Yossarian™]

Originally Posted by number9

So with the 60CSx and 2720, I used to download the firmware updates and keep them on my PC so if one was quirky I could roll back to an earlier one. This option is no longer available with the Montana and Garmin WebUpdater? How / is there a method of rolling back firmware if needed?

....

http://garminmontanagpsr.wikispaces....ware%20History

[atlas cached]

Originally Posted by levain

Wait. I've never quite understood what was happening during the "mass storage mode". I hit no once, and I couldn't get anything to load. From then on, I just say yes, and it behaves as it should. Not sure what Mass storage mode is...

Mass Storage Mode demystified!

[levain]

Originally Posted by atlas cached

Mass Storage Mode demystified!

Clearly I never thought to look it up

[number9]

Originally Posted by Yossarian™

http://garminmontanagpsr.wikispaces....ware%20History

Awesome Thanks!!

...

[Windrock]

New on here. Great information. I am coming from a Garmin 76CSx. Used it for years and decided to upgrade to the Montana. Love it too.

One thing I noticed and don't know if it has been addressed but has to do with tracking and tracks.

On the 76CSx It was great to page over and actually see that you were tracking by looking at the Radio Buttons at the top of that screen. On - Off Simple.

I have the shortcuts setup on the Montana and set to a Favorites on the Main Menu.

Now it is difficult to tell which state you are in. Track On or Track Off. I personally would like to have the shortcuts on the main menu but they will not stay highlighted on that page. Only in the dashboard do they do that.

Also, The Tracks that you have captured should stay on the screen all the time. Not just when you turn Tracking On. Once you turn tracking off, they disappear until you turn tracking on again,

And last, Have they addressed the SHOW ON MAP when you load tracks from Basecamp to the Montana. PITA do constantly remember to select SHOW ON MAP. Would be nice if the default was SHOW ON MAP and you could choose to turn them off instead of on.

Thanks
Ron

[atlas cached]

Originally Posted by Windrock

New on here. Great information. I am coming from a Garmin 76CSx. Used it for years and decided to upgrade to the Montana. Love it too.

Excellent choice!

One thing I noticed and don't know if it has been addressed but has to do with tracking and tracks.

On the 76CSx It was great to page over and actually see that you were tracking by looking at the Radio Buttons at the top of that screen. On - Off Simple.

I have the shortcuts setup on the Montana and set to a Favorites on the Main Menu.

Now it is difficult to tell which state you are in. Track On or Track Off. I personally would like to have the shortcuts on the main menu but they will not stay highlighted on that page. Only in the dashboard do they do that.

When I am recording a track, I always use [Record - Show On Map] and can easily see on the map screen that Track Log Recording is currently active. If I do not see a Track, I am not recording.

Also, The Tracks that you have captured should stay on the screen all the time. Not just when you turn Tracking On. Once you turn tracking off, they disappear until you turn tracking on again,

Only the currently recorded track will be visible with [Record - Show On Map] enabled.

And last, Have they addressed the SHOW ON MAP when you load tracks from Basecamp to the Montana. PITA do constantly remember to select SHOW ON MAP. Would be nice if the default was SHOW ON MAP and you could choose to turn them off instead of on.

Currently, a maximum of 20 tracks can be shown on map at any given time. If you have more than 20 loaded, how would the Montana decide which to display? This is why you must enable visibility of the tracks you wish to see.

Thanks
Ron

Comments posted inline.

[TowPro]

my maps are 1 year old. Today I ran into a place where the road changed (road actually moved 10 miles out of the original position) and I could easily have gotten lost .

So its time.

Garmin nuMaps Lifetime Update Card for North America
and
Garmin MapSource City Navigator North America and Mexico NT DVD 2013

(I don't need Mexico, or even Canada).

Do I understand this correct, just buy the Numaps lifetime and it will let me download 4 revisions per year for the life of my Montana?

I don't need the DVD, I have no idea why I didn't buy this the first time (From GPS city 1 year ago).

Edit: FYI, Garmin wants 4 cents more then GPS city for the same update.

[Emmbeedee]

Originally Posted by TowPro

my maps are 1 year old. Today I ran into a place where the road changed (road actually moved 10 miles out of the original position) and I could easily have gotten lost .

So its time.

Garmin nuMaps Lifetime Update Card for North America
and
Garmin MapSource City Navigator North America and Mexico NT DVD 2013

(I don't need Mexico, or even Canada).

Do I understand this correct, just buy the Numaps lifetime and it will let me download 4 revisions per year for the life of my Montana?

I don't need the DVD, I have no idea why I didn't buy this the first time (From GPS city 1 year ago).

Edit: FYI, Garmin wants 4 cents more then GPS city for the same update.

You have to already have this:

City Navigator North America

before you buy this:

Garmin nuMaps Lifetime Update Card for North America

IE, if you don't already have CNNA, you can't apply Lifetime Updates.

[Windrock]

Originally Posted by Windrock

And last, Have they addressed the SHOW ON MAP when you load tracks from Basecamp to the Montana. PITA do constantly remember to select SHOW ON MAP. Would be nice if the default was SHOW ON MAP and you could choose to turn them off instead of on.

Currently, a maximum of 20 tracks can be shown on map at any given time. If you have more than 20 loaded, how would the Montana decide which to display? This is why you must enable visibility of the tracks you wish to see.

Hmmm, let me try this statement again......

Thought the Montana would do 200 tracks? Another words if all the tracks you loaded from Basecamp were set to SHOW ON MAP then would you not be able to see 200 of them?

Now to clarify what I am talking about here is when you do load Tracks from BC onto the Montana they are automatically set to NOT SHOW ON MAP. You have to go and change them individually right?

[number9]

So my Montana 600/ CNNA DVD / 16GB microSD card should be here in the next day or two.

I've read this thread through till about page 114 and my head is smoking. I see that early there were reasons to save maps / info on internal or the card due to the way Montana and BC played with each other but those issues have been resolved in firmware releases.

So....is there any best practice now on where I load CNNA or my routes/tracks/user data?

....

[TowPro]

Originally Posted by Emmbeedee

You have to already have this:

City Navigator North America

before you buy this:

Garmin nuMaps Lifetime Update Card for North America

IE, if you don't already have CNNA, you can't apply Lifetime Updates.

correct, first (1 year ago) I bought the CNNA, now can I just buy the Lifetime update?
it did appear in my offers within my garmin account.
Since I am right around the 1 year mark, is there a requirement that I need to pay for it within 1 year of buying CNNA? If so I will need to buy it in the next day or so.

[Rocky TFS]

Originally Posted by TowPro

correct, first (1 year ago) I bought the CNNA, now can I just buy the Lifetime update?

Yes. The useful life of the lifetime update is determined by this (from Garmin):

¹If you purchase a nüMaps Lifetime subscription (sold separately or bundled together with certain GPS models), you will receive up to 4 map data updates per year, when and as such updates are made available on Garmin’s website, for 1 compatible Garmin product until your product’s useful life expires or Garmin no longer receives map data from its third party supplier, whichever is shorter. A product’s “useful life” means the period during which the product (a) has sufficient memory capacity and other required technical capabilities to utilize current map data and (b) is capable of operating as intended without major repairs. A product will be deemed to be out of service and its useful life to be ended if no updates have been downloaded for such product for a period of 24 months or more. Unless otherwise stated, the updates you receive under the subscription will be updates to the same geographic map data originally included with your Garmin product when originally purchased. In some instances, your Garmin product might not have sufficient memory remaining for you to load an update to the map data, in which case you will need to either (a) select reduced map data coverage for your updates, or (b) purchase separately a microSD™/SD™ card (if and as applicable to your Garmin product) and load all or a portion of the map data coverage for your updates to the card and insert the card into the microSD/SD card slot contained in your Garmin product. If neither of the measures in (a) or (b) can be used to address your product’s lack of sufficient remaining memory, then Garmin may conclude that the “useful life” of your product has expired. Garmin may terminate your nüMaps Lifetime subscription at any time if you violate any of the terms of this agreement or your subscription. Your nüMaps Lifetime subscription may not be transferred to another Garmin product.


So, not to worry, you can buy the lifetime card anytime. A rough guess as to the Montana's "useful" life would be five years, since it's so new.

BTW, you can get the lifetime card at Amazon for $54, about the same as a single update via Garmin. Pretty much of a no-brainer.

[Emmbeedee]

Originally Posted by Windrock

Hmmm, let me try this statement again......

Thought the Montana would do 200 tracks? Another words if all the tracks you loaded from Basecamp were set to SHOW ON MAP then would you not be able to see 200 of them?

Now to clarify what I am talking about here is when you do load Tracks from BC onto the Montana they are automatically set to NOT SHOW ON MAP. You have to go and change them individually right?

I'm not a Basecamp expert but I don't think there is a "Show on map" setting in Basecamp which will tell the track to show on the gps you send it to. "Show on map" in Basecamp shows that track on the map on your computer.

Mapsource did have that setting, I think, but it has not been added to Basecamp, and I doubt it will.

Personally, I see no reason to enable or disable all tracks through a global setting on the gps. The display would be cluttered beyond belief if I did that on my Montana.