Garmin Montana

Noted. I'll give them 24 hours to respond before I call. As you pointed out before, the one I have will get me by in the meantime. I just have to dismount the gps when I am away from the bike for a minute or two.

They generally do respond to email. It's just that it probably won't be quickly.

Well man, details?!


My Montana crashes (actually shows the white screen of death, it appears to still work as it beeps before upcoming turns etc., but I can't shut it off without pulling the battery) all the time at high RPM (single-cylinder Kawa KLX250).
I've read your story in the Montana thread, and was really disappointed that you didn't post any details regarding your fix (just a "noise filter", you said) when you fixed that. Can you please post the details? Did you get a switched power source, some kind of inline noise filter, or just put an EMI choke (AKA ferrite bead) over your cable? Something else? Where did you get parts, specs, photos etc.? Looking forward to hear the details :)

If you're pulling your battery out to recover from white screen crashes, you're just going to keep seeing them. In the case of a WSC, take the Montana off the cradle and hold the power button in for 20 seconds and the unit will shut down, then when you restart it, it'll be much less likely to get another WSC.

Do you have an earplug in the battery case to hold the battery from jiggling around and losing contact?

This sounds like the same issue I had and holding the power button did nothing, the only way it would reboot is pulling the battery. I am conviced the Montana is sensitive to EM frequencies generated by certain bikes.

Try a Ferrous choke as close to the mount as possible. You should be able to find them at any decent electronics parts store like Radio Shack (or whatever the Russian equivalent is). I haven't had an issue since I added mine.
See this post
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?p=19649772#post19649772

The only way to properly recover from the WSC is to pull it off the mount and shut it down properly. The solution I suggested can't always prevent the problem but I think it does 95% of the time. IMHO, of course.

If the problem is really EM or RF interference, then your solution makes sense. But shutting the gps down properly still is important.

Pulling the battery to clear a WSC seems to leave it in an error prone condition.

Not arguing that, my point is with my specific issue (and it sounds like he has a similar one) there was NO way to shut it down other than pulling the battery. Holding the power button for any length of time had no effect in or out of the mount.

I did a little digging, and this appears to be the ferrous choke Offcamber shows in his pic: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103222

There is also this one: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2996360

Note: I have no experience with these, but saw his post and looked them up.

Yuppers that's the one...You can also find similar products in computer supply outlets....very common on USB and other data cables.

Any chunk of Ferous material around the wire should work.

<hijack>
[hijack]I'm going to try one on my V-1. I had to shut off the Laser pickup on it because there was so much "noise" upon acceleration that it would go off. Maybe one of these will fix that. [/hijack]
</hijack>

I just thought I would mention here that my new Montana, the 3rd one has absolutely NO movement in any way by the battery, it is as solid as a rock

I am not sure whether Garmin have changed anything but it would be nice to compare an older model with a newer one side by side, just to see if there has been a change or if it is just all in my mind

You might want to use a Shortcut to change the map settings instead of the Menu bar with its dangerously close "Reset All Settings" option.

If you go to Setup/Shortcuts and click the + Create Shortcut at the top, then Name it, choose an Icon like the Wrench and Screwdriver set, then use either, in the Setup/Map area, one of the options if what you need to do with the map is there (Orientation/Detail/Shaded Relief/Map Information), or instead choose Application, Setup or some other item which gives you the options you need to change.

Once you create the Shortcut go back to the Shortcut List screen, choose your shortcut, and Add to Menu, and choose Main Menu/Drawer or even better, Favorites.

Once it's in the Favorites, go back to Setup, System, Configure Power Key and in either the Single or Double Tap area, add Status Page to one of the options. Once you've done that, click your Power Button to get to the Status Page, and set its Dashboard to Favorites, and from then on you can just click the Power Button no matter what screen you're on, and the Shortcut will be there on the Status Page Favorites area.

This sounds complicated, and I may not have explained it too well, but it is worth experimenting with as it will be safer than the way you're currently using to change your map options.

I don't remember what page it's on but DrtByke Dan has set up a drop box with user profiles and shortcuts.
Even if you roll your own it's good to look at how someone else has set their's up.
Embeedee, I didn't see yours in the dropbox but if you don't mind, I'd love to take a look at your profiles and shortcuts since you're one of the power users.
thanks!

Here's the dropbox info from this thread, might be good to add to the Montana FAQs page


DROPBOX

We don't yet have any Profiles or Shortcuts posted other than mine. There are some nice Background images though. Here are the steps to get Dropbox access. Dropbox is a web server that allows you to keep info on the web and sync it with any all computers/mobile devices/ you wish to. In this case I set up an account and I am sharing that account with all Montana users who are interested. This is called a Shared Account and is use for groups to share information (files) with each other. If you add files, we all see them on our computer. If you delete files we all potentially have them deleted form our computer. So, some care is required since when you logon, the Montana Dropbox is like your own.
Dropbox install button is at following this link: www.dropbox.com
At the Dropbox webpage, follow the instructions to install Dropbox. After installation the application will show on your Menu Bar as a Blue Box.
Once you have Dropbox installed you can logon to the account that is setup as the Montana shared Dropbox (I'm sending you the Logon info via PM.
Once you have access to the Montana Dropbox you will see the Montana Config's folder. This is where we share Profiles/Shortcut's and Backgrounds. There is a README file in this folder. It will show you the naming convention for files placed in this folder.
If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me.

I'm already set up for Dropbox so I'll upload some of my stuff tomorrow. Profiles and Shortcuts are really not very complicated so it would be best for people to just try to set up a few, but I have no reason not to share mine.

Hi Emmbeedee

Thanks for showing me this. I read it a few times to get it set in my head, and I did set it up, but it does not do what I want, can you try and see please?

The main thing I do with the map screen is change between Automotive mode and Track Up, very rarely North Up

So I do have a shortcut on my power button single tap screen, called Map Orientation. When I set the short cut up, I picked the car icon, NO profile(but I will experiment with this as I want it to do it in ALL profiles) Setup was MAP - Orientation and of course I selected Automotive.

When I try to use it by single tapping, it pops up the correct page with the Favourite bit at the top with my icon there called Map Orientation, I push on my shortcut and it takes me back to the map, but does not change it to Automotive.

I must be doing something wrong. I changed the Profile in Setup to Automotive and that did nothing either


***edit*** Well, it now works? No idea what happened except it did shut down on me when I changed some settings. The way I got it to work is by also selecting the MAP application.

But then just to double check I made another shortcut with the only thing actually set was in the SETUP menu, I selected Automotive and nothing else, and it worked too????? I am now confused, but for what it is worth, the short cut works, which should get me out of a jam

Thanks once again

Cheers from Vientiane
TravellingStrom


***edit 2*** Hmm, it just shut down again and when I booted it back up, the short cuts now don't work, something real weird is going on here!

Just a quick observation - why not create a profile for each orientation, with a shortcut to the other profile on each screen?

Hi

Because sometimes I will be on a Geocaching profile and want to be in Automotive mode, to ride to the cache as far as I can, then get off the bike and be in Track Up mode to get to the actual cache.

I swap between Automotive, Geocache and Recreational quite a lot, and also change Map Orientation between each profile too, so those short cut procedures you outlined were a great idea

At this point in time, although they did work, they do not do so now?

Cheers
TS

It's not that easy either! More than anything it quickly let me load some shortcuts that I never would have even thought of like Dan's "find gas" shortcut. I might have to go back and fix links or tweak them but it's a great way to get ideas from the geniuses.
I'm still not totally sorted out on the shortcuts vs drawer vs favorites and what to put where.

I tried again but this time I used the Geocaching profile

I successfully made two short cuts which let me toggle between Track Up and Automotive mode. I tested this about ten times and it worked every time

I then shut it down and restarted and now they don't work

There is something strange ahappenin

Can someone send me the PM with the Dropbox Info please.