Garmin 478 users/owners thread

Pretty sure I recently saw one in the flea market with all cables, City Navigator North American DVD (2009), and standard mounts that come in the box for $550.

Seems like they are holding their value pretty well. Though I keep tossing the idea around of selling mine and getting a Montana. (but every time I read through the Montana thread I decide to hold off..)

Exactly why I have a spare sitting around too. That Montana scares me as I am kind of a techno-phobe.

I'm not a technophobe by any means, I have no problem digging into something complex and figuring it out (which is why I like the 478 to begin with).

It's "buggy as shit" that scares me.

True dat!

If your Montana's are so buggy you should contact Garmin Product Support. The vast majority of Montana owners don't seem to be having the problems you guys are having.

Cheers,

I realize you've got a lot of time and energy invested in the product.

We're just on the outside looking in and it's what we see.

Yeah, I've got about 18yrs invested in trying to get the best GPS tools for our DS and Adventure Touring needs. I tried working with other GPS manufactures but didn't get very far with them. Mainly because they didn't see a large enough market to invest.

I lobbied long and hard for Garmin to give us a good replacement for the chartplotters and they finally did - in the Montana Series. But, as with all technology, 10yrs will require the user to "adjust" a bit.

The chartplotters are great units but they can no longer be repaired and personally I cannot see the map well enough in daylight.

More to you guys comments, what you see here at Advrider.com are a small percentage of the total Montana sales. And, within that small percentage an even smaller percentage of chronic software/hardware issues. What I'm seeing are a number of user data issues that we are still trying to identify.

Anyway, sorry for the bandwidth in the 478 thread.

Cheers,

The chartplotters are great units but they can no longer be repaired
Cheers,[/QUOTE]

Who told you that. Garmin told me they still repair and refurb them.



Sent from my SCH-I800 using Tapatalk 2

Garmin Prod Support told me last month that they were out of parts. That's all I have to go on.

Cheers,

Okay, well not that long only about 2600 miles. I have never tried plotting that long of a track or course or what have you. What is the best way to go about that? Mapsource? Basecamp? I haven't used my 478 for such a long journey so would appreciate some direction. Thanks!

BaseCamp or MapSource will work fine. I'd recommend breaking the trip up into a route or track for each day rather than one long one. Much more manageable. You can easily plan for options and just name the route accordingly. You run the risk of having too many shaping or via points and getting a truncated route with a long route.

That's how I do it.

In Basecamp, sometimes I put in a proximity value for my starting waypoint, something like 250 miles. In BC, a red circle with a radius of 250 miles will appear around the waypoint. The 250 miles might be my ride limit for the day. I then search for some type of lodging just inside or outside the radius along the route or track I'm following.

daryl

What a good idea! Thanks.

Brilliant!!!

When you put in very large Proximity Alarms, just remember to remove them before you transfer the Waypoint to your GPS. Otherwise you will get a nearing/approaching anytime you turn on the GPS while you are within the Proximity radius and a leaving alarm as you pass thru the radius - which may not have any on-screen [map] meaning since you won't be seeing the waypoint most likely.

Cheers,

I'm well aware of that.

daryl

Recently purchased a 478, upgraded the firmware to 4.40 which says it supports the GXM-40 antenna, but I've read in certain forums that it also removed support for the GXM-30. Anybody successfully running 4.40 with a GXM-30? I need to know which antenna I should be looking for in order to enable weather. Thanks!

Good Question! keep us updated ...... I'm still using a 30 but hadn't upgraded since I got the 478.

I too recently purchased a 478 and upgraded the firmware to 4.40. I have a GXM-30 and can receive the preview channel but have not yet subscribed to anything. Not sure if this helps much with the recent question.

It does help, yes. But I went ahead and got the GXM-40 anyway, since it was pretty much the same price. Good to know that I have options, though!