Earlier this year my article in SA 4x4 described in detail my ideal outdoor life style satellite navigation device. My suggestions in this article were based on my old Garmin GPS MAP 276C and included all the improved and useful new features of the modern outdoor devices found on the market today. In my opinion the 276C is today, still the Rolls Royce satellite navigation device for the outdoor lifestyle, but regretfully is no longer available. The so called replacements fall far short of the original MAP 276C.
This review is of a new device called the Montana and is based on the Garmin internet specifications, details of which were announced on the 18th May 2011. The specification is for a device expected to be in our shops not before August 2011. New developments appear to take longer to get to Africa. Were I to make a quick assessment I would say it is an enlarged Oregon 450 / 550. The Oregon has proved itself to be stable and reliable. The review that I did three years ago on the Oregon was very positive.
When I compared the specification sheet and the January 2011 article I found a very close resemblance to my “wants.” A comparison indicated that about 95% of these “wants” were added in this device.
The Montana is a Street Navigator which is small enough to fit into a shirt pocket, is water proof, robust, tough, and has a ‘touch’ screen which is crystal clear and which will work in bright sunlight and does not fade or bleed.
These features make it an off road device, motor bike friendly and ideal for hiking and hunting. It is made to withstand the elements and being waterproof giving it the versatility to be used on water be it sea, river or a dam.
In the January article my first requirement was a big screen. The Montana comes in at approximately 5cm by 9cm (a 10 cm diagonal) size screen. This is slightly smaller than the Zumo 660 screen but bigger than the Nuvi 500 series. I was hoping for a 5 inch screen but will settle with the 4 inch or 10cm screen. The screen is a bright transflective 65k colour screen, with dual orientation, and can be used in portrait mode or landscape mode. This is a major improvement which even I did not consider.
The battery power is a rechargeable Garmin Lithium-ion battery pack (with a 16 hour life) which is included in the box. Garmin however advise that other batteries may be used. They are 3x AA lithium which can have a life of 22 hours or the 3x AA NiMH batteries. This option I believe to be a winner. I thought one option would be good but they are offering both options.
As with all Garmin outdoor devices this GPS device is waterproof to the standard IPX 7. This means that the device can be submersed in a meter of water for 30 minutes and will not be damaged by the water. Part of my advertising display at shows is to leave a similar device in a fish tank (only 30cm deep) for 3 days without any negative effects.
As with all new Garmin devices the GPS has a high sensitivity receiver for better and quicker signal acquisition. The device is also WAAS /EGNOS enabled. At present this will not help much in Southern Africa but when we do receive the EGNOS enabled signal this will allow the device to attain an accuracy of approximately 1 to 2m (in a radius). The device also has one of the newer features of HotFix technology. This allows for quicker satellite signal prediction and maintaining your GPS location while travelling in areas where you would experience a masking effect (blocking of signal as in a concrete jungle or in a forest). The device has the capability to take an external antenna which I always believe in.
Most of the Garmin and Garmap mapping products can be loaded. From Garmap Topo & Rec (my selection) to City Navigator products, to Blue Charts G2 and Garmap waterways. Over and above this the device can also load the Garmin regional Tide Tables.
The device has an internal memory of 3.5 GB. I had had a preference for 2 GB. In addition to this the device also takes a micro SD card to expand its internal memory. 2000 waypoints can be stored which are more than enough for most people. I have yet to find someone needing this large capability.
As on the newer outdoor devices, the Montana can take your own maps, if scanned at 300dpi, saved as a jpeg, geo referenced in Google Earth and saved as a kmz file. Once this is done all that is then required is to copy and paste the file into the device’s memory. This is a feature not many people have attempted but may yet turn out to be a winner.
The device itself does not have a voice capability but its dash mount or suction mount to the window includes a speaker box for voice prompted navigation. Like the 276C I expect the speaker box and bracket to be pricey.
The Montana has a 3 axis tilt compass like all the newer outdoor devices for a better bearing, no matter how you are holding the device. The older devices had to be held horizontally to get a good true bearing. If not, the compass arrow could conceivably point in the wrong direction.
Presently the Garmin website lists 3 variants, the Montana 600, 650 and 650T the T standing for the USA topographic mapping. The 650 being the 600, with a 5 megapixel auto focusing and auto geo tagging camera. This is an improvement on the 3.2megapixel camera on the Oregon 550.
The last few features that are of interest are that the device can calculate area measurements and can load Custom POI’s (Points of Interest). I like the celestial display showing sun rise and sun set, moon rise and moon set and lastly the phases of the moon. The feature of wireless data transmission between similar devices can also be a winner, instead of having to up load and download from a PC all the time.
Like the Oregon series devices, this device will be user friendly and it is my opinion that this is a GPS made for Africa.
As an outdoor device it should have all the co-ordinate formats and the different datum settings. The question remains, can my different data fields be set on the different display screens? This could be possible as the Montana device appears to be based on the Oregon which allows for this kind of thing.
The only thing that was not addressed on my wish list of an ideal Off Road outdoor lifestyle device was it’s tracklog or breadcrumb capability. This devices tracklog capability remains at 10 000 points. This is more than one days drive in the bush but for use in darkest Africa this could mean downloading a track every night. I am, however, hopeful that one could save ones Tracklog to the micro SD card and that would satisfy me. All my needs would then have been addressed. We will just have to be patient and wait until September 2011 to find the answer to this query.
A RAM bracket as supplied with the Zumo series would have been a winner instead of the Garmin supplied bracket. Maybe we should first test this bracket before being too critical.
If the rumoured price is anywhere near that which I have heard rumoured, then this device will be a winner and will make me eat my own concluding words of my January article, where I expected my perfect GPS to be very expensive
I will shortly be visiting Garmin Europe and hopefully I will be able to lay my hands on one for a few minutes before returning to South Africa.
Happier GPS Adventures, now with our long awaited large screen device at good pricing.
We are however still testing and sorting out problems regarding the online shop, so please be patient.
Have a look at the online shop, and PLEASE any suggestions will be appreciated!
If you need any assistance please contact us on (012) 654-9813 or mail us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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