- 4-inch LCD display
- 5 MP autofocus digital camera with automatic geo-tagging; Worldwide built-in baesmap with shaded relief, preloaded U.S. Topo
- Bright sunlight readable touchscreen color display
- 3-axis compass and barometric altimeter
- High-sensitivity, WAAS-enabled GPS receiver
After carefully considering how to approach this review, since I know there's a lot of buyers holding off until a few user reviews came in, I decided to break it down into three areas, hardware, software, and company. You need all three to have a successful product, and after putting the Montana through its paces and contacting Garmin about a few issues, I'm able to offer my thoughts on all of them.
First, the hardware. Garmin did an excellent job designing the Montana. The screen is nice and big, and to finally put one of the most noted issues to rest, it was definitely easy to read in sunlight. The touchscreen works just about perfectly. I never felt like I had to apply too much pressure to get action, or that I pressed something that I didn't mean to (like when using the virtual keyboard). It "feels" comfortable just holding it too. For my first hike with it I didn't have a case yet, so I just threw a lanyard on it and mostly carried it in my hand the whole way up and down the trail--never bothered me. Satellite aquisition is scary fast and never had a single dropout even in dense forest. Just to see how solid the reception was, I carried it in my front shorts pocket for about a mile--no loss whatsoever. GPS accuracy was good; most of the time it hovered around 14 feet. Once I downloaded the track from the Montana to my PC, the ascent and descent portions of the hike mirrored each other pretty closely, and those tracks mirrored the trail on the TOPO map very close as well. I was constantly checking speed, time, elevation, and distance to known data and the Montana was pretty accurate. For example, at one point we passed a mile marker that claimed we were 3.0 miles from the trailhead and the Montana said we were 2.9. Take another fifty steps and it clicked over to 3.0 miles. Final elevation, elevation gain, time and speed were also just about equally dead on.
I started the hike with the lithium battery at about 75%, had the unit on for just over four hours, and finished the hike at just over 50%. I did have the battery saver option turned on and the backlight duration at the minimum setting, but I was actively using it quite a bit during the hike. My thought is that Garmin's claim to 16 hours of lithium battery life is pretty spot on, since my four hours of powered-up time ate up about 25% of the battery.
On the computer, the Montana connects via a USB cable and is recognized as a mass-storage drive. Uploading of maps, downloading of software updates, and downloading of GPS data were all fast and issue-free.
The only conceivable hardware downside I can see is compared to other GPS units, it weighs in at 10.2 ounces with the lithium battery. So if you're one of those mountaineers who take the cardboard tube out of a roll of toilet paper to save weight the Montana probably isn't the best choice. Again, the weight never bothered me a bit.
But for any piece of hardware, you need software to run it, and here's where the distinction between hardware and software within the Garmin Corporation really shows. As stated, the Montana is a great piece of hardware. But as of the date I wrote this review, it has been on the streets for exactly one week and Garmin has already released two software upgrades for it. The evening I received the Montana, I spent nearly an hour trying to calibrate the compass. Half the time I couldn't pass the first step, and I could never complete it under any circumstance. The second software update that was released just today fixed the compass calibration issue, which at least says that Garmin is quick to respond to bigger problems.
The software you need to upload and download data to and from the Montana is Garmin's BaseCamp. BaseCamp is freeware, and it feels like it too. It works pretty well, but seriously had me scanning the internet with the belief that a true commercial product named BaseCamp Pro must exist. Alas, it does not. BaseCamp's user interface is primitive and somewhat unintuitive. Thankfully, Garmin has a help file for BaseCamp, but again it just feels like freeware--like no dedication of time, effort, or resources was put into it. As an example, I have geotagged photos that I added to my track. BaseCamp puts little thumbnails of your photos over the track where they were taken. Great. But it's not easy to separate out individual photos when several overlap each other. If you geotag a lot of photos, the entire track will quickly be obscured by thumbnails that you can't hide. Just a simple checkbox called "Hide Geotagged Photos" would be an immense help, almost a necessary one, but the Garmin software development team falls short of the mark. Little annoyances like this are all over the place. I'd gladly pay for BaseCamp if they did it right, but right now I envision a team of two underpaid developers working out of a windowless corner of the mail room.
Which brings me to the third part of the review--the company. In summary, Garmin knows how to make a great piece of GPS hardware. I love my Montana, and look forward to some very enjoyable hikes with this well-built, highly accurate unit. But I can't help but feel that Garmin treats its software division like the red-headed bastard stepchild of the company. Some serious attention needs to be devoted to firmware testing and the BaseCamp software for the overall product to succeed. Garmin just isn't there yet. But I will put in one last big plus for Garmin: when I called tech support I spoke to a human being within 60 seconds of making the call who was very pleasant, patient, honest, and answered all of my questions as accurately as possible. Customer service is becoming a thing of the past, and I'm pleased to say that for my one experience with tech support, Garmin did well.
Buy Garmin Montana 650t Waterproof Hiking GPS Now
This was our 4th Garmin GPS (having owned GPSMap 60CSx, 305, Etrex). Bought this to replace the GPSMap60CSx as our primary hiking/backpacking device. The GPSMap works well and is a proven model but I find interfacing with it cumbersome and the map difficult to read. The touch screen access on the Montana is excellent and works very well, much like my iphone which is what I was looking for. The landscape/portrait display is very nice and works well. I found screen brightness acceptable in most all lighting conditions. Not as bright as an iphone but I'll accept this for longer battery life.First thing to do when getting the Montana is download the latest software upgrade. Like some others, the compass would not calibrate until I did this. After the upgrade, calibration went fast and worked as expected. Using the MicroSD card with preloaded 24K Topo maps from my GPSMap worked flawlessly, just insert the card and the Montana read it perfectly. Downloading and uploading GPS data to Base Camp software also worked well with no problems. Everytrail.com was also able to detect the GPS and upload with no issues.
The prevailing issue with the Montana is that its simply too big for hiking. I really, really wanted to believe it wasn't but after 3 long, 20+ mile day hikes, and a 30 mile overnight, it was time to face reality. The Montana is just a bit too big to fit in standard compact camera cases, and while it did fit in my pants pockets, the weight was just too much for comfort. The unit uses 3 AA batteries or a rechargeable lithium battery. The rechargeable battery lasted a good 11 hours with about 1/4 charge left, however that's using the battery save option and only fiddling with it about 3 or 4 times (a few minutes each time) during the day.
I found the software on the Montana easy to use and intuitive. (Leaps and bounds over the GPSMap) Menu screens are fully customizable and I spent quite a bit of time fiddling with getting the menus just the way I wanted. Moving around the apps and finding data was fast and convenient. Can't speak to how well it works for streets and city navigation but it did a pretty good job in the mountains and under forest/tree cover. Satellite reception is very fast, both indoors and outdoors.
Overall its a very nice device but if you're planning to use it for hiking & backpacking, you'll most likely want something smaller. Always a tradeoff between features and size/weight. The Montana is packed with features and very iphone-like. For myself, I'll be trying out the Oregon 550 next, smaller screen, less features, but gain portability? Ultimately, it seems GPS technology just isn't there yet for getting full features (touch screen, interface, customization, 24K maps) while maintaining portability for hiking.
Read Best Reviews of Garmin Montana 650t Waterproof Hiking GPS Here
Unlike the other reviewer, I have had no real problems with the 650t. True, it has some quirks. One is that the new lithium battery has to be charged via the included ac adaptor. (EDIT: it can be re-charged via PC!) I was also disaappointed by the lack of a carabiner (like the Oregon). But, I had no problem hooking up the Montana to my MacBook Pro to go into mass storage mode. as for maps, I always buy a microSD version so I can move it to another unit if I wish.That said, I think the Garmin Montana is a fine device. The calibration of the 3-axis compass is smoother than it was on some other models, I love the larger and more sunlight-readable screen (still not perfect but better) and and I especially like the new layout. The overlay of the compass on the map (removable, if you like) is a bonus. The GPS is as accurate as any Garmin unit and works reasonably well under tree cover.
One minor gripe is the portrait/landscape switching. It can be disorienting if you hold it up in portrait and then hold it horizontal. It often wants to switch to landscape. I now have it set to stay in portrait, as that is the easier way to hold it, given its size.
One bug I have found is that the Cache difficulty/terrain is always listed at 1/1 when using the map/compass combo. At least most of the time.
All-in-all a fine piece of hardware. Note to users (as of 16 July 2011): the unit software is now up to 2.60. Be sure to use Garmin Webupdater and also have a reasonably full battery.
Want Garmin Montana 650t Waterproof Hiking GPS Discount?
I wanted to like this thing. The display is terrific. But it has so many bugs in the firmware that it was just too annoying to use, especially for as expensive an item as this is.Garmin apparently does very little in the way of firmware quality control. When I reported a bug (when using Garmin City Navigator maps and turn-by-turn routing, the compass points in random directions, distance to go is usually wrong, it wants you to go the opposite of the correct direction, etc.) to the developers, they responded that they were able to reproduce the problem by taking a Montana outside and trying to find a geocache. They found the behavior "disappointing" and "the compass with City Navigator was unusable".
Maybe they should take them outside and test the major functions BEFORE releasing the unit to the public. Yet they failed to address these issues in the subsequent 2.70 release of firmware.
During the weeks I had the unit I tried firmware versions 2.40, 2.50 and 2.60, and more bugs appeared with each release. With 2.40 it was not even possible to do the Garmin procedure for calibrating the compass. Don't they test any of this stuff?
This is an ongoing problem with Garmin products. They release hardware without sufficient testing of the software, and the customer becomes an alpha tester for Garmin. After over a decade of owning lots of buggy Garmin stuff, stick a fork in me, I'm done.
I have had it with Garmin stuff, no more for me.
Pros:
Large and easy to read screen (far better than Oregon)
Paperless Geocaching
High sensitivity receiver
Large memory with SDHC card (I use a 32GB card)
Changes profile depending on the holder you use (AMPS rugged or in-car or no holder) and sets the unit accordingly
LiIon battery that recharges in a holder or when connected via USB
Cons:
Doesn't come with a full fledged manual, so you have to find out about how to use it yourself (or use the online WIKI)
A bit heavy and clumsy for hiking, even though it fits perfectly in my hands
No longer supports Wherigo
That's it, can't think of anything else.
I previously complained about (issues resolved with the help of Garmin Service):
1) The Montana continuously recalculates the routes, even though I continue on a straight road for several miles (Pima between Scottsdale and Carefree, AZ; the same happens in Europe on a rather large highway) > Set it to a City Navigator Map ONLY and it works. Appears to have to do with more than one map activated.
2) Sometimes I get a small indicator in the top left corner corner of the map, showing where and when to make a turn, sometimes not. -> Resolved by disabling all but the City Navigator Map.
3) When using it in weather about 5 deg above freezing, the unit will remind me that I should only use "genuine GARMIN" Li-Ion batteries. -> Apparently resolved by a firmware update
4) When using it on a motorcycle while making use of the LiIon battery it will switch on and off ALL the time! This appears to be a hardware issue, since I do not have any issues when using batteries.
This is still open, however, the 640 LC4 does vibrate quite generously. Resolved by using NiMH batteries instead and not a big issue.
5) The compass appears to have an issue (or the direction-of travel-function) and when I choose "track up", the map spins around like mad. -> Resolved by deactivating the electronic compass while using it in the Automotive setting.
My take: If you are looking for a pure hiking GPS go with the Oregon or Dakota or such. They are smaller and lighter. If you are looking for a good allround unit for navigation by car, MC as well as by foot then the Montana is quite an excellent choice.
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