Abu Dhabi Off-Road Club Forums

Dear Experts (looking at you Desert Dawg),

Is anyone else having problems with the latest Garmin Montana update?

I loaded it Thursday night and have been having the following problems:

(1) Accuracy on Road - it is now showing me 50M left or right of the road when driving. This is far enough that it won't "snap to" the road, and so it is constantly "recalculating" as I drive. It also loses the "next turn" feature when navigating. This may be a map problem or an accuracy problem. I don't know which.

(2) Accuracy off road - I don't have a benchmark to assess this, but if it is an accuracy problem, then it concerns me for backtracking. I haven't done a lot of night drives, but if I am trying to go back down my original track in the dark, it seems that 50M left or right could result is a nasty surprise or two.

(3) Random power-off - It has just turned itself off 3-4 times since I did the update. Pressing the power button brings it back.

(4) Icons got weird - This actually happened on the previous update - the Icons on the home screen changed. "Go Home" is now a heart instead of a house. "Tracklog on" and "stop navigating," are now measuring tapes instead of stop signs or footprints, and "tracklog off" looks like a geyser or an upside down waterfall.

Any ideas?

As far as I know
1. This is not due to the update, but due to the map (especially if it is cracked) try to enable/disable different map combination and this problem will disappear
2. The GPS should be used as an indicator offroad, even without having this problem, the accuracy is 5m, now this small difference can be in both directions, so you end up in 10m difference, count on it as indicator, but you have to asses the dunes yourself
3. And 4. I don't have such problems, I would suggest that you backup/restore your navigator again, this should help resolve the problem

Thanks for the response Desert_Hawk,

1. What do you mean by a "cracked" map? Is that custom imagery like Birdseye, or are you referring to a physical problem with the unit? I've been using this unit for about 10 months, and the accuracy with the current map combinations has been good until this update. The accuracy/map issue first appeared Friday morning after I updated it. I have not checked the MAP datum. I was using WGS84, I suppose it could have changed during the update.

2. I absolutely agree that the GPS is no substitute for assessing the dunes. My concern is that if this is an accuracy issue I could be looking at a 100m+ difference instead of a 10m difference. Probably not a problem during the day, but it seems like it would be much more inconvenient in the dark when you can't see the powerlines, water towers, and fences. (Maybe I just need to do more night drives.)

3. Back-up & restore sounds like a good idea. I'll give it a try tonight.

Thanks!

Hi Code_red

The cracked that DH is referring to is a pirate version of the software which i now know, ends in tears (lost about 100 waypoints, 25 tracks and 30 imagery maps), not one downloaded from Garmin. The Garmin download should be fine.

Thanks Scotchyl,

I am using the Garmin version of City Navigator Middle East, a memory card I purchased at Adventure HQ that supposedly has UAE topo on it, (not bad on hikes in RAK, but not enough detail to be useful in the desert), and some Birdseye imagery downloaded from Garmin. The errors I noticed are when looking at/navigating with the Garmin City Navigator Map.

Thanks,

Jon

I haven't updated mine yet so good to know these issues might occur...I shall back up first!

Only feedback I have is the batteries are crap and after a while loose charge very quicky even though switched off and permanently attached to the charger and power!

Last year in the summer it decided to switch on and off at random times during drives, might have been the heat but not sure.

Yesterday it decided to stop tracking and although it tracked the direction of the car the car didn't move on the map....a bit tricky when you're trying to lead to an exit point! I did try a reboot but that didn't solve the issue. Thanks to Iqsaan who lent me his 650 for the last 8k of the trip!

Actually for me I find that since I did the last update it works better. I used to have the problem with it shutting it-self off every now and then, but not anymore. No problem with accuracy, was very accurate at the last GPS Hunt the other day.

I did not update mine. But when I had it fresh and just loaded the ME City Navigator from Garmin,
the map was building too slow, not useful for navigation at all.
The problem was solved by deleting and re-loading the map from a faster internet connection than
mine at home (thanks AMIT for the solution). So I conclude I had a corrupt (not cracked !) downloaded
map file before (yeah, it had taken more than 8 hours to download from my home internet, probably
lost some bits and bytes during this time).
From hear-say only I have this: When your memory card is too large (e.g. 32 MB), there might
be a problem.
Concerning the battery, I fully agree with the previous comments, same observation here.

Regarding the battery, i had the same problem, but now have an old ice cream carton as a back cover and it doesn't overheat or stop charging.

Patent DesertDawg - (ice cream must be devoured before use).

Check if you have the same problem with Birdseye (if you have it), if same problem persist then it's the software, otherwise it's the map
I've been using mine for about 2 years now without a problem, except the map accuracy u mentioned, but it was due to a cracked map, then it was solved with a better version
The slowness of the unit might be due to the size and speed of the memory card, no need to buy a big one if u r not going to use it, plus, there r high speed ones used especially for photography, they r worth investing in them.

As for the battery, didn't have problem with if the location is well ventilated, even in direct sun light, (on sand and offshore), but it's better to avoid direct sun light like any other electronic device, and when u r not connected to power supply, try to reduce the brightness, it will save battery life big time.

Just to add to the misery I have mine Montana mounted in a marine mount a bit away from the windscreen, it gets hot but not over heat - so far - And just yesterday I was amazed how precise the navigation ability is, after navigating to 10 way points in a row and always been lead not more then 3 mtr away. ( I never updated )

regards

Wolfgang

wolle wrote:Just to add to the misery I have mine Montana mounted in a marine mount a bit away from the windscreen, it gets hot but not over heat - so far - And just yesterday I was amazed how precise the navigation ability is, after navigating to 10 way points in a row and always been lead not more then 3 mtr away. ( I never updated )

regards

Wolfgang

just like mine

wow, i was thinking to swap my 276 against a montana... but now, very hesitating!!!

Xof wrote:wow, i was thinking to swap my 276 against a montana... but now, very hesitating!!!

Go swap. Worth it. But make sure to get DH support agreement

DH, Montana Aftersale Service manager

ok, you need also to add Desertdawg and Fox