Why I WOULD'NT Recommend The Garmin Montana 700i For a Motorcycle!
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- Опубліковано 10 вер 2024
- A brief insight into the issues I've had with my Montana 700i during the last four months of ownership of the unit. In my opinion it isn't worth the money and there are better, cheaper, alternatives available.
Please feel free to leave a comment down below and I will respond to any questions/comments etc.
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I orderd my 750i about midsummer, got it today. Will use it for hiking as well as motorcycling offroad. Keeping my hopes up. Regardless, thank you for your work and effort. Very useful information.
Your welcome, I think its more suited to hiking etc than being used in or on a vehicle despite how Garmin market it. If I understand correctly; the 750i is basically the same as the 700i but with a camera. Good luck. 👍
Fantastic review thanks for the heads up. You’ve definitely put me off. I was contemplating the system that I had read online about the same issues that you had had.
Paul many thanks for leaving a comment and of course watching the video. It’s too expensive a unit to take a gamble with it and hope it works. My Garmin XT at less than half the price is outstanding and fulfils all my biking requirements. 👍
Same shutdown issues, once deep in the wilderness and it would not restart until I removed power and the battery.
Garmin told me to reset it back to factory defaults and reload all my settings but the issue is still happening.
It’s a glitch between the mapping and the device but Garmin are reluctant to confirm this officially, it was an authorised distributor who told me Garmin had confirmed this to them to be the issue. Meanwhile I’m using my cheaper Garmin Zumo XT and it’s flawless. 👍
I had a Montana 600 which did the same thing, suddenly switch off. That turned out to be a vibration issue (KTM 690) causing the battery to move inside the unit even though it was permanently powered. Wrapping tape around the battery solved it. Not saying it is the same thing in the 700 i. A few thousand off road miles later the "rugged mount" (LOL! rugged my a+se!) power feed line that was incredibly thin (human hair thin almost) cracked somewhere in its insulation and caused the same problem. A replacement mount sorted that but I made a reinforced outer cable to protect the poor delicate little 'rugged mount' line from kinking and breaking again! I am looking to buy an Zumo XT now but my faith in Garmin is severely diminished as I also had problems with post code searches and also actually Zip codes when I took it to the USA even though I bought a very expensive Garmin USA background mapping. I have a Garmin Drive Smart 65 in my car which seems to be pretty reliable although now I think about it that has once or twice that also gone on strike for no reason when driving along. Hard to know what to do really. Everybody rates the XT but I just don't know?
Very interesting comments, thank you for sharing. I’ve been using a Garmin XT recently and fingers crossed I’ll be filming a review on it this week for release on Friday. Be sure to watch it, it may be beneficial to you. 👍
@@701Adventures Will do
I have had the same random switching off issue (although only when on my 790 Adv R and so far never when hiking, mountain biking or when it's hooked to a laptop to plan tracks and routes in Basecamp). Garmin told me they know about the problem and believe the issue is within the powered mount, not the device - which doesn't quite tally with your experience. They are apparently working on a fix and since I purchased my mount from them, they will inform me and repair/replace when that becomes available. We'll see where that goes. I am also trying to get them to replace my 700 with a 700i. I didn't need or want the In Reach feature and they told me that if I purchased City Navigator mapping (CN Europe), which does not come with the 700 model, as a download only, I could save access to that (it lives on their server, they said) on my laptop and just choose whichever countries I needed in Europe as and when required. Therefore my 700 would function as a 700i without In Reach (i.e. more towards the function of a Sat Nav device as well as the usual old (600 series) Montana function as just a GPS device and CN Europe would not clog up its internal memory (which in any case they claim is 16gb regardless of which 700/750 model you get). So I gave them 75 quid and tried to download CN Europe. But instead of the promised offer to download to my computer or the device, the on-screen message said I needed to insert a 7 - 32gb sd card in the slot as my 700 suffered from insufficient space. It also said on screen that CN would only run on my device with the sd card inserted. Exactly what they had told me was NOT the case! That would mean I would be unable to use my full UK 25k & 50k OS mapping or other OSM mapping I have for trail riding in Europe as the card slot would be taken up with the CN card. I had purchased the 700 from the OS shop so they said I had to go back to them to argue my case for a 700i as a replacement for my 700, but at least Garmin are going to refund the cost of the CN download as they had clearly mis-sold it. Now you've got me thinking I should look into an XT too! We'll have to wait and see what OS say, but so far they've only offered repair/replacement in the event of an issue found when the unit goes back to Garmin. Well Garmin already said the issue was with the mount and not the unit. So that leaves me spinning around in a circle that ain't going anywhere.
Thank for the very detailed comment. Firstly I must emphasise that I loved the 700i as a unit but what I didn’t love was its unreliability especially when coupled with its hefty price. In contrast, the Zumo XT was cheap, I paid £262 for a new unit direct from Garmin with all the usual accessories, cables, car mount, etc and although I’ve used it off-road and on tours in fact everywhere it has never once let me down or turned itself off! On that basis I think it is better value for money than the Montana unit.
Garmin produce some awesome products but they need to get their act together when it comes to customer service. 👍
Hi, is your switching off issue solved?
My Montana 700i is about 6 months old and Im having some issues when I try to navigate to a destination.
It calculates the route up to 80% and then gets stuck there for a long time until I eventually get a message on the screen (“route calculator error”)
This left me unable to navigate in the Karoo over the weekend.
I updated my unit this morning hoping its just a bug but the issue still remains.
Sometimes it does calculate the route but if I miss a turn off it starts recalculating and the 80% freeze happens again.
I have emailed Garmin in SA. No response yet. Im also considering just getting rid of the unit and finding another option for navigating.
Interesting, I wish you well with Garmin and getting a response. Just remember if Garmin claim they haven't had any other reports of issues with this unit, direct them towards this video and the 8.4k views it has had in 9 months, not forgetting the 66 comments! I'm sure it's a great unit for walkers but on a m/cycle, it has it's flaws. On a side note, if you choose to replace it, I can honestly say the cheaper Garmin XT is awesome and has never failed me yet.
The same experience I have with the old Oregen 450t, and I noticed it behaves fine (without turning off) when I reset it back to original values (there is somewhere a reset in there) and yes it is a software glitch, soon you start customise the background image and theme it starts happening at random...even with AA Batteries....
Yeah I've no idea what specifically causes it and neither does Garmin or so they claim. My Zumo XT is awesome, no issues whatsoever 👍
@@701Adventures Oh and for Years I had the same issue on my Garmin GPS Map 65s.... until is being destroyed from the rain and I put it in the bin...since I had it mounted on the BMW R1100 GS, and it was getting hot and cold...so the Garmin seal proven to be not good, at least for motorbike use.....
@@HighEnd-S I returned my Montana to the shop. 👍
@@701Adventures Well I don't blame you....
An older thread I know. I had 2016 BMW 1200GS and used an older Garmin Zumo which used to switch off all the time. After a bit of research it appeared to be the canbus system which was causing the problems. Under some circumstances (which I never fully understood) the canbus would turn off the power socket. Solved it by wiring direct to the battery.
This was hard wired directly to the battery on a Husqvarna 701, it wouldn’t shut down all the time, but when it did it was annoying.
I don’t pay £800 for an unreliable navigation device. I’ve been using the Zumo XT ever since and that’s been flawless 👍
I have owned many Garmin GPS’s and the only wanting feature I had was screen size. So, I purchased the Montana 700 series. Disappoint #1 I could not install City Maps (which was noted in the lit. but I did not see). #2 Power Switch - I also owned the Montana 600 series GPS and hated the power switch because you had to take your gloves off to get it to work. The new 700 series have the same switch and now I have problems with that switch and P.S. the switch broke completely on the M600 series and now it is a paper weight. Summary - bad power switch on a $700 dollar unit. #3 touch screen works only when you hit it the right way. #4. To use AA batteries apparently you must purchase more kit? Positive comments #1 The larger display is very nice. #2 Being able to insert more pages for display is great. Would I purchase again Absolutely NO!
Same here I wouldn’t ever buy one, if Garmin ever see this video and the comments and they want to prove me wrong by giving me a Montana 700 to use to prove they have rectified the issues I’d do that but as it currently stands I wouldn’t spend my money on one. 👍
if it turns off, did you check the standby mode settings? I believe its normal behaviour for it to go into standby after the backlight goes off, unless you are doing a course or an activity it would turn off.
Hi, I had the device hard wired into the bike so that it had constant power and would never go into standby mode. Additionally I programmed the device itself so that it would only ever shut down if power was lost to it, i.e. I turned the bike’s ignition off. It was an unpredictable, very expensive and unreliable navigation device! I’ve been using the cheaper Garmin Zumo XT now for quite a few months and it’s been brilliant. 👍
@@701Adventures ah yes, but that doesn't have inreach though right?
@@LokeshThakur Yes, mine did as it was the 700i, the standard 700 doesn't have Inreach but the i version does.
Have you updated the Garmin Firmware to the latest version?
I bought the first 700i from a Garmin authorised dealer. They set it all up for me etc. When I subsequently reported to them the problems I was experiencing the first check I completed was the firmware version and I had the latest and up-to date version. This Garmin dealer confirmed they were aware of the problem and had reported a number of cases directly back to Garmin. Garmin confirmed it was a conflict between the mapping software and the unit.
Garmin replaced my unit for a new unit, different serial numbers, reinstalled my map licences, installed the latest firmware etc but the issue was still present so I was given a full refund. I’ve since been using the Zumo XT which has run perfectly.
I'm curious if, when tracking, it has the option to wrap rather than auto-archive. I've used both the Montana 680 and 276CX and both have an issue with your current track disappearing behind you when it auto-archives the track. On the road, it's maybe not the end of the world, but travelling on snowmobile it can create a very dangerous situation if you're in bad weather or crossing large lakes and you want to follow your path back the way you came. It's happened to me so many times I tell myself that I can't buy another Garmin product, but I don't know of any viable alternative.
i wonder if this could be related to the bike (bare with) i have had issues with phones and navigation devices on single cylinder bikes that are very vibey and wonder if the manufacturers are aware that these devices are too sensitive for this style of riding, hence why quad lock have developed the dampening device for their mounts. Just a thought.
Hi, that could be the case, I guess I'll never know for sure. I know a lot of off-road riders use this device or something very similar and I believe Itchy Boots used the same device during some of her previous adventures a couple of years ago which is possibly why I looked into buying one in the first place. I'm using the Zumo XT on the 701 currently which has been faultless and I'm using a Samsung tablet on the 350 and the problem hasn't repeated itself with either of those devices. It's a shame really as it was a great bit of kit until I attached it to the bike in the Garmin mount and then it became a very expensive in-active device. I would recommend one if someone wanted to use it for walking etc but it unfortunately didn't meet my expectations and as a motor vehicle navigation device it's not a patch on the Zumo XT.
@@701Adventures I think it's the Zumo xt all day for bike navigation. Certainly the roads, will see how it does for trails etc.
@@gibb013 If you upload a GPX file to the XT for off road rides it works perfectly. 👍
I have the same unit with the citynav chip and it will not find anything from any of the search options. I have to scroll around to find what in looking for then click to add the waypoint.
Yeah sounds a bit like what mine was like. Mine wouldn’t even find a postcode in the post code function! 😂
@701 Adventures mine will find a zip only once a while. I've done POI searches for national parks and other thing and it always says nothing found. I even purchased the citynav map chip and it still does the same thing.
@@whitesmotoadv Well worth the hefty price tag then 😂😂
hey there, i bought last week the montana 700 (standard) and it shut off during nav with no reason
i will call garmin on monday
And that’s exactly why I returned mine because a sat nav which turns off at its own free will is no use to me! 👍
@@701Adventures You use the garmin xt now?
Yes and it's perfect. 👌
My Montana 700i suddenly switch off too!! I'm going to send it to support but the guy I heard by phone was non surprised about this problem...
Yes they know all about the issue at Garmin. Good luck. 👍
Garmin Replaced mine and they day I received it they sent me an email stating that they believe they have identified an issue with the mount and are now sending me a kit to improve the rugged bike mount
Kit
Dampening Bushings, Screws, Montana 7xx, Moto/Amps
S00-02157-00
Qty: 1
I’m not entirely sure but does the vlogger Itchy Boots have the same sat nav, certainly looks the same but made just one from that series. I have the BMW Nav VI it wasn’t cheap either had it several years now always been reliable and the sat nav part is Garmin. I wouldn’t buy another but that’s down to the cost, I would have an XT though. As to return I would return it to the company get a refund, think once you’ve lost confidence it’s eats away at you and will never really get resolved.
Yes Itchy Boots has one on her Honda. She doesn’t appear to have any issues with hers or not that she’s ever mentioned. I had a NAV6 on my GSA and although that wasn’t perfect it was better than this unit and cheaper. I think I will try the XT and see how I get on with that. 👍
Well no problem at the moment l purchased a Garmin entrex 22 dew to the knarly hard enduro riding l do but after getting home and start setting the unit up the way l wanted to use it l immediately found it was a antiquated design that was not only hard to use but painfully slow to use which makes the unit a single use GPS and will only work better if l buy another unit and run them side by side as the hard enduro guys use them even for a weekend warrior trail riding it is painfully slow to to use with less than average features like menu's and resolution so can anyone recommend a better GPS to run then the eTrex 22 or the Montana 700
I hadn’t heard of that unit until now, I’ve had a look on Google and yes it looks a bit old fashioned and outdated but sensibly priced. Currently on my 350 I’m using a Samsung Galaxy 3 Tablet with a few mapping options, OS Maps, OSMand etc. It doesn’t use a SIM card or anything, it’s just working off satellites so is very reliable and cheap to use. I use it when I’m doing green lanes / off-road tracks etc and it’s spot on. 👍
@@701Adventures ok the stuff l ride is pretty hard so price is key when cartwheeling of rock Ledger's but a phone and a quad lock my just do the job
i have the montana 700i and it turn off randomly when connected to the atv
Which is pretty annoying I’m guessing. 👍
@@701Adventures so far its only when it is plug to the atv mount.
I just email garmin. I hope they have a fix.
@@bensti Good luck, I must admit I found Garmin to be be very slow, uninterested and to be frank quite unhelpful. I still use Garmin products and generally rate them very highly but my experience with the 700i was disappointing.
I have only ever used the Garmin Zumo on my motorcycle. Never had any problems with my Zumo but of course it is not nearly as versatile as the Montana
Trust me when I say the Zumo XT is a far better navigation device for a bike than the Montana 700. 👍
Surely not the best for motorbiking. I am on my third (750i) now after a great number of faults on the first two. Sloow screen, dying, complaing for battery-back-up, locks up for minutes without cause, wont recalculate a route but locks for minutes, etc etc.
The third one now does die as well. But is immediately turned on again on the button.
Only buy this one if You need Sattelite, geocaching and the many things it can do that You may not find in the other devices. The Zumo is surely more bikelike.
Yes and all the time I was having issues with my device Garmin kept saying I was the only one who had reported having any issues with the device. The Zumo XT on the other hand has been perfect 👌
It's designed as a handheld, not to mount it on a motorcycle. I'm guessing that it has problems with the vibrations of the motorcycle, just like smartphones do.
It is a multi purpose GPS unit, designed for trekking and also road use which is why it comes pre-installed with City Navigator maps and why Garmin sell a dedicated powered mount for motorcycles. 👍
@@701Adventures Yeah I guess you are correct, strange that it keeps breaking though
@@sayuas4293 The company I bought it from refunded me which was good. I'm ordering a Garmin XT and I'll see how that goes. I'll do a review on the XT when I've tried and tested it. Keep watching. 👍
Is it a device that switches of after a time if you don't use it ,if so change in settings👍
I’ve already altered those settings, this unit just randomly turns off when it feels like it.
@@701Adventures I have no problems with the XT garmen ,I would change maybe or check charge voltage on your bike 👍 for usb 👍
@@cliff1551 I had it connected to the battery.
Very thorough review; thanks for that. Can you or anyone else mention any other, comparable, units that might be worth considering fixing to my CRF300L?
Hi, I replaced my Montana 700 with the Garmin XT, the original one not the expensive newer one which in my opinion is way overpriced. I’ve had no issues whatsoever with the XT and you can use it for road and offroad rides. You can use GPX files with it too. Alternatively get a second hand Samsung Active 3 Tablet from somewhere like cashconverters, they’re about the £120 price tag. It runs on Android so you can then download OS Maps or any other mapping software to it, you don’t need a subscription as it’s working from GPS just like the XT. I use the XT on my 701 and the Samsung tablet on my 350.
Many thanks for those tips - I am indeed looking for something that will work on and off-road (when I try to find some trails near London, in Kent and Surrey...). I like the idea of the Samsung tablet. Nor did I realise that the Garmin XT worked for off-road as well as on. V useful to know.@@701Adventures
Hi just seen your channel would you recommend this unit or is the tom tom 550 rider a better unit
Based on my experience with the Montana 700i I would be reluctant to recommend it for motorcycle use and unfortunately I cannot offer any advice on the Tom Tom unit as I've never used one. 👍
@@701Adventures yes heard loads of bad reviews on the Montana 700i the tom tom rider 550 is the one
Garmen XT , no problems here 👍
And you can use it for off-road stuff as well as normal roads can’t you?
Program some in but sometimes it's user error ( me) but no major problems like you was having , on some tho garmen redesigned the handle bar mount coz it not connecting properly ,check it out 👍
@@cliff1551 I've ordered a Garmin XT, should be with me on Tuesday next week. I'll put it through its paces and then do a review on my findings of it. 👍
oh... 3rd contry problems... :D Of course - for that money - sad that not reaching quality and service level what was expected...
Exactly, it’s an expensive unit, it should be reliable 👍
Thank you for you review; looks like a Zumo XT for me
Nick I’ve used my XT in all sorts of situations and weathers and I can honestly say it’s never failed or played up yet. It’s worth every penny. 👍
Thanks for the vid. Is it the unit or the mount? I found with (the car mount) that it is intermittent, ?
It is the actual unit unfortunately. Garmin reluctantly admitted that they were aware of the problem and that there was an issue with some of the maps conflicting with the devices software causing repeated crashes of the GPS. Very poor everything considered for such a premium product. I would purchase another in the future but not unless Garmin could categorically guarantee the issue had been resolved. 👍
@@701Adventures Thank you. I must keep an eye on it
I’ve had random problems with every Garmin product I’ve owned. Unfortunately there are not many other options. Garmin is way overrated.
Touch wood, so far my Zumo XT is working as it should. 👍
Don't catch them mosko Moto bags on any gate post ect : the back tears of them👍
is that something you’ve done?
Mine has randomly turned off as well.
I didn't think I would be alone in this issue. Mine was becoming more of an annoyance than an asset. 👍
Wow! I am a carbon copy of this video! Had mine just over a year. First one was replaced like yours. I'm having EXACTLY the same issues! Would never have bought it if I'd known then what I know now. Zumo XT get nothing but rave reviews. VERY frustrating.
It's a very robust device, more so than the XT but that is meaningless if it cannot be relied upon to work when needed. I love the XT, I've never had any issues with it, it's a terrific GPS device. 👍
Thank you for your reply. I have just had 2 days in Wales using the Montana 700i mounted to the bike without power as advised to if the powered mount was at fault. It shut down with 40% battery left. It has shut down a total of 6 times with and without power!
I've had my unit for 14 months now and I am dubious whether I can get a refund. Fingers crossed. Thanks for the review and the review of the Zumo XT. Cheers, Phil.
@@phillangford538 Phil, which mapping do you have, the 1/50th or 1/25th scale? Who did you buy the unit from?
@@701Adventures Hi. Yes I had the 1:50K Ordance Survey maps card which, like you was replaced with a download onto a separate SD card just the same as you had to.
I don't want to drop the company that I bought it from in the fertiliser at the moment but they have been very good in helping me resolve the issues so far. However like you I now have no faith in the unit and would like to use something else such as the XT. I am also considering using a rugged tablet using the Android system where I could use offline maps such as Maps me, OsMand or Calimoto. The Carpe Iter is only a bit more expensive than the Montana.
@@phillangford538 From what I was told the 1/50th map software is the issue, the same problems do not occur with the 1/25th scale maps but then you have to dig deeper into your wallet to buy those maps. If you did buy your GPS from a company in the North East as I did they may well take it back as they did with my unit. They were very helpful and were fully aware of the issue as they had previously discussed it with Garmin. Good luck. 👍
Tom tom rider 550 seems a better gps unit
It may well be, I currently use the Zumo XT and I'm very happy with it 👍
Give it back
I did. 👍
XT done
You’ve bought one, an XT? If you have you won’t be disappointed 👍
I have had a montana and monterra. Now the 700i.
Your issue is definately during to the permanent power supply to you mount. Poor connection. Fit it properly . The units are bullet proof. I've travelled sll over the world with mine and used it for guiding too. Never missed beat other than that connection. Cheers Q 👍
Text Garmin support. They helped me a lot because my 396lmt-s zumo had a software issue and would shut down when I'd input destination. They send me few fixes which didn't work and exchanged my unit for free!
I'm using my 396lmt-s with premade tracks and it works well, but I wish it would do more.
I found Garmin support to be pretty useless to be honest. I'm buying a Garmin Zumo XT, a much cheaper unit but still capable of fulfilling my needs. Once I've tested and used it a bit I will do a review on it and a comparison with the Montana unit. 👍
@@701Adventures Great! Keep your head up and keep riding. Will stay tuned!
@@tryharder3214 Many thanks 👍