Garmin Montana

madjbs · Aug 23, 2011

I just received the new Garmin Montana GPS and all I can say is that it seems to me to be the perfect adventure riding GPS. It has a 4 inch sunlight readable screen for easy viewing which makes a big difference compared to the GPSMAP62s (which is the same price). It is very customizable and has all the features you would expect on a top end GPS. Also it is fully waterproof and pretty rugged, I can strongly recommend anyone thinking of getting a GPS for their bike to get one of these.

http://www.garmin.com/products/montana600

JB2112 · Dec 21, 2011

Thanks for the post. I am getting used to my new Montana purchased in Singapore.

Note: Gadgetrend.com in Bangkok will have a Montana mounting kit for the Montana by 01 January.
Art speaks very good English and shipping is not so expensive to Chiang Mai.

JB2112 · Dec 29, 2011

I just ordered a mounting kit for my Lifan dirt bike. Here is the price list:
Montana handle bar set:Montana holder RAM-HOL-GA46U 390 BAHT
Diamond base w/ ball RAM-B-238U 300 BAHT
U-bolt w/ ball RAM-B-231ZU 675 BAHT
Std. arm 3.7" RAM-B-201U x2 1300 BAHT
Total 2665 BAHT

The RAM-B-201U is an extension I plan on using for both of my bikes.

Gadgetrends cannot accept credit card payment over the phone so I was given a list of 4 bank accounts in which I could wire or transfer money. I was immediately in a bad mood about this but when I visited my local SCB Bank I was kindly told by the rep that I could do this transfer for a 25 baht fee right at the ATM. It was easier than she explained and all in English. Note: None of the banks were SCB.

I love Thailand.

PS - I also ordered the last wiring kit they had available for 850 baht.

PPS - Shipping to Chiang Mai: 150 baht.

JB2112 · Mar 30, 2012

I have the RAMMount for the 600 series. The only issue I have is with vibration and that may be my motorbike, a Lifan 200.

With the Montana in the mount I had battery disconnect issues (solved with 2 pieces of double-sided tape placed on top of battery).

With no GPS in the mount I heard a really annoying rattle and it took me a while to notice the little roller bearing in the mount that was whizzing around at speed. I will remove the mount anyway if I am not using the GPS.

rob7711 · May 15, 2012

The Montana is a great gps and a sturdy bike mount is available for it as an assesory. Gps signal lock on is real quick and it's multi profile (customizable) is very useful. Would recommend this unit especially for off road/ dirt track biking as it can use custom maps including contour maps. It's cons are it's lack of bluetooth and mp3 capability and it's a bit bulky.

For full time on road use I would stick to a Zumo 660 for the bluetooth, mp3 and custom routes capability though gps reception can be wanting at times. I have both units. Hehe!

moose65 · Jun 24, 2012

i have a garmin montana 650t mounted with a ram mount kit with the oem wiring kit .
it was a little ripper , however the screen is having calibration issues and it looks like it will be going back to where i brought it from ,
the mount system works a treat.

rob

Johnsy · Jan 22, 2013

I have a CRF250 and after a sh#t load of research I went for the Garmin Montanna 650t GPS along with the optional rugged mount for the handle bar. However the anti-theft screw lock on the rugged mount to GPS didn't last long at all, the thread is stripped already! The 650t has a 5mp camera that auto waypoints your photo's a great way to see the impotent places on your map. I've done 8,000klm around western Thailand so far, quite a bit of off road and it has performed really well. I did buy the northern Thailand off road mini SD card maps too which is pretty good on details. The Garmin SE Asia SD card is utter crap, half of Thailand's lakes, rivers and roads are incorrect or non existent, plus place/town/city names on their maps don't even match the names on the ground, Garmin really needs to get their shit together, that SD card is a waste of money!

Cheers,
Johnsy

brian_bkk · Jan 26, 2013

Johnsy;286936 wrote: I have a CRF250 and after a sh#t load of research I went for the Garmin Montanna 650t GPS along with the optional rugged mount for the handle bar. However the anti-theft screw lock on the rugged mount to GPS didn't last long at all, the thread is stripped already! The 650t has a 5mp camera that auto waypoints your photo's a great way to see the impotent places on your map. I've done 8,000klm around western Thailand so far, quite a bit of off road and it has performed really well. I did buy the northern Thailand off road mini SD card maps too which is pretty good on details. The Garmin SE Asia SD card is utter crap, half of Thailand's lakes, rivers and roads are incorrect or non existent, plus place/town/city names on their maps don't even match the names on the ground, Garmin really needs to get their shit together, that SD card is a waste of money!

Cheers,
Johnsy

Check out Esri maps.

http://www.gpssociety.com/EN/Pages/wheretobuy.aspx

Mine is 3 plus years old and mostly up to date

Amazed at the level of detail including many remote dirt tracks

Cheers
Brian

bsacbob · Feb 4, 2013

Has anyone tried to hook up some sort of Bluetooth dongle to the Montana AMPS rugged mount with the audio jack so it could be paired with say a headset ?

rob7711 · Feb 8, 2013

Not done it but I am pretty sure it could easily be done. All you need is a bluetooth device like in the pic below (edit: this is a receiver but you will need a transmitter instead) and plug it to the audio out of the rugged mount cable using a double male audio cable ( came with bluetooth device), pair the bluetooth device to your bluetooth enabled headset and you should be set to go. Sena Bluetooth has a similar device available in their product range. The audio function on the Montana is only available when mounted on the rugged mount.