Garmin Montana 700

Berin

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May I be the first* to alert the collective to the new Garmin Montana 700?

For those of us that venture off tarmac, this looks like it could be the first viable alternative to the long in the tooth Montana 6xx series, as (unlike the XT) it looks to have capability to run the OS style Topo maps.

Also, optionally, it combines the features of the very useful Garmin in reach satellite messaging products, has what looks to be the nice screen from the feature rich but slow 276cx.

If it has the Montana 6xx profiles feature as well it could be a winner.







*unless someone beat me to it and my search was crap
 
Over on the ADV rider thread they reckon it has 16gb memory, fast processor and profiles, and options run from base model, option of InReach which I think comes with topo maps and cn maps, then as above but with camera.

I already have an inreach mini, in some ways it’s good to combine it in one unit but there’s a school of thought that says you should have the satellite messenger on your body in case you get chucked far from the bike


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Seems we get short changed in Europe, the US versions come with lifetime City Navigator maps as well as topo, we just get Topo.

Anyone know if there’s a way to buy lifetime maps?


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Bump for an old thread, does anyone have one yet?
I had a chance to look at a 700i yesterday, it had City Navigator 2020.1 (quote old) installed plus Topo Active Europe also 2020.1. The owner couldn’t confirm if these were lifetime maps or not as he hasn’t tried to do an update yet.

Garmin’s website, and Garmin support still insist that the 700i comes with Topo Active only and that City Navigator is available only on a separate sd card.

Oh, also, the old GB Discoverer maps do not work, but newer GB Topo Pro do.


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Re-bumping the thread as I'm considering alternatives to my current GPSs (60csx, XT). 65s or 66sr being one option, Montana 700i being the other.

Would really see one in the flesh next to my XT.
I have the same question as Berin, I cannot understand if the "i" that comes with Topo and CN includes lifetime updates.
Also, when used with road riding profile: does it get real time traffic updates from the mobile phone? That is one of the features I love from my XT.

I was trying to extract some information from a thread on Adventure Rider but gave up after two pages of people complaining about the missing media player... wtf.
 
Re-bumping the thread as I'm considering alternatives to my current GPSs (60csx, XT). 65s or 66sr being one option, Montana 700i being the other.

Would really see one in the flesh next to my XT.
I have the same question as Berin, I cannot understand if the "i" that comes with Topo and CN includes lifetime updates.
Also, when used with road riding profile: does it get real time traffic updates from the mobile phone? That is one of the features I love from my XT.

I was trying to extract some information from a thread on Adventure Rider but gave up after two pages of people complaining about the missing media player... wtf.

I would like to know too
 
Not much on the CN with road routing, as they haven’t used it

Yes, that's what I want to know. As, for road riding, I really like my XT. Especially after a few underwhelming units owned previously. The advertised "adventure" side of it, I like a bit less. I use OS maps on it, but I'd really like to have profiles. Track and waypoint management is a bit weird. I couldn't care less about adventurous routing and the media player stuff most people obsess about.
The 700i would mean switching to a single sat nav to use on two bikes for on road and off road usage. I want to be sure it would be as good as the XT on road. Also, would like to compare the screen (readability in sunlight).

700i + the amps mount comes to a pretty 700+ quid... so I'd really want to play with it before pulling the trigger. :D
 
Yes, that's what I want to know. As, for road riding, I really like my XT. Especially after a few underwhelming units owned previously. The advertised "adventure" side of it, I like a bit less. I use OS maps on it, but I'd really like to have profiles. Track and waypoint management is a bit weird. I couldn't care less about adventurous routing and the media player stuff most people obsess about.
The 700i would mean switching to a single sat nav to use on two bikes for on road and off road usage. I want to be sure it would be as good as the XT on road. Also, would like to compare the screen (readability in sunlight).

700i + the amps mount comes to a pretty 700+ quid... so I'd really want to play with it before pulling the trigger. :D

Just speak to the Chairman of the TRF group you’ve just joined - he’s got one and uses it for both road and off-road riding.

I’m sure he’d be happy to give you an honest opinion of it.
 
Maybe ping this bloke a question? From the comments section, he seems to answer fairly fast.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Kp1ojTDJuv0" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Maybe ping this bloke a question? From the comments section, he seems to answer fairly fast.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Kp1ojTDJuv0" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I have spoken to Greg and know him
He says it has some glitches on the road - but he’s never been a road rider per se, owning pure road bikes etc
He comes at it from an off-road perspective and likes the 700i off-road
 
I bought one in the end. In answer to the question on City Navigator, the 700i does have CN, the 700 doesn’t.

For road work, it’s ok but not as good as an XT, which I bought for road use. It doesn’t have 6 digit postcode, there’s no “up ahead” like on the Zumo’s and it’s a faff to search anywhere other than where you are- for instance if your are in London it’s hard to search for an address or poi in Leeds.

It does work with Garmin ANT devices like Tempe.

It’s faster than the old Montanas. Screen is very good in direct sunlight but could be a bit brighter.

You can transfer a gpx file from your phone to it, via a complex arrangement with both the Garmin connect and Garmin explore apps but currently it’s not working very well so I’m transferring using Basecamp.


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So, the answer seems to be: 700i for off-road (maybe) and the XT or similar, for on-road (maybe).

From Berin’s previous posts and conclusions, there really seems to be very little outside of the Garmin world that competes reliably. He also found, I think, that the XT (and similar modern Garmin devices) arguably works best as a simple compromise between a very good on-road and pretty good off-road device, if anyone wants one device to near enough do the lot.
 
I bought one in the end. In answer to the question on City Navigator, the 700i does have CN, the 700 doesn’t.

For road work, it’s ok but not as good as an XT, which I bought for road use. It doesn’t have 6 digit postcode, there’s no “up ahead” like on the Zumo’s and it’s a faff to search anywhere other than where you are- for instance if your are in London it’s hard to search for an address or poi in Leeds.

It does work with Garmin ANT devices like Tempe.

It’s faster than the old Montanas. Screen is very good in direct sunlight but could be a bit brighter.

You can transfer a gpx file from your phone to it, via a complex arrangement with both the Garmin connect and Garmin explore apps but currently it’s not working very well so I’m transferring using Basecamp.


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Thanks
That’s good info and what I feared for the 700i
An expensive unit, not fully functional yet and will subject to ongoing development and fixes
Normal Garmin
 
Arguably, some bod riding off-road (in London) is not going to need something in Yorkshire at that vey moment or maybe postcodes at all. Similarly, the hardcore off-roader is unlikely to need fully functioning on-road bells and whistles.

It strikes me, that the two devices, the XT and the 700i, serve two different uses and two pretty different markets, with the XT just winning over the 700i in the ‘one device to do it all’ battle.

If bods are not careful they end up with the overblown Garmin devices that we see today, with all the ‘must have’ windy roads, music, telephone, text, weather, tell me my lean angle, tell me my tyre pressure, tell me about my inside leg measurement shite bolted on, nine-tenths of which only serve to confuse most owners. Bods are even complaining that the ‘must have’ wireless updates are too slow.
 
Thanks
That’s good info and what I feared for the 700i
An expensive unit, not fully functional yet and will subject to ongoing development and fixes
Normal Garmin

It’s not intended as a road gps, but it will work as one. Just not as good as the XT, but definitely as good or better than the old Montana. One thing I really like about the Montana’s is profiles, which is great for multi-use.

So my current plan is to use the Montana on predominantly tracks and trails bikes like the KTM 350 and 690, and the XT for predominantly road use. I’ll use the armoured Android as a back up.

As Wapping said, my conclusion is still these Garmin devices are better than the phone apps. Both Locus and the new Drive Mode have big upgrades which are being beta tested and require a lot of user input, plus the generally unstable Android platform woes (I know if you are an Android user you’ll already know how to deal with this). They’ll be good (or fail) sometime but not yet.

The road apps like Kurviger, MyRoute, etc, are also all getting better, but don’t deal well with green leaning. ViewRanger, which was a decent app and touted by the TRF, is now Outdoor Active and the new app has removed any modes for vehicles, though you can still use it it’s for ramblers and mountain bikers.


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