Handheld GPS System Recommendations?

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, having spent several decades in IT, which brought me face-to-face with some really poor UI's, I've learned to work my way through them.  But that doesn't mean I like them.

And, similarly, I've also learned to have some sympathy for certain roles.  For instance, the poor soul who was tasked with coming up with the page to compare models on the Garmin website.  Here's a link to the page to compare their 8" Tread Overland unit to their Montana 700i.  If you look closely at it your first impression is probably that the Montana comes with a lot more maps than the Overland does 'cause in Preloaded Maps the Overland has none.  But if scroll on down you'll find an Outdoor Recreation section and find the Overland has lots of preloaded maps.

Basically the issue is that there are two different product teams and they provide information on the products in very different ways.  So the guy that was tasked to come up with a page to compare them had a huge problem - there's no way to automate a good comparison.  You'd have to get your head around each product and then create a special page specific to each comparison.  And that is an impossible task as more and more products come out.

Anyway, if you want to compare the two units that page is a place to start.  But scroll around as the same information about one is in a very different place than that about the other.

[Gary Lewis]

I need to update this thread as I can no longer recommend the Garmin Montana 750i.

The situation is that I've been trying to work with their tech support personnel to troubleshoot the noise I had on the audio out via the cradle.  They had bizarre suggestions, like that I power the device from "the wall" when navigating to see if the noise came from the truck's power.  The wall?  In the house?  As I'm driving?  

But with a whole lot of trial and error I got the problem fixed, although since I don't really know what I did to fix it I don't know what to do when it comes back.  But along the way I've learned a whole lot about the device and I don't think it is a well-designed system.  And the documentation stinks.

So I tried to explain that as best I could in the email I just sent them, below.  And now that I've warned y'all off of that device I need to go update the Youtube channel...

Ok, here's an update.  But please read all of this note as I'm not a happy camper.

The good news is that after doing a whole bunch of things, including cleaning the contacts on the cradle, the noise is gone. HOWEVER, that was not without a whole lot of trial and error - mostly error.  And that brings me to my concerns with the 750i.  Basically I think this is a poorly designed device and the documentation is very lacking.  Here's why I say that:

Headphone Jack: Your documentation here says "GPSMAP 276Cx, Monterra, and Montana series devices can provide spoken turn-by-turn directions when connected to a speaker mount, or when plugged into the standard 3.5mm headphone jack."  But that is not true as there is no headphone jack I can find on my unit.  Yes, your documentation further says "The Montana 700 series can give spoken directions through Bluetooth headsets."  But it does NOT say that it can't do so via a headphone jack.

AMPS Rugged Mount with Audio/Power Cable: Your documentation on both the 750i and the 010-12881-08 fails to mention that the 750i will not provide audio out unless the mount is powered.  So I chased my tail for a long time trying to test the audio output on the device using its own battery power as I knew that would be "clean" and not have noise on it.  But all I could get out of the 750i was beeps when I was supposed to turn.  Finally I plugged the power back in and got audio out.  Why isn't that documented????

Bluetooth: The BT profile you've selected to support may work well with some headsets, but it doesn't work well with my 3M WorkTunes and won't work at all with my Sony DSX-GS80 stereo in my truck. On the WorkTunes the 750i drops the connection after every guidance transmission, so I get an annoying "Call terminated" after every instruction.  And when trying to use the Sony the first syllable or two of everything is missed and I get only part of the guidance.  Apparently there is some negotiation that goes on when the 750i decides to send navigation guidance, but it doesn't wait for that handshaking to be complete before sending the guidance.  But nowhere is any of this explained in the documentation, in your sales literature, or even your website.

The bottom line is that I'm not at all happy with the 750i and its documentation.  It is a poorly-designed device with badly-lacking documentation & advertising.  

Given that I'm going to recommend to my forum members and Youtube subscribers that they not buy this system.  But if you want to have someone talk with me about this my telephone number is below.


Gary Lewis

[Gary Lewis]

Just in case Garmin fixes their page on Turn by Turn Direction Features on my Garmin Outdoor Handheld, here's a screenshot where I've highlighted the erroneous statement that "GPSMAP 276Cx, Monterra, and Montana series devices can provide spoken turn-by-turn directions when connected to a speaker mount, or when plugged into the standard 3.5mm headphone jack."

And yes, I see that later it says "The Montana 700 series can give spoken directions through Bluetooth headsets", which I took to mean in addition to the 3.5mm jack.  It sure doesn't say "only".