Garmin Montana 650

I recently purchased a Garmin Montana 650 and boy what a GPS.
I had a gps not long after they became affordable many years ago and what a dud it was, it would lead you 500M off target at each waypoint.

The Garmin Montana 650 is spot on for accuracy, I used it last week chasing ghosts (again ) driving down bush tracks that havent been used in years and all overgrown but they were all marked, incredible.
It came pre loaded with Aus toppo maps.

Love it.

hey brickie,
sounds like a good unit, was wondering if you could give us an idea of price including maps?
also what scale are the maps and is it auswide?. in my research the 1:25000 maps seem to be very expensive to purchase.
thanks in advance
gm

Cost me $800.
Included. Garmin Monatana 650 / 650t FULL Bundle with Topo(+City Navigator) Maps + Garmin Carying Case + Garmin Car Kit

Maps seem to be Aus wide, I dont know the scale but it narrows down to billy goat tracks in the bush.

thanks for the fast reply brickie, sounds like its
what ive been after, ill look into it, rough idea where u got it from too
cheers

I got it from here, very quick delivery, they are based in Sydney but it came from Garmin in the US, arrived about 3 days after order.

http://navi-technology.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=179

Evening Brickie,
I am looking at the same GPS, the montana 650t. I couldn't find too many reviews on it up until your post, thanks heaps!

Cheers

Buzz

The manual is pre loaded into the gps and is a bit vague in some areas but the Montana is fairly easy to use and intuitive.
You can change from driving to bushwalking mode really easy, its got a 5meg camera and you can tag the pics with the coords.
Way points are easy to put in once you work it out.
Back track is just a push of a button, or screen....
Ive just ordered Oziexplorer after a quick trial as it looks pretty good, the Montana 650 isnt supported but Im sure it will be.

thanks brickie, appreciate the info. looks like its a pretty good deal.
there is just so many options so it will take me a while to decide.
cheers
gm

Hi Brickie,
Was just wondering what maps you are running on your 650? Have you tired the Hema series?

At the moment it has the stock standard Oz Toppo maps that came with it.
When in recreation mode it shows billy goat tracks.

Brickie wrote:At the moment it has the stock standard Oz Toppo maps that came with it.
When in recreation mode it shows billy goat tracks.

Wow, cheers for the quick response!
Recreation mode? What's that?
I've loaded a whole heap of hema maps onto my cars GPS via mio pocket and it works a treat! But would like something a little more mobile and waterproof...hence why I'm looking at the 650.

Rec mode seems to give you a better zoom factor, when in Automotive mode it only shows the roads and main features.
I have it rec mode while driving through the bush and it names all the tracks and has shown where mines are too.
As you go it tracks you and draws it to the map, it would be almost impossible to not find your vehicle if you have this in your pocket.

This looks like an interesting feature near Katherine....
http://www.nearmap.com/?ll=-13.165074,131.517677&z=13&t=h&nmd=20040101

Edit:-, sorry I strayed a bit on the map, try Adelaide River.....

G'day

I've got a garmin model 60. I don't use it much but would be interested in opinions on it's accuracy.

Bullet wrote:G'day

I've got a garmin model 60. I don't use it much but would be interested in opinions on it's accuracy.

Is it this one.
http://patrick-roeder.de/reviews/garmin_gpsmap_60CSx.htm

looks the same but mine has a yellow casing and only has GPS60 on the front.

They say 14 metres but may be better for that one.

that sounds close enough for me, used it twice to coordinate with tengraph to make sure I was inside pending sites.

Ive just uploaded some Google Earth maps with jpeg overlays to the GPS, once you figure it out its really easy to do.
Once you get to the area of the overlay it shows on the GPS, how cool is that..

Heres one i prepared earlier.

I have a Garmin Oregon 550, which is a slightly lesser model but still good. The differences are smaller screen (3 inch), 3.2 mp camera and different battery setup (2xAA, no lithium battery which I prefer).
I also purchased the Garmin Topo Aus maps which are not bad.

I find doing overlays in Google Earth a real pain, especially getting it to the right scale and aligned properly. Probably not helped by the areas having very few roads/man made features. Anybody got any tips?

I gotta say this, a GPS is only good in WA to make sure you are inside pending leaase sites or if you are the kind of person who gets lost easily. There are old tracks and drilling "roads" everywhere, how people get lost is beyond me but it does happen. But having said that, it does help with WA Tengraph (if it is accurate for coordinates) then ya GPS is useful.
The one thing it won't do, is find the BIG ONE.