Poorly Garmin Montana

[Mick F]

My beloved Monty isn't well.

The power button is cracked on the outer casing compromising the weathertightness of the unit.
I've checked the teardown instructions and the pictures, and it seems I need a complete dismantle just to get at it in the hope of making a repair with glue. Meanwhile, I could wreck it completely
http://www.gpsrchive.com/Montana/index.htm
Go to Hardware/Behind the scenes/Teardown
I've emailed Garmin to ask about a repair. I think they'll take it back and sell me a reconditioned unit. I await with baited breath.

Trouble is, Monty is a reconditioned unit, and I wonder if they'll recondition a reconditioned unit and give me a discount on another reconditioned unit.
This one is the one I bought from Burrows in Oct 2013.
http://www.burrowsgps.co.uk/hiking/010-N0924-00.html

Meanwhile, I'll not use Monty until I can see a way to get him back to health.

[philvantwo]

Oh dear Mick F!
I had a right game trying to get a response from garmin as I managed to crack the glass on my fenix 5s watch. Emailed the UK CEO and his secretary soon got in touch. She said they don't repair them here but for £120 they would send me a refurbished one. I complained about the poor customer service and she reduced it to £80.
Two weeks later a parcel arrived.......with a brand new watch!!
Bought an edge explore last year, great device!

[Mick F]

Excellent!
Well done!

I got tired of waiting for a reply to my email, so I went on Online Chat with them.
It was sorted in a jiffy, and far quicker than waiting in an endless queue on the telephone.

They're sending me a complete new refurbished Montana. The old one is now in a box and wrapped with their address on. They will ship out the replacement when they receive mine.

Cost?
I bought mine in October 2013 as a refurbished unit complete with Garmin City Navigator on a SD card for £389.98 inc VAT.
They're sending me another for £118.67 inc VAT free postage, though I have to pay to send mine back of course. Possibly send it off later today.

This is a bargain, I reckon.
As for trying to fix the minor issue of a broken button, I don't think it's worth the hassle because if I ruined the whole thing by poking my nose inside, I wouldn't have a leg to stand on in getting a replacement.

Maybe a week or two before I'm up and running with the new one. I'll keep the forum posted on how it goes.

They don't want any accessories or SD cards, so the unit is going back as a bare item.
I took it that the Li battery pack was an accessory, so that's not gone back, and neither has the charger unit.

They never mentioned the battery, so I didn't either. With a bit of luck, there'll be another one in the replacement box.

[Samuel D]

This is a bargain, I reckon.

I reckon you’re right, battery or not.

On the other hand, have you not started to think the Montana is a bit big for a bicycle by modern standards? It looks more like something that belongs in a microlight!

[Mick F]

Yes, in a microlight it works well, as well as on a boat or an aircraft, a car, a motorbike, on a hike or just a walking.
It's a do anything device, and is brilliant on a bicycle too.

Huge bright easily readable screen, and all the mapping and battery capacity you could wish for.
Best device ever.

Here's a piccy of Monty on Moulton whilst showing off the bar end lever.

[Redvee]

I had the same problem with a Virb camera which was from when the cameras were first launced in the UK so several years old. On dismantling I found the rubber casing simply pressed onto a switch nderneath so cut the damaged plastic away to make a useable hole and filled it with a plastic block and covered the hole with gaffer tape. It wasn't as waterproof as before and cheaper than a Garmin replacement. I did buy a replacement camera off Ebay for £50 which is still working now.

[tim-b]

Hi Mick
Make sure that the new unit will accept your Garmin maps.
I had a free local Garmin OS map with my original Etrex, that Etrex was replaced by Garmin and the new Etrex won't register the original map.
I think that Garmin can easily sort this but I never bothered, preferring the free options
Regards
tim-b
PS the Garmin scheme is excellent, very efficient and my Etrex replacement was as new

[Mick F]

The maps are on the SD card. I still have it, and copies of them too, so all I need to do is insert the card into the slot.

[tim-b]

Hi
Mine was a file download and it wasn't recognised on the new unit. I assume that the Garmin SD cards don't have the same drawback??
Regards
tim-b

[Samuel D]

It depends which maps and how you bought them. Downloaded Garmin City Navigator maps are locked to one device, a serious downside of that purchasing format. If you buy them on a Garmin memory card instead, the card can be transferred from one device to another. Of course that takes up the card slot so you can’t have your own card too for more storage space.

[Mick F]

No such thing as "locked".
I bought mine on SD card. City Navigator I think first, then I bought Garmin Discoverer on SD card too.

I found a short code on the internet and unlocked them, and copied them and put them both on the same card.
The program is called gimgunlock.
https://www.gpsurl.com/garmin-s-softwar ... nlock.html

[Samuel D]

I see. I guess you can hack your way out of many problems, and I think there’s a good moral case for doing so in this case.

[Mick F]

New Montana 600 arrived this morning.

I say "new" but obviously it's not.
It came in a brown cardboard box with bubble-wrap and a delivery note. Yes, there was a Li battery pack, but nothing else.

It's fine, looks and feels brand new and faultless. I've set it up as I want it now, and the new Li battery is on charge in it. I connected up to Garmin WebUpdater this afternoon and got the software up to date.

SD card fitted and maps are fine.

What I didn't do before returning the old one, was to copy the whole file structure etc to archive it so I could transfer it to the new one. I did consider it, but thought it would be better as a learning curve to start from scratch as it's a slow complicated procedure as customising the screen and the profiles takes some time to get them as I want them. Only done "cycling" profile so far, but yet to do "walking" and "automotive driving" but they can wait. I never saw the necessity of any more profiles.

Any road up, Monty2 is now up and running.

[ConRAD]

It appears that my Montana 600 doesn't charge any more the 3.7V Li-ion cell; checking the voltage between two of the four terminals, with the USB power connected I supposed to read something like 4.2V but I don't see any voltage. In this preliminary troubleshooting I'm suspecting of course some problem in the power charge circuit but maybe is there anything else that I can do?

[Mick F]

If mine had been in that situation, it wouldn't have been the end of the world for me, as I rarely use the Li battery, preferring to use rechargeable AA batteries. They last longer, and I always have some on the charger anyway. Now I have two Li batteries - the replacement plus the original - I may use them as I'll keep one fully charged ready to swap.

In your situation - providing it bothers you not to have the Li facility - give Garmin GB a ring and ask what to do.
I used the online chat to sort mine out. They want to know the serial number and they may make you an offer for a replacement like they did for me.

If you want to get inside, have a look at this:
http://www.gpsrchive.com/Montana/index.htm
Scroll down to "Behind the Scenes" and click on "Garmin Montana Tear Down" for a full strip down. Maybe new parts could be found.

PS:
Join the discussion forum and ask. The chap who runs the site is quite knowledgable.
http://www.gpsrchive.com/Montana/index.htm