GPS Power Consumption

[ConRAD]

... after that ... I'll tell you another story about this nice bit of a kit !!

… since we are now talking about "switching-off", believe it or not, do you know that this fantastic “monty”, loaded e.g. with velomap, in correspondance of specific very definite coordinates … it simply switches-off totally by itself ??
For instance, very close to where I live, it sistematically switches-off by its own when I pass in front of the following points:

- N45°27.620’ – E009°18.695’ (in front of the church “Parrocchia di San Bovio”)
- N45°27.761’ – E009°18.785’ (in front of Ristorante-Pizzeria “Al Maneggio”)
- N45°27.835’ – E009°18.823’ (where the road comes to an end, just a little before the new building of Microsoft)

... what could be ??

[Mick F]

How odd.
Not had that problem anywhere I've been.

Have you raised this subject with Garmin?
They have a good forum and Garmin UK are good at replying to emails.

Only freezing problems or strangeness from Monty has been after disconnection from my computer. Yes, safely disconnecting, not just unplugging. Other than that, he's been faultless.

[skicat]

... after that ... I'll tell you another story about this nice bit of a kit !!

… since we are now talking about "switching-off", believe it or not, do you know that this fantastic “monty”, loaded e.g. with velomap, in correspondance of specific very definite coordinates … it simply switches-off totally by itself ??
For instance, very close to where I live, it sistematically switches-off by its own when I pass in front of the following points:

- N45°27.620’ – E009°18.695’ (in front of the church “Parrocchia di San Bovio”)
- N45°27.761’ – E009°18.785’ (in front of Ristorante-Pizzeria “Al Maneggio”)
- N45°27.835’ – E009°18.823’ (where the road comes to an end, just a little before the new building of Microsoft)

... what could be ??

That's interesting because I'm involved in a conversation about exactly the same problem with a couple of Oregon 600s, one of them being mine.
http://garminoregon6xx.wikispaces.com/share/view/69969734

My theory, as outlined in that conversation, is bad map data. I believe the Garmin firmware cannot cope with some types of broken map data and just shuts off. The OP in the wikispaces thread was using OpenVelomap maps, and I have seen similar behaviour using OpenFietsMap maps. All of these are based on OSM cycle mapping data.

Yours is the first case I've heard of on a Montana, but I'm sure the two devices will be based on the same core software application. At first I thought it was badly formed routing data, but having seen my device shut off several times in the centre of Edinburgh when I wasn't following a route, I now believe it's the map data itself that is buggy.

[Mick F]

Ah,
That makes sense.

Maps in Monty are only Garmin Discoverer and Garmin City Navigator (plus Base Map), I've never bothered to try any open source stuff.

[skicat]

ConRAD, have you tried visiting those co-ordinates with the VeloMap disabled? Do you have any other map products loaded that you could try it with, or even just using the basemap would be an interesting experiment.

[Mick F]

I often wonder about the enabling and disabling of the maps.
I wonder that even if they are disabled, they are still "there".

For instance, get your device to navigate using a specific routable map.
Then, disable that specific map.
Does the device still navigate you?

Yes it does.
How?

[ConRAD]

ConRAD, have you tried visiting those co-ordinates with the VeloMap disabled? Do you have any other map products loaded that you could try it with, or even just using the basemap would be an interesting experiment.

Despite a few episodical malfunctions I must say that I’m very happy with my “Monty” and usually find it extremely dependable for all my outdoor activities.
Thanks to its 3GB internal memory I permanently have stored in it multple geographical portions of OSM based maps such as Tracksource, Mapear, OSM, OFM, Velomap. Also I keep “legitimate” Garmin maps such as City Navigator, TrekMap Italy, etc.
Never had serious troubles neither in Brazil-Argentina-Chile nor in all continental Europe, Ukraine and most of East Europe countries included.
Said that I want nevertheless to report the following occasional malfunctions:
- one year ago, in Bayonne (France), in navigating mode to the hotel, it switched-off all of a sudden three times in a row
- it switched-off again a few times in Switzerland and last August in Germany very close to Rastatt (in this case not in navigating mode)
- and now, quite curious indeed, is switching-off (only occasionally) not too far away from where I’m living.

Coming to the last episodes I must say that I passed over and over again the above mentioned ccordinates with the following results:

- with Velomap: passed 20 times back and forth => 20-off shut down
- with Trekmap: passed 4 times back and forth => 1-off shut down
- with OSM: passed 4 times back and forth => 1-off shut down
- with City Navigator: passed 2 times back and forth => 0-off shut down

At this point I came-up with a “double” possible conclusion: the first one tending to associate the malfunction to non-Garmin rather than "legal" Garmin maps, the second one to the fact that Velomap and Treckmap both use beyond coordinates also elevation data.

OK, this was my interpretation … till last Sunday when I thought it could be meaningful to repeat the test disabling at once all the maps, i.e. in this case the display was blank. Well the result was that over three times it switched-off just once !!!

At this point I simply gave up ... I like the “beast” … and I’m happy with it !!

[CJ]

Yep.
But what about a refusal to switch on?

Just say it's off, and refuses to start.
Take the battery out, replace, try again, and Hey Presto.
Happens with my mobile phone too.

Are you saying that when it was last switched off, it didn't actually go off?

Could be. But it's equally likely that it went into a loop or stalled during the start-up process. A plausible cause of either would be a dirty on/off switch contact, so the system get's an interrupted and only partially effective dose of current when you press it.