le Montana 650 100% off road
Garmin’s new Montana series of GPS units will mostly appeal to adventurous mountain bikers who want a tough, versatile navigation device. For most cyclists, it’s probably too bulky to sit well on a handlebar, but its functions and features hint at Garmin’s thinking on outdoor GPS devices, and some of this might come to their cycling devices down the track.
We got a brief hands-on look at the Montana at Garmin's GPS Experience press camp in Austria, but we didn't have time to get seriously to grips with all its functions. Its most impressive feature is its large touchscreen. At 272 by 480 pixels this is big enough that – on first impressions at least – it's actually usable for serious navigation. We've found the Edge 800, by comparison, needs to be combined with paper maps or a pre-planned route to be really useful off-road because you just can't see enough of the map at one go.
Not only is the Montana's screen big by outdoor device standards, but it's dual orientation: turn it sideways and you get a portrait view of your map. That's handy if you're facing your direction of travel and want to see the terrain along your route. Like Garmin’s Edge 800 and Oregon GPS units the Montana has a resistive touchscreen so it works with gloves.
Speaking of terrain, Garmin have been working on new maps to go with the Montana, including routable off-road options. That addresses another weakness of previous devices – that you could head out on a bearing but the unit had no idea where the trails were or how they connected up. According to Garmin outdoor and sports product manager Andy Silver, the plan is that these maps will eventually differentiate between bridleways and footpaths for UK riding.
embarqué sur X Control 2005
