Garmin discontinues the Oregon series and some others

[Boyd]

Remember, I have them on my flash drive. There may be something we can do.

I also have Birdseye files from two old devices. Those will work on the computer in Basecamp (or at least they did last time I tried) and they will work on the devices they were originally registered for. But I don't think they will work anywhere else now, because Birdseye is completely different now. I could be wrong though.

 

[Boyd]

I thought birdseye was gone.

The problem is (IIRC) that Birdseye needs to be authorized before it will work on a GPS (it works in Basecamp without authorization). But Garmin no longer authorizes the legacy version of Birdseye that we all have. So, any imagery that's already authorized should work, but you can't download new aerials and can't move existing files to a different GPS.

Check Garmin's site, AFAIK all the better models include Birdseye, some (maybe all?) have lifetime subscriptions.

 

[Teegate]

I dropped it and it looks like this now. It doesn't really affect me yet but if it gets worse it may.

 

[Boyd]

Was looking for something else and stumbled on these pix that I took two years ago, comparing a cheap rugged Android phone that I use for testing with my Montana 600. There's just something very cool about this size and form factor for a GPS, it has a 5-inch screen just like the Montana 700 (the Montana 600 only has a 4-inch screen). It also has the same waterproof/shock rating as Garmin GPS'es. Now, I'm not suggesting that this cheap phone is better than a Montana, but it's just an example of how (IMO) Garmin has really lost touch. If they made a GPS with a similar size and a 5" screen, that might actually get me interested. One thing that makes the Montana bigger is the ability to use AA batteries, of course.

For comparison....

Montana 600:
weight: 10.2 oz.
size (width x height x thickness): 23.1 cubic inches
cost (when discontinued): $470

Montana 700:
weight: 14.5 oz.
size: 31.8 cubic inches
cost: $650

So, the Montana 700 is 38% bigger, 42% heavier and costs 38% more than the 600. And they offer no alternative if you want a touchscreen device. But "it is what it is", this is what you will need to accept unless you want to move to a pushbutton unit.

FWIW, this is how that phone stacks up.

Ulefone Armor X7 Pro:
weight: 7.9 oz.
size: 10.4 cubic inches
cost: ~$125

I mean - geez - not expecting any miracles from Garmin, but at least they could try to meet us halfway... how about a Montana with a bigger screen that is still the same size/weight as the 600 series? Or a model with a 4 inch screen that is smaller/lighter than the 600? Or anything that costs less than $500????

So much for Saturday morning daydreaming...

[edit]
And one final thought.... that cheap phone actually could be a Garmin GPS. How? Garmin could create an outdoor GPS app for iOS and Android that could run on any phone. They could easily be "best of breed" in GPS apps. But they clearly won't do that, because it would pretty much destroy what's left of their shrinking product line. They used to make an automotive app that turned your phone into something very similar to one of their Nuvi devices. I used that app and liked it a lot - although they intentionally crippled it so there was still a reason to buy one of their devices.

After a few years, they just killed the app and pulled it from the Apple and Android stores. Very disappointing - and a waste of around $200 I had spent for both the US and European versions of the app.

 

[Boyd]

how about a Montana with a bigger screen that is still the same size/weight as the 600 series? Or a model with a 4 inch screen that is smaller/lighter than the 600? Or anything that costs less than $500????

Careful what you wish for? Garmin just announced the new eTrex Touch for $450.

Garmin eTrex Touch | Handheld GPS with Touchscreen

eTrex® Touch is a rugged, easy-to-use GPS handheld navigator with color touchscreen, preloaded maps for trails and roads and a long battery life.

www.garmin.com

Aside from the $450 price (which is no bargain, IMO), not quite what I wished for. Screen isn't 5 inches, not 4 inches... but only 3 inches with a resolution of 240x400 pixels. The Montana 6xx had a 4 inch screen at 272x480 pixels. The $125 rugged Android phone in the pictures I posted above has a 5 inch screen at 720x1280 and can use any GPS app you choose (including boydsmaps).

Apparently, this new eTrex includes their TopoActive maps. Have never used those, think they're based on openstreetmap. If you want aerial imagery, you need to subscribe to Outdoor Maps+ for $5/month. From what I can tell, you don't get a free one-year subscription like some of their other devices.

It reminds me of my old Oregon 400t which cost $470 back in 2009 and also had a 3 inch 240x400 screen. It included their 100k US topo map but you had to subscribe to Birdseye for aerials. That only cost $30/year instead of $60/year like Outdoor Maps+.

Let us know what you think if you buy one of these. It's a safe bet that I won't be getting one, but I'm glad they at least have a touchscreen GPS smaller than a brick now.

[edit]A little ambiguous, but as I read the specs, this GPS has a non-removable rechargeable battery unlike other Garmin handhelds that can use AA batteries or removable battery packs.

 

[Boyd]

I just had to laugh (while nodding my head in agreement) at this summary by Robert Lipe. And before you dismiss him as some "Garmin Hater", he has quite an industry resume as the author of GPSBabel and GPSVisualizer, he even wrote some of the original code for Garmin Basecamp and is a moderator at geocaching.com

"If this thing actually reads in sunlight without squinting or battling reflections, I’ll be shocked."​

​

"Maps? $99/year for routing. That's a ransom note masquerading as an update."​

​

"Dumb from a GPS company that bought a map company yet relies on free OpenStreetMaps anyway. My dog could navigate better on a leash."​

​

"Maybe Garmin’s “bridge device” before the handheld market collapses. I’d call it a bridge device, except the bridge is falling apart."​

​

"It’s Garmin. Planned obsolescence: their longest-running product line."​

OK, he did say some nice things....

"Receiver ahead of Oregon 700, right up there with GPSMap 67 — GPS, Galileo, BeiDou, QZSS, IRNSS: alphabet soup galore. Solid."​

​

"Call it Oregon 720, and it’d make sense: bigger battery, modern GNSS, touchscreen"​

​

"But hey — at least they didn’t glue a camera in this one."​

​

(Don't see a way to link to his specific post, so you will probably have to scroll down to see the post from robertlipe)

New Etrex Touch model introduced

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/1326077/ A whopping $449 MSRP although it will probably be a little lower on websites..... 3 inch touch screen, same size as the Oregon's. Claims a 130 hour battery life. Appears to no have AA batteries, relying on built in lithium-ion battery via USB-C More specs a...

forums.geocaching.com

 

[Teegate]

I use GPSBabel. It works great. Years ago I had some email conversations with him but my skills were not good enough for me to comprehend what he was telling me.

 

[Boyd]

My skills are not good enough to understand a lot of things he posts about how gps chips work and the code that supports them!

 

[Boyd]

Somehow I missed the introduction of the GPSMap H1 in September. Based on a quick look, I'd say this is the model that would interest me *if* I was in the market for another Garmin device and *if* I wanted to spend $700. With the inReach satellite communication option, that makes it a $1,000 device.

But the unusual thing is that it has both a touchscreen and pushbutton interface. That's a feature I've actually wanted (my old StreetPilot 2620 from circa 2005 had pushbuttons and a touchscreen). 3.5 inch screen at 282x470 resolution - pretty close to the Montana 600 resolution of 272x480 on a slightly larger 4 inch screen.

Garmin introduces the GPSMAP H1i Plus, premium GPS handheld

Garmin today unveiled the GPSMAP® H1i Plus, an exciting new flagship GPS handheld navigator with inReach® Plus technology.

www.garmin.com

Garmin GPSMAP H1 | GPS Handheld Navigator

GPSMAP® H1is a premium GPS handheld navigator with TopoActive maps, satellite imagery, 3.5-inch color touchscreen and battery life up to.

www.garmin.com

 

[bobpbx]

I would have thought by now that the montana would have the one thing I always wished it had; the ability to fill out the information for the waypoint using my voice. I'm dissapointed.

 

[Boyd]

I have never wished for that. Did you ever try the voice recognition features on their automotive GPS'es? That was always horrible in my experience. Good voice recognition just sends a clip of your voice to big servers where it is processed and sent back to the device. Garmin has always used pretty weak processor chips in their devices (to prolong battery life, among other reasons), I seriously doubt it would be capable of what you want.

Garmin tried their hand with "connected" GPS devices and gave up - I had one of their connected Nuvi devices on loan for awhile when I was at GPSReview and thought it was pretty good (this was before smartphones were an option). But they discontinued these expensive devices a few years later and they completely broke when AT&T shutdown the old (slow) network that Garmin used.

 

[bobpbx]

I have never wished for that. Did you ever try the voice recognition features on their automotive GPS'es? That was always horrible in my experience. Good voice recognition just sends a clip of your voice to big servers where it is processed and sent back to the device. Garmin has always used pretty weak processor chips in their devices (to prolong battery life, among other reasons), I seriously doubt it would be capable of what you want.

Garmin tried their hand with "connected" GPS devices and gave up - I had one of their connected Nuvi devices on loan for awhile when I was at GPSReview and thought it was pretty good (this was before smartphones were an option). But they discontinued these expensive devices a few years later and they completely broke when AT&T shutdown the old (slow) network that Garmin used.

I'll try something more simple. I'll let the gps automatically assign a number to the waypoint (which I usually never do), and then use my phones voice recorder to fill in the narrative after citing the number. But then I have to modify my basecamp waypoints to at least give some info on the map in the desktop.