Garmin Monterra
First impressions
It is a big change from a Garmin handheld, it's almost more like using a Nuvi in some ways.
I expected rough edges and it actually works better than expected. Nothing crashes except the program a co-worker is developing. (To be fair, for phones, not for Garmin) :-)
Maps
What I have tried so far:
Street maps
Openstreetmap, in the Velo and MTNBIKE versions. These are GREAT for hiking and geocaching, because we've worked hard to get local hiking trails in. It will route you _on trails_ to caches. Unfortunately OSM still needs addresses, so routing to an address DOES NOT WORK. Hence I broke down and bought City Navigator again.
Topo maps
So far using the free topo map is just as good for me as the Garmin 24K topo that I bought for the GPSMap 62.
I am also going to try using Avenza PDF viewer with US Forest Service topo PDFs one of these days. All loaded up but have not tried.
Aerial photos
I signed up for Birds Eye photos. Have downloaded Corvallis area. Great photos. Unlimited downloads but you have to be patient enough to break up the download into small pieces because they restrict download size. Sounds like a script is needed...
(I wonder how many times I have paid for City Navigator now.)
- First attempt: Macintosh running Mavericks and latest version of Firefox
- Purchase City Navigator at Garmin.com
- My.garmin.com, log in, go to myMaps.
- Click "Add to device" on dashboard. Get error:
Failed to get the latest software for DLC download for dl part num 010-D0035-00
- Send request for help to Garmin. Get instructions to clear browser cache etc.
- Repeat with Windows 7 + Firefox. Install Garmin Communicator Plugin. Same error.
- Repeat with Windows 7 + Internet Explorer 11. Install Garmin Communicator Plugin.
- Quick install of plugin fails. Downloading and running .EXE version fails.
- Follow instructions send in email (below). Try again. Still can't use Garmin Communicator.
- Repeat with Windows 7 + Chrome. Does not complain about missing plugin. Does not find device either.
Finally, the real problem: I had turned on USB debug mode in Developer Options. I turned it off and things were fine.
Conclusion based on above -- don't ever use Internet Explorer, it is a waste of time and crashes a lot.
Click "More Options" in the install page and select SD card. I put a fast (class 10) 32 GB card for map / data storage in the Monterra. I intend to keep the Garmin's internal storage as open as possible.
42%, 11 minutes remaining... then I will know if it works...
