Montana 700i/750i - Recent Threads

Track/Active route colour

Territorian — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 22:35:17 GMT

Good morning I have just purchased a 750i and was wondering if you guys might be able to help me with a question. When I activate a route the system is changing the track/route colour from the chosen Red to a Purple which is hard to see on the map. I would like to change the colour back to Red. I have looked though the settings but am not able to see where this change can be made.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

RE: Track/Active route colour

6070192 — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 12:59:56 GMT

Thank you!!!!!!!

No City Navigator maps for my 700i

RVASSEN — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 17:20:18 GMT

My Montana 700i came with City Navigator EU maps when I bought it.

However, with firmware 25.10 and Garmin Express 7.29.0 (Windows 11), it is no longer possible to download or update City Navigator maps on a Montana 700i.

Garmin Express no longer shows City Navigator maps for installation or upgrade. Please, Garmin, fix this!

Montana 7xx Software Update v25.10

Garmin - Jessica — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 18:57:54 GMT

Hello Montana 7xx users!

Software version 25.10 is now fully released.

Change log

Added QR codes to Outdoor Maps+ layer info page
Added support for displaying SOS threads by device
Added Messenger account phone number to inReach plan page
Added sender device to message details
Added deletion of inactive SOS threads
Fixed incorrect position for new points in course creator
Fixed TopoActive maps incorrectly showing update available
Fixed TopoActive map downloads getting requeued after completion
Fixed inReach weather sync
Fixed inability to download satellite imagery without OM+

Montana 700, advice for a case?

Former Member — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 06:48:29 GMT

Hello,

has anybody an idea for a suitable case (belt-bag) for the Montana 700?

Thank you in advance for your help.

RE: Montana 700, advice for a case?

9880651 — Sat, 20 Jun 2026 12:06:55 GMT

I was looking for a good case for my Garmin Montana 700 as well, and after trying a few options, I've been using the ICE Bag. It fits well, provides good protection, and is easy to attach to my backpack.

For anyone interested, here's the one I use:
ttps://infinitepack.com/collections/ice-bags

Hopefully this helps someone else who's looking for a suitable case.

RE: Montana 700 charging issues using AMPS mount

8318369 — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 13:45:16 GMT

I've had the same issues using the AMPS mount. I believe the unit (Montana 700i) is too heavy for the mount and wears out the pins. It would start with intermittent charging and the fry the unit. Garmin South Africa replaced both GPS and mount until the warranty expired. From then they sold me replacement units at a much reduced price. I'm now on unit number 9 over the past 4 years.

I decided to rip the wires out of mount and run the unit on battery only and purchased spare batteries. This was partially better but I still had the unit failing on low battery (anything below 35% charge). That was charging using a universal wall charger and the original Garmin cable.

And then I experimented charging using only my power pack.

PROBLEM SOLVED. THE UNIT HAS WORKED FLAWLESSLY FOR 8 MONTHS AND RUNS DOWN TO ZERO PERCENT ON THE BATTERY. The longest a unit had lasted before was 3 months.

I don't understand why charging using a high quality wall charger or hotel usb points caused problems. But happy to have found a solution.

Montana 700 charging issues using AMPS mount

Mogu — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 09:07:49 GMT

Hi everyone,

I have a montana 700 that was working fine until some time ago. When placed in the AMPS mount in my motorcycle, I can see the battery icon charging, but the battery doesn't charge. In fact, it will get down to 0. If I charge the Montana vía USB, It charges well.

My AMPS mount is connected to battery and every other charger works fine (like the one I use to charge my smartphone while riding).

Any suggestion?

Alpha 300 v8.40 UI issue — missing Applications / Utilities in Training Keys

nDrewone — Sat, 16 May 2026 08:51:11 GMT

Sorry for posting this in the Montana/inReach section, but Garmin currently does not appear to have a dedicated Alpha 300 forum section.

Device: Garmin Alpha 300
Software Version: 8.40

I am trying to understand whether this is:
- an intended UI change,
- a firmware regression,
- or a bug.

After updating my Alpha 300 from firmware 6.x to 8.40, the "Training Keys" customization menu no longer shows the categories:

- Applications
- Device Actions
- Utilities

Now only dog training commands are available.

Path:
Main Menu → Setup → Training Setup → Training Keys → Add Item Here

According to the Garmin documentation, training keys should allow assigning:
- applications,
- device actions,
- utilities,
- and dog training commands.

However, on my device only dog training commands appear.

Things already tried:
- Reset All Settings
- Delete All
- Reboot
- Re-pairing collars
- Reconnecting through Garmin Express / Garmin Explore

No change.

Could someone with Alpha 300 firmware 8.40 please confirm:
- whether Applications / Utilities are still present on their device,
- or if Garmin changed this behavior in newer firmware?

Thank you.

RE: Alpha 300 v8.40 UI issue — missing Applications / Utilities in Training Keys

nDrewone — Sat, 30 May 2026 09:36:52 GMT

Correction to my original report:

At the time I submitted the bug report, my Alpha 300 was actually running software version 8.37 (not 8.40 as I originally stated).

I have since updated the device to version 8.44 and can confirm that the issue still persists exactly as described in the original post.

So the bug is present in both v8.37 and v8.44.

This suggests the issue was not resolved in the subsequent software updates and may still require investigation by the development team.

during the recording of the track there are a lot of wrong waypoints showing on the display. Despite following the same way back the treck is far away from the way on.

3533431 — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 12:51:02 GMT

RE: Power cable to an AMPS mount

MY ADV — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 21:59:30 GMT

The AMPS power mounts in-line convertor is part of the circuit to charge the GPSr battery.

Power Mount without GPSr and powered up

PIN 3 = 4.3vdc (Triger ready)
PIN 4 = 0.0vdc (5v OFF, not ready at mount pin #4)
PIN 5 = 0.0vdc (Ground)

Power Mount with GPSr in the mount and powered up

PIN 3 = 0.0vdc (Triggered)
PIN 4 = 5.0vdc (5v Power ON and ready at pin #4 to the GPRs)
PIN 5 = 0.0vdc (Ground)

NOTES:

The GPSr uses the trigger wire in two ways
1. When the GPSr is mounted, Pin 4 goes high (5v) and battery charging is enabled
2. When setup (Set Mount Profiles) you can choose what profile is shown in the map header when the GPSr is in and out of the mount.
If you need to cut or extend the cable ABOVE the converter, then use a similar wire gage if need to extend, Solder/connect the GREY wire to GREY wire, RED wire to RED wire and the BLACK wire to the BLACK wire. Ignore the serial wires.
The Car mount has the converter, no serial, built into the mount and is powered by the USB. The car mount pins functions the same as the power mount. The Car USB mount is not designed for outdoor use / water exposure.

Power cable to an AMPS mount

Former Member — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 07:40:00 GMT

The Montana 700i only used with my snowmobile or ATV. The available AMPS mounts have power cable / data cable / audio cable, all this cables makes a big wire mess. The Micro-USB port does not feel water proof, and I do not like to use the Micro-USB port with the unit installed in an AMPS mount, it also looks like the screen is less bright when charging from the Micro-USB.

Does somebody have a wiring diagram for the AMPS connector pins, I would like ta make my own cable from a 12v-5v adapter to the AMPS with suited power cables lenght. Have hooked up Deutsch DT 2-pin connectors to my sleds and ATVs after the 12v-5v USB converter.

RE: Montana 700 charging issues using AMPS mount

Mogu — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:57:50 GMT

I already cleaned the pins but it didn't solve the problem long term. The springs inside the pogo pins seems to be defective because they don't push the pins enough.

I tried my Montana without battery and connected the Garmin Amps mount directly to my Honda's battery. It powers up but then at some point the GPS shuts down. The resistance in the cord is fine and also the battery of the Honda is new and in a good health.

Bought the Garmin Amps mount not even 2 years ago.

RE: Montana 700 charging issues using AMPS mount

Garmin - AL — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 18:31:24 GMT

The AMPS mount should trickle charge the Montana 700 series device. If you are continuing to see these types of issues we recommend cleaning the charging pins/ports with a small amount of rubbing alcohol on a clean cotton swab. Please review the following articles for tips to resolve charging issues on the Montana, as well as the Mount:

Battery Charging Issues With a Montana 700 Series

Keeping the Battery in an Outdoor Handheld Charged With an AMPS Rugged Mount

Troubleshooting a Powered Mount for an Outdoor Handheld

RE: Montana 700 charging issues using AMPS mount

BigLew55 — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 11:56:44 GMT

Thanks for the input. I'll keep an eye on it.

RE: Montana 700 charging issues using AMPS mount

Mogu — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 09:56:34 GMT

I'm glad it worked for you. Unfortunatelly for me It lasted two weekends more and doesn't charge anymore. It's the amps cardle and the pogo pins.

RE: Montana 700: Off Course Alarm not triggering at set threshold (0.01km)

Garmin - KS — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 20:01:02 GMT

The responsiveness of a .01km (or 10-meter) Off Course Alarm depends heavily on your current GPS accuracy. To make the alarm more responsive, try adjusting your GPS satellite settings. Enabling multiple GPS satellite systems can provide increased performance in challenging environments and faster position acquisition than using GPS alone. To check these settings, select Setup > System > Satellite > Satellite System, and change it to GPS + GLONASS or GPS + Galileo to see if either of those make a difference.

Montana 700: Off Course Alarm not triggering at set threshold (0.01km)

3287791 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 20:10:29 GMT

Hi everyone, I’m having an issue with my Montana 700. Despite setting the Off Course Alarm (deviation alarm) to 0.01km, the device only triggers the alert when the distance is significantly greater than that. Has anyone else experienced this, and is there a way to make the alarm more responsive?

RE: Montana 700 charging issues using AMPS mount

BigLew55 — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 13:16:43 GMT

I just wanted to circle back to thank you for the idea. I also cleaned my contacts in the mount and on the device. My 2500 mile trip to Florida tested the effects. The unit charged fully all week. I'm so glad to have that resolved. I didn't want to replace the 700i because Garmin doesn't really make a unit today that I think is an upgrade. Honestly, I was considering just changing out the Montana for my old z590 which seemed to be the height of Garmin's logic programming, before they started bloating the units with user simplification.

Montana 700/700i/750i Software version v24.70

Garmin-Christopher — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 21:14:36 GMT

Change Log

Fixed potential issues with Topo GB Pro
Fixed possible crash when using marine chart mode

Montana 700/750i Software version v24.50

Garmin-Christopher — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 16:50:28 GMT

Change Log

Fixed scanning lines on Trail maps in Outdoor Maps +

RE: Montana 700 charging issues using AMPS mount

Mogu — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 12:25:06 GMT

Hi, thanks for the reply.

It's the 700 without the inreach.

Today I did a little test. I cleaned the pogo points with WD40 contact cleaner and pushed them gently to ensure the contact cleaner reaches everything in the pogo pin.

Then I cleaned also the pins in the unit. Then went to do a little route to test it and in 40 min it went from 86% to 89% aprox. It's slow but at least it did charge.

I'll try again cleaning again and going to an offroad route to test it properly. I'm a bit disappointed because I had to change the rubber bands because the unit was shuting down and now this with the amps cardle just two years later.

RE: Montana 700 charging issues using AMPS mount

BigLew55 — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 11:01:41 GMT

First, if you actually have a 700i, I would recommend updating the subject to reflect that. The team will close references to non-inreach units in short order.

Also, my 700i has ceased to reliably charge in the motorcycle mount as well. I don't know if it will make it through this year without being replaced by something android auto related. sad, because I really don't think android auto is better, it just fails less than garmin.

Loading Custom Maps from mSD

detectist — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 09:41:20 GMT

Hi all. newby here.

My Montana 750i does not show my Custom Maps loaded onto my 32gb mSD card. The name of the directory is Garmin/CustomMaps/. Files are KMZ (and KML) I loaded them via a USB connection to the computer. The KMZ open from the Montana in Google Earth Pro (GEP) but KML is not seen.

I wondered if I have to actually save the files through GEP but that seems silly.

My waypoints are also loaded on the mSD card in the proper folder Garmin/GPX and they appear fine on the Montana.

Any clues? Ta