garmin Montana VS Zumo 665

[rad worker]

I ride a 2010 gsa and have come into possession of a Garmin Montana 650T and discovered that I need to buy/load city nav maps to use it on the street, and it has no music or Blue tooth capability. I would use it more on the bike than hiking. I'm looking for opinions. Is it worth buying the maps or selling it and getting a Zumo 665? Anyone interested in trading.

 

[MCMXCIVRS]

It will depend on how you want to use it and how much you value those additional features. I have a Zumo 550 on my GT and a Montana 600 on my GS. I got the Montana because I wanted a GPS that would serve both as a mounted unit on the bike and a handheld unit for going off hiking when I park the bike. I all ready had the Canada Topo maps, which is why I went with the 600 with no preloaded maps. I have also purchased the lifetime City Navigator maps for it. The Montana is actually a pretty impressive GPS unit, it can be customized to several profiles for various uses and can automatically switch profiles depending on how it is being used. I use a Sena SM10 Bluetooth adapter for the Montana when I need the voice directions, and don't care about getting music from it as I use my tablet for that. In fact I don't use the music feature on my Zumo any more either. I do wish the Montana had a Zumo profile for easier use with gloves on, it can be hard to hit the right spot on the screen.

I guess if you calculate the cost of adding the maps and Bluetooth hardware and a music source to get the Montana to suit your needs versus the cost of the Zumo less the resale of the Montana and compare the two you may find your answer. If the handheld capability of the Montana is not what you need, then the Zumo may well be better suited for you.

 

[racer7]

If you're always on road and live in the east the 660/665 is probably the choice.
If you do off bike stuff especially out west then the Montana could be your choice.

In our local club in NC, only 1 GSA rider is using the Montana. Pretty much everyone else uses Zumos.
There are a few who have s strong preference for the older models without the touchscreen.

I've got a pair of 550s, a 660 and some others for cages. One of the 550s is starting to get old and cranky- even with a fully charged battery it can take 5-10 minutes to get a satellite lock which makes it less than fully useful n unfamiliar territory SO uses a 220....
Can't say I'm a fan on the dinky micro sd stuff new Garmins optionally use to provide adequate memory. Impssible o extract without the tip of my knife and one needs to carry an adapter to plunk them into a pc reader.

 

[rad worker]

All good food for thought. There is no real way to have your cake and eat it too. I guess if I were to think about what is most important to me it would be being able to get to my destination with the least amount of hassle, with a device that is as rugged as possible. I will be doing some off road stuff in the future including a X-country trip and I guess if I really want to listen to music I can always plug in my I-pod. The Montana has an overwhelming number of options / functions and I'm thinking I should just embrace the technology.
Thanks all for your input.