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Garmin Monterra - not so good first impressions


goldriver

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After a complete geocaching afternoon, I came back home not that impressed with my Monterra:

- problems with outdoor app crashing when set in French

- bearing about 60 degrees off in Garmin outdoor app

- battery last only about 3 hours compare to 10-13 hours with my Montana

 

Still not decided if I will keep or return this device.

 

Any other asking themselves the same question ?

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Today, my Monterra lasted 12 hours to 10% battery life with mild screen use and a tracklog recording the whole time. Not sure of your settings but if you let the unit go into sleep mode during operation battery life will be extended. You also have to pay attention to power saving measures like turning the Wi-Fi off when you're in the field. Just like any Android device you have to be careful of what you've got running. Again, I'm not sure of your particular settings.

Edited by yogazoo
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Backlitght was OFF, but you are right wifi was ON BUT tracking was off.

 

I guess you will agree that if you are out geocaching you want your device to stay "alive" while you are searching a cache so I set up the sleep to 5 minutes.

 

Believe me I know those Garmin devices and I love them, I own an 76C on my SXS, my wife an Oregon 450 that last up to 6 hours on regular duracell batt and my Montana was lasting for 12-14 hours on It's rechargeable battery. My review is not to put down the Monterra but to give the real feeling I had on my first geocaching day with it.

 

If you are OK with a device that will give you 3-4 hours of power, good for you but usually when I go on a hunt, I need at least 5-6 hour of battery life, generally more 7 hours.

 

I agree that if you keep it asleep all the time evety 15 seconds, battery will last 10 hours but if you use it a bit then reality will be 4-5 at the best.

 

Anyway, my intentions are to do another geocaching day tomorrow and come back with a complete report including my settings.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love the device and the features, I was a bit pissed off today with all the problems that I faced beginning at 5:00 AM this morning with the impossibility to get the device working with GPX, It took me more than 2 hours to figure out that the problem was coming from the French configuration that got the Garmin outdoor apps crashes over and over!!!

 

FRUSTRATED YOU SAY... YES A BIT !

Edited by goldriver
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You maybe had some app(s) seeking for a Wifi connection, or just active. Remember here, it's not only the WiFi on or off, also WiFi being used by functions like for example daily updates from any app keep seeking continuously.

I don't know on V4.04 but you might have a battery monitor showing what app is using you batterypower.

 

Not sure how you could see this in the Monterra, try holding the Home button then close all opened apps, or gearwheel (=settings), applications handling, then close all.

Edited by splashy
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Believe me I know those Garmin devices and I love them, I own an 76C on my SXS, my wife an Oregon 450 that last up to 6 hours on regular duracell batt and my Montana was lasting for 12-14 hours on It's rechargeable battery. My review is not to put down the Monterra but to give the real feeling I had on my first geocaching day with it.

 

 

Have your wife use rechargeables (Eneloops are best) or lithium batteries to get more life out of a charge.

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Second day out with my Monterra, here are the settings andbelow final results :

 

Chirp, heart rate monitor, tempe and cadence monitor : OFF

Compass mode : use GPS only while driving

Proximity alarms: OFF

Track recording ON

Routing OFF

WIFI , Bluetooth, VPN NFC: OFF

Vibrate, high power audio, touch sound, screen lock sound: OFF

Display glove mode : ON

Brightness about 5%

Screen orientation lock to portrait

Backlight timeout 15 seconds

Sleep 5 minutes of inactivity

Battery at start: 100% full, system say 7h28minutes of

Garmin outdoor appss battery consumption 53%

Screen 35%

Android OS 4%

Android system 4%

Phone idle 2%

Locations services, only GPS ON

Accessibility: large characters

All other parameters left to origin state

 

Outside temperature about -8 Celcius, low altitude, by foot covering about 12 kilometers looking for geocaches

 

Here are the final results: 3h45 minutes on battery, battery left 25%. A bit better than yesterday, I guess that getting brightness from 65 % to 5 % helped a bit but still, far from the 12-14 hours I had with my Montana.

 

One more new issue, Garmin Outdoor app crashes when trying to add a KMZ file in the \Monterra\SD Card\Garmin\CustomMaps directory !

 

Hopefully, Garmin ingeneer will work to fix the bearing AND KMZ issue rapidly !

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I'm getting some rather funky battery results myself. I have to pay more attention to my settings but some days I get 10 hours and some days I only get 3 or 4. One potential culprit is if the software isn't reading the available charge correctly shutting the unit down prematurely. Easy enough to test.

 

Any time Garmin switches platforms they seems to reinvent the wheel to some degree and with that reinvention comes bugs and errors. They'll fix it, sooner or later.

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"some days I get 10 hours and some days I only get 3 or 4."

 

I still think there's an app desperately seeking WiFi, or similar on the 3-4 hour days.

 

There's an app called 'Wheres my droid power', maybe you can download this app and inspect your Monterra battery use.

Edited by splashy
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Here you go, stop wasting your time with it!

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=317553

 

:rolleyes:

I'm with you,ever since Garmin introduced the new Etrex models and Monterra all I read is drama.I see people suggesting for newbies to get them,that is an quick way to discourage a beginner to geocaching.It's great to advance technology,IF,you advance the techs along with it,turning consumers into techs is bad business,putting profit before quality will bite you in the end.This is not an rant just the hard facts.

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There's not really something wrong with the new models, but if you're not willing to learn how to use a unit from about $700 you better take a cheap model or a smartphone, so you don't have to connect to a computer and learn.

 

You could also wait about 1.5 years so the unit is more stable and most of the start up problems are gone.

The Monterra seems very stable BTW, because only few people complain in 2 weeks, that's much better then after the Oregons and the Montana's.

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The Monterra seems very stable BTW, because only few people complain in 2 weeks, that's much better then after the Oregons and the Montana's.

Before making a judgment of this sort, I would need some idea of how well or badly the Monterras have been selling. As far as I know, the low number of complaints might as well be the result of slow sales to geocachers.

 

$700 is a lot to pay for a handheld GPS unit, even with an Android OS. Just based on the price, I'd guess that fewer people have so far rushed out to buy a Monterra.

 

--Larry

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@TomToad

I basically completely agree with you and I think the dedicated Gps will be for a very small group now and especially in the future, also prices like monterra don't help, but the majority don't like the smartphonescreen in sunlight (no real solution on the moment) and batterylife with Gps is bad (solution available).

Read the threads about this.

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=317421

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=317482&st=0&p=5322718&hl=dedicated&fromsearch=1entry5322718

Edited by splashy
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"some days I get 10 hours and some days I only get 3 or 4."

 

I still think there's an app desperately seeking WiFi, or similar on the 3-4 hour days.

 

There's an app called 'Wheres my droid power', maybe you can download this app and inspect your Monterra battery use.

 

No need for extra apps to see battery usage. Go to System Settings\Device\Battery and the apps are listed along with their power consumption percentage. Each app can be clicked and in the next screen will be suggestions and possibly a shortcut to ways of reducing that app's power consumption.

 

In my case, it's telling me that the Screen is accounting for 51% of the current power consumption.

 

Screenshot_2013-11-26-19-21-01.jpg

Edited by Dr Jeckyl and Mr Hide
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After caching some today ( about 2 hours and 15 minutes) using the Whereyougo app from the Play Store and turn by turn directions to get to where I was caching (and then direct routing when I arrived at my destination), I managed to use about 25% of my battery. That roughly translates to 9 hours of battery life. I was recording my track and had wi-fi off. I had my backlight down to 35% and the automatic screen off set to 30 seconds with sleep after one minute. It's TOO quick with the shutdown/sleep times right now and I'm guessing that will eat some battery time with longer enabled times.

 

The compass is either REALLY sensitive or, more likely, needs to be calibrated (haven't done that yet). Most of the time the N was mostly north and the arrow generally pointed at where I was needing to go. One time I was walking to a cache, found the cache, hit find the next closest and then drove to a parking spot that went right past the cache. The pink line leading to GZ from where I started was still in the exact location I had left, leaving my arrow pointing in the opposite direction. I had to hit "Go" again on the cache to get the line to GZ and the arrow to correct themselves.

 

Other odds and ends I noticed while out today. I like the geocache set up where you can access all the info from the cache page by swiping side to side. No need to go to a separate page by tapping a separate button on the screen to see the options for each thing you might be looking for. They're all there on the one page with side to side swiping to access the info.

 

Entering a next stage to go to isn't as easy (unless I'm missing something)as it was on the Montana. Entering the coords IS easier but you then need to make sure you hit "Go" once it's on the map or else you'll be navigating to the previous stage. With the Montana it automatically sent you to the next stage. The waypoint created WAS labeled though, unlike ones you generate on your own.

 

When I stopped walking or driving, the map circled/spun around my default triangle, spinning the entire time until I started up again. Again, a possible reason is that I haven't calibrated the compass yet. I want to see what this can do before doing almost anything to it.

 

The Whereyougo app worked great with one exception. On my HTC EVO, since I have 3G/4G service, I get a nice map when I'm walking around. On the Monterra, nothing but the zones on a grid. I need to see if I can get offline maps for use with that app, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

As with the above poster, the screen was the major consumer of the day on my unit.

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When I stopped walking or driving, the map circled/spun around my default triangle, spinning the entire time until I started up again. Again, a possible reason is that I haven't calibrated the compass yet. I want to see what this can do before doing almost anything to it.

 

Unfortunately compass calibration will have little effect on the rotating screen. If it bothers you, switch to North Up then only the cursor itself will spin. Garmin still has some work to do to fix that.

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The Whereyougo app worked great with one exception. On my HTC EVO, since I have 3G/4G service, I get a nice map when I'm walking around. On the Monterra, nothing but the zones on a grid. I need to see if I can get offline maps for use with that app, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

If you wanted maps without having to download them to the Monterra (or until you can download them) why not tether your HTC to the Monterra?

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When I stopped walking or driving, the map circled/spun around my default triangle, spinning the entire time until I started up again. Again, a possible reason is that I haven't calibrated the compass yet. I want to see what this can do before doing almost anything to it.

 

Unfortunately compass calibration will have little effect on the rotating screen. If it bothers you, switch to North Up then only the cursor itself will spin. Garmin still has some work to do to fix that.

I was under the impression that units with a 3-axis compass would not have the rotating screen.

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When I stopped walking or driving, the map circled/spun around my default triangle, spinning the entire time until I started up again. Again, a possible reason is that I haven't calibrated the compass yet. I want to see what this can do before doing almost anything to it.

 

Unfortunately compass calibration will have little effect on the rotating screen. If it bothers you, switch to North Up then only the cursor itself will spin. Garmin still has some work to do to fix that.

I was under the impression that units with a 3-axis compass would not have the rotating screen.

 

That's probably the eventual target but we're not there yet.

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Other odds and ends I noticed while out today. I like the geocache set up where you can access all the info from the cache page by swiping side to side. No need to go to a separate page by tapping a separate button on the screen to see the options for each thing you might be looking for. They're all there on the one page with side to side swiping to access the info.

 

Once I start to navigate to a cache by GO, I see no easy way to access the geocache info like description, hint and logs. On the Montana this can by done by pushing the Geocache Dashboard, but doing the same on the Monterra, the list of geocaches shows up. One will then have to select the cache from the list again to access the cache details. Swipe does not work when the map and geocache dashboard are shown.

 

Also, when in the list of geocaches, the response is slow or imprecise. The unit looks to be pretty fast and precise in all other pages.

Edited by Catch
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Other odds and ends I noticed while out today. I like the geocache set up where you can access all the info from the cache page by swiping side to side. No need to go to a separate page by tapping a separate button on the screen to see the options for each thing you might be looking for. They're all there on the one page with side to side swiping to access the info.

 

Once I start to navigate to a cache by GO, I see no easy way to access the geocache info like description, hint and logs. On the Montana this can by done by pushing the Geocache Dashboard, but doing the same on the Monterra, the list of geocaches shows up. One will then have to select the cache from the list again to access the cache details. Swipe does not work when the map and geocache dashboard are shown.

 

Also, when in the list of geocaches, the response is slow or imprecise. The unit looks to be pretty fast and precise in all other pages.

 

When farther away, that's the quickest way I've found. It's one extra button push so I'm not complaining much. When close you can just tap on the icon and then the cache banner (again one extra button push so I'm not complaining). You can access the map of where GZ is from the side to side swipe in the description. Looks like photos are supported but I'm wondering if it's an automatic download or if you'd have to go through GSAK like with the Montana. Not sure what you mean about the last sentence in the first paragraph. If you're in map mode with the dashboard, it just moves the map, like it's supposed to.

 

How many caches do you have loaded? I have one .gpx file with about 450 caches and I added three separate single cache downloads from GC.com (two Wherigos and a puzzle with corrected coordinates). The filters were fast and accurate while scrolling through my entire list and also searching for caches based on partial names, the response was quick and accurate there too. It scrolled just like my phone does.

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The Whereyougo app worked great with one exception. On my HTC EVO, since I have 3G/4G service, I get a nice map when I'm walking around. On the Monterra, nothing but the zones on a grid. I need to see if I can get offline maps for use with that app, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

If you wanted maps without having to download them to the Monterra (or until you can download them) why not tether your HTC to the Monterra?

Hadn't considered that possibility but I don't have my phone set up as a hot spot (extra charge on the plan unless it's changed). Would definitely find that beneficial.

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Other odds and ends I noticed while out today. I like the geocache set up where you can access all the info from the cache page by swiping side to side. No need to go to a separate page by tapping a separate button on the screen to see the options for each thing you might be looking for. They're all there on the one page with side to side swiping to access the info.

 

Once I start to navigate to a cache by GO, I see no easy way to access the geocache info like description, hint and logs. On the Montana this can by done by pushing the Geocache Dashboard, but doing the same on the Monterra, the list of geocaches shows up. One will then have to select the cache from the list again to access the cache details. Swipe does not work when the map and geocache dashboard are shown.

 

Also, when in the list of geocaches, the response is slow or imprecise. The unit looks to be pretty fast and precise in all other pages.

 

When farther away, that's the quickest way I've found. It's one extra button push so I'm not complaining much. When close you can just tap on the icon and then the cache banner (again one extra button push so I'm not complaining). You can access the map of where GZ is from the side to side swipe in the description. Looks like photos are supported but I'm wondering if it's an automatic download or if you'd have to go through GSAK like with the Montana. Not sure what you mean about the last sentence in the first paragraph. If you're in map mode with the dashboard, it just moves the map, like it's supposed to.

 

How many caches do you have loaded? I have one .gpx file with about 450 caches and I added three separate single cache downloads from GC.com (two Wherigos and a puzzle with corrected coordinates). The filters were fast and accurate while scrolling through my entire list and also searching for caches based on partial names, the response was quick and accurate there too. It scrolled just like my phone does.

What I mean with the last sentence in the first paragraph is that from your post, one could get the impression that one could swipe, when i map mode, to show the geocache details. I like the Monterra to behave exactly like the Montana when pushing the Dashboard for easy access to the geocache details.

I have tested with different numbers of caches, 2000, 5000, 12000 and more, both as single GPX and GGZ, but there is no difference in the performance. Scrolling is fine, it is the selection of the listed geocaches that are slow and/or imprecise.

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Other odds and ends I noticed while out today. I like the geocache set up where you can access all the info from the cache page by swiping side to side. No need to go to a separate page by tapping a separate button on the screen to see the options for each thing you might be looking for. They're all there on the one page with side to side swiping to access the info.

 

Once I start to navigate to a cache by GO, I see no easy way to access the geocache info like description, hint and logs. On the Montana this can by done by pushing the Geocache Dashboard, but doing the same on the Monterra, the list of geocaches shows up. One will then have to select the cache from the list again to access the cache details. Swipe does not work when the map and geocache dashboard are shown.

 

Also, when in the list of geocaches, the response is slow or imprecise. The unit looks to be pretty fast and precise in all other pages.

 

When farther away, that's the quickest way I've found. It's one extra button push so I'm not complaining much. When close you can just tap on the icon and then the cache banner (again one extra button push so I'm not complaining). You can access the map of where GZ is from the side to side swipe in the description. Looks like photos are supported but I'm wondering if it's an automatic download or if you'd have to go through GSAK like with the Montana. Not sure what you mean about the last sentence in the first paragraph. If you're in map mode with the dashboard, it just moves the map, like it's supposed to.

 

How many caches do you have loaded? I have one .gpx file with about 450 caches and I added three separate single cache downloads from GC.com (two Wherigos and a puzzle with corrected coordinates). The filters were fast and accurate while scrolling through my entire list and also searching for caches based on partial names, the response was quick and accurate there too. It scrolled just like my phone does.

I have tested with different numbers of caches, 2000, 5000, 12000 and more, both as single GPX and GGZ, but there is no difference in the performance. Scrolling is fine, it is the selection of the listed geocaches that are slow and/or imprecise.

Mine come right up without any issues or hesitations. Just played with it right now to test throughout the entire list. One thing I don't really like (minor inconvenience at best, but still) on the listing is that when you hit the "back" button after selecting a cache, it returns you to the list at the very top/closest cache, not where you left off.

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finally, Garmin admit the compass issue and the Garmin Ourdoor apps crashing when set in other language than English, see their answer to my support request below:

 

I have also looked into some of the issues you have been experiencing. As far as the battery life, are you using a live wallpaper on the unit? That will cause a significant drain on the battery. The compass issue and geocaching issues I was able to recreate using a Monterra here and have created a case for each to find a resolution, the case numbers are 1019825 and 1019826. These are tied to your account and can be accessed by anyone that you speak with over the phone by pulling up your account or searching by the case numbers. Unfortunately this means there is no immediate fix for those problems but they have now been identified as issues which usually leads to software updates that are released to fix them.

 

Unfortunatly, no date specified for a fix, meanwhile, my unit is very unpleaseant to geocache with .

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So this is where everyone is talking about the bugs in the monterra. lol. I called Garmin in early December about so many problems with this device.

 

1) Compass calibration-Ya, it's a software problem but no fix yet? 25 degrees off....on two devices I tried.

 

2) Pointer is way off on the map? I'll be facing one direction and the compass is pointing 60 degrees+/- in the other direction!

 

3) I concur with others on batter life. The GPS stays on even when the screen is off. I'm sure this is meant to do this so after turning the GPS off, it's fine and last a while but I get about four hours if the GPS is on constantly. I'll probably end up buying another spare battery so not a deal killer but fix the compass and map calibration please!

 

4) Sight N-Go doesn't work at all.

 

(Yes, I've calibrated several times)

 

Those are my two biggest gripes about this device. I used to have a Garmin 60st and that was a dinosaur but accurate..lol.

 

So my question is...

 

Is it just my device? Any news as to when this will be fixed?

 

Edit:

 

I too have confirmed from Garmin the following:

 

Thank you for contacting Garmin International. I would be happy to assist you with Sight N' Go today.

 

I was able to recreate the issue that you described with several Monterra devices here in the office. I have created a research case for this issue so that we can find the proper solution to this problem and let you know what that is. It could take several days to get a response to this issue. I appreciate your continued patience on this issue.

 

Please let me know if there is anything else I can assist you with today.

 

COMPASS ISSUE:

 

This is something that we are waiting to hear back on. There is some sort of an issue with the electronic compass in the unit. We have created a case and are researching this now.

 

Issue? as in hardware issue? :( The just don't see how the compass can be fixed with software. It's like they put the thing in upside down. lol. If it was installed wrong, that would mean, they'd have to do a recall. They couldn't possibly differentiate between devices with messed up compasses and new models that are correctly working. Maybe I'm going too far here. Sorry.

Edited by Slinger05
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NEWS !!!

 

Garmin released a new version of the outdoor app . I downloded it OTA and installed it. At first sight, it seem to fix the bearing issue in the sight'n go. Garmin claim they have fix many compass issues along with a bunch of other problems including the language configuration issue where the app would crash if set in any other language than english and new geocaches where loaded.

 

I have not had a chance to try it in the field but if this is true then I'm more than happy and will buy another battery to live with the battery life issue.

 

(see this link for OTA upgradehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6Q2llCGcQ8)

 

http://garminmonterra.wikispaces.com/Firmware#x-Update History-2.20

Edited by goldriver
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Hi,

My first visit on forum. Im from Slovenia.

Im just read about GPS Monterra.This month (Januar 2014) I plan to buy GPS Monterra and I wish ask you what you suggest to me.

For now I had GPS 60stx, 62st and all last year GPS Montana. On the end of December Im sold Montane which be real good GPS. I was satisfied with Montana. But Monterra have much more aplication than Monterra.

Price in EU is bigger than US approx 680EUR. But if you have it - must pay.

Im at first cyclist and I used GPS mostly on bicycle.

http://www.mojalbum.com/ivoho/montana-600

Best regards Ivo

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splashy - yes I mean Montana, i cant keep Montana because Im sold It.

goldriver - you wrote (I came back home not that impressed with my Monterra)

When I wrote this I told me I must ask all of you in forum about Monterra. Yes in start many og GPS have some difficoult but I mean that Garmin resolved problem with new softweare some time. Is this problem. Now I realy now if I must weit or buy it. Im not in hurry but I wish to buy.Anyway Montana was be wery good GPS. Last jear in August I was cycling in Spain ( Santisgo de compostela ) from France to Atlantic 940 km in 9 day and I used Montana.If someone need gpx track i can send it.I have pictures from this trip on www.mojalbum.com.

Thans for now and by the way sorry for my bad english.

Nice day Ivo

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Everything I've read discourages me from buying Monterra. We have a good distributor which correctly solves problems. What you wrote the problem is in software. I ask myself why should I have all these problems with new Monterra. I really don’t now if I to buy GPS or not.

I wish ask next:

Mo

Monterra have good glass display. How to look picture on the screen. In Montana the pictures didn’t look goog.

Did you test camera.

Can you send pictures to PC without USB connected with Wi-Fi or bluetooth.

If I used GPS on bicycle how much is loud the built-in speaker

presentation on the network a wery good for Montera but you wrote about too moch mistake.

Ivo

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