First my pros;
The GPS is big and it is bulky as some of the reviews state, however you don’t have to squint your eyes. The larger screen gives you a better view of the terrain around you from a topo stance. The features are somewhat easy to get used to, even though I still don’t know what every single icon means I am learning very quickly. The ability to pin point your location with decent accuracy is a plus especially when the weather turns on you. Also hiking in areas where private property butt up to Federal or state lands is a major plus as it will show you there boundaries (some of the trails go thru private property and you wouldn’t want to venture off trail at these points) and this Garmin 700i Montana unit has the option of taking a satellite photo of your area. This can come in handy if you are a waterfall hunter.. :) I have not had any issues with a screen protector as some have suggested as there is a screen sensitivity feature you can fine tune this to your liking. I also opted for the protective sleeve and this does help protect against small and or minor tumbles, it will not protect a major fall so be sure to tether your unit. The inreach works great, it’s slower than your cell phone but it’s going to satellites not a cell tower so you should expect that. I just like knowing I can send loved ones texts and they can keep track of my progress thru the map share feature. This would come in handy too if you ran into some very serious trouble, hope I never have to use the SOS feature… but it’s there just in case.
Now for the cons;
The unit is costly and all of the inreach capabilities are a pay per month basis. You can opt for the as you need plan which I will do.. but the basic plan is still expensive and I’m not sure you can activate it on the trail if you run into an issue. Wish this unit had more trails shown on the maps. Some trails are broken and don’t connect, this may be because they weren’t complete when the software was pushed but there are trails not on the main unit out of the box or after the update. I think Garmin has them for sale but for $700 you would think this unit would have all of the maps in the US downloaded..… The battery life on this unit does seem to be somewhat less than described.. again I have not set limits on things and I will do that, but right now it’s about 7 hours with no external sources, I do have a 4 hour extra battery life. But I won’t knock them for my inability to research that for now. But still giving it 4 stars on battery life because it does say 8 hours.. and I got 7.
Over all the unit does it’s job and seems to be reliable so far. You can put in GPS coordinates and it will navigate you to those coords.. if you Geo Cache, hike, backpack, River rat, or just want to be outdoors where a cell signal doesn’t reach you and you want to know where your are and where you’re going with the ability to reach out this is a great unit so far.
| Item Weight | 14.5 ounces |
|---|---|
| Product Dimensions | 3.6 x 7.2 x 1.3 inches |
| Item model number | 010-02347-10 + Power Bundle |
| Batteries | 1 Lithium Ion batteries required. (included) |
| Display Size | 5 Inches |
| Display resolution | 480 x 800 |
| Battery Life | 18 Hours |
| Voice command | Touchscreen, Buttons |
