My GPS takes me back to the main road, not the waypoint I’ve chosen

[JLo]

Hi all,

I am not sure, but it seems that my Montana 600 is not working properly, or not doing what I want it to do. When I choose a waypoint which is NOT part of a 'known' trail, road or street, the GPS takes me back to a known point, not the point I have chosen. This happens when using city maps ro topo maps. A known point means a trail which is marked in a topo map, or street or road in a city map.

I planned a trip and added some waypoint to plan a route in BaseCamp. From the Highway 3 I added the section of trail to Grainger Creek. This was ok. Then from Grainger Creek the topo map didn't show a trail, so I added some waypoint thru the forest. When adding waypoints 01 thru 10, for instance, and try to joint them in sequence, BaseCamp as well as my Montana 600 took me back to the main trail. It did it for every point, as if the starting point was always the main trail, for instance 'main trail to 01' (I guess this was ok), then 'main trail to 02', 'main trail to 03', 'main trail to 04' and so forth to 'main trail to 10'. As you would understand I wanted to go 'main trail... 01... 02... etc. to Nicomen Lake. I could never make it do that.

When I finally went hiking and had saved the route created above, it was a big disappointment. I hiked some 32 km back and forth to Nicomen Lake in BC, Canada. I hiked north some 8 km on a section of trail to Grainger Creek which is shown in paper topo map 92H02 , as well as in the topo map in my my Montana. So this was ok. The GPS showed me the way, distance, altitude, compass direction. Great. Then I hiked east from Grainger Creek to Nicomen Lake, an additional 8 km on a section of a trail that is neither shown in the paper topo map 92H02, nor in my Montana TopoMaps. So every time I pressed on 'Where To' the GPS threw me an error message: 'Route Calculation Error'. So I couldn't navigate using my GPS. Of course other features like altitude, compass direction where functional. But there was no indication of where to go. (The trail in question is a popular trail, well known by many hikers. The last update of the 92H02 topo map dates back to 1977. So it is possible that the second section of trail was built after that; that is why it doesn't appear in the topo maps).

I have contacted Garmin via e-mail some many times about it, but to no avail. Every time I different person answered me asking me to follow certain steps (profile: recreational, no load on road, pedestrian walking or hiking, etc.) I have followed all their instructions. It hasn't worked.

Could anyone out there help?

Thanks,
JLo

[Seldom]

I don't have a Montana, but my Etrex 30 may have the behavior you're describing.  I have several waypoints (A, B, and C)  I have located that are about 200 feet apart and 800 feet from the nearest road.  When I'm at A and WhereTo to B, if I have the GPSr set to Routing>Follow Road it will route me 800 feet out to the road, 200' along the road, and 800 feet back to B.  If I have the GPSr set to Routing>Off Road it will take me in a straight line from A to B.