Note to the Project Manager: Looks like an awesome product but a deal breaker for many people. Why did Garmin decide to go to MURS (Multi-use radio service) that no one else uses?! That is a VHF band radio that does not even pair with their own handheld Garmin Rhino which uses the UHF GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service)! That band is the standard now for many off roaders including Jeepers, Overlanders, and more recently SxS, ATV and MC. Further, there are loads of GMRS radios available and nearly no MURS! MURS is limited to 2 watts, and GMRS can go up to 50 watts. So not only does the 2 way radio, but also the great polling or car-to-car location feature not work with the $500 Garmin Rhinos some of us have, nor any of the VHF Race radios or GMRS many SxS's have from Rugged Radios, PCI Race Radios, and others! And, from what I understand, the Tread is not compatible with Polaris Ride Command or the Yamaha products. In short, it appears it does not work with anything other than another Garmin Tread. I don't think others are going to scrap their $2500 systems and run to Garmin. I have long been a Garmin fan and have many of their GPS units. Very disappointing on what otherwise looks like a terrific product...
Give it a couple years and lack of sales, then Garmin will switch to FRS. MURs two-way radios are not for sale in Canada, yet the Tread is sold with the MURs band in Canada Not sure if Industry Canada is aware of this. InReach too expensive for service.
For 20 years we hunters and hikers have been purchasing the Garmin Rino units. These use the UHF GMRS frequencies, why would Garmin now switch to VHF MURS frequencies. We have asked Garmin for years to allow the Rino to use external antennas for the GMRS radio. Now they’ve come up with a completely incompatible radio communications system. Doesn’t Garmin realize that the Rino users are the same customer base as the ATV/UTV off road riders. What am I supposed to do, shelve my $600.00 Rino and now go out and purchase a $800-$1,400 Tread system. Garmin should produce a GMRS version of the Tread.
I was curious about the wireless camera issue. I called Garmin and was initially told the Wireless BC 40 was compatible with this new SxS GPS. I was later told by a potential customer that the BC 40 is NOT compatible. I recontacted Garmin support and they confirmed the BC 40 will not work but they were coming out with a new camera. Is there any idea when this will happen? Having a backup camera on my rig (X3) is vital.
Are all those maps predownloaded? With the overlander you have to download them for each area and if you are out of cell reception you can not download them.
Everything else looks great. But MURS is almost useless, you need the subscription service to get any real communication. If it had GMRS, I would be the first inline.
I'm not following you. MURS is simply a group of VHF frequencies that traditionally have been used by commercial operations (think retail stores). With no license required. I have had MURS band on my mobile and portable radios for years. I don't find a lot of use for MURS but it has been fun to play with in various scenarios. IIRC, power is limited by regulation on the MURS band (no point in setting aside frequencies originally intended for retail and commercial operations and having them blast the radio waves across the entire town....).
I agree that It is a bit odd that they did not incorporate GMRS. Not a big deal to me, because I generally have a full HAM system w/ GMRS in my vehicle. Or at least a handheld (but exterior antennas make a BIG difference in reception). Maybe Garmin wanted to reserve point to point position reporting on GMRS to the RINO radios. Or maybe GMRS is too crowded. Or maybe the MURS VHF band travels better (penetrates foilage, etc. better). Longer wavelengths generally do better outdoors than shorter wavelengths. I love Garmin, their products and their customer service. However, I disagree with teh employees statement that they listen to their customers. They have always had LOUSY user interfaces and they sure as heck have not listened to my many suggestions for improvements. One small example - the RINO radio was the first point to point positioning radio. However, with its LOUSY user interface (again, common to all Garmin products) if you applied a particular setting buried somewhere deep in the menu, say, with the intention of turning off all alert tones (imagine you are turkey hunting or something) then it also silenced the radio voice communications. That was a safety issue with a device designed to help outdoorspeople locate each other. I explained this to Garmin about 12 years ago...nobody cared. They also have a habit of burying the most frequently or commonly needed menu items deep, deep, in the bowels of the menu tree. Not at all like a typewriter with the "ASDF" keys (example). I have LOTS of Garmin products and have been a huge customer for probably 30 years...The way for competition to beat them is to improve the user experience - i.e., user interface. Included in that is competing by bringing technology and packaging on quicker. By the tiem Garmin changes something (like moving from USB B to C, the old interface has already been abandoned by everyone and the new interface is already long in tooth. SLOW to change or improve.....However, it is pretty hard to beat Garmin on hardware or customer service.
