GPS Outlet & Clearance Review • Best Price

I just received my map 60cs-x in January from Amazon. Anyway, I really like my “old” Map60cs and its 56 mb of internal memory, but that is now my daughter’s unit. The Map 60cs-x comes with 64 mb of trans-flash memory which is “semi”-removable. Garmin intends to sell trans-flash cards w/ pre loaded maps, but they are as yet un-available. However, 512 mb Scan-Disk trans-flash cards are available for about 45 bucks. That aughta hold just about every map in existance. I just purchased one, put all 40 mb of maps i had in my Map 60cs, and, as you can immagine, hardly put a dent in the available memory of that gihugeic memory card. I’m sure a 1 gb card is not far off in Scan-Disk’s future.

Scan-Disk says the trans flash card is “semi” removable because its tiny size, about the size of your pinky nail, is rather delicate. However, once you lock one in, i doubt you’ll ever need to remove it.

Other improvements: the Map 60cs-x seems to lock sattelites better than my Map 60cs and the backlight seems brighter, but that my be my elaited sense of reality.

My only criticizm of either unit is that the stated battery life of either is grossly exagerated. Also, i wish, in some conditions, that i could make the screen brighter. Oh, and Garmin refuses make their products MAC compatible. But Magellin dosn’t work with MACs either (nativelly) so, whatchagonnado? A visit to MACgpsPro dot com gives hope, but not full functionallity. The only solution i found to this MAJOR flaw from either manufacturer is Virtual PC. Yuck!

Either unit is tough and rugged and probably the best choice for a hand-held. I also have Garmin’s auto mount and handlebar mount, which work pretty good as well. I don’t do product reviews very often, but I like this product so much that i have to say: GET ONE! (either one…) You won’t be dissapointed.

If it wern’t for my two and 1/2 criticizms, I’d give either unit a “5″.

I recently upgraded to the GPSMAP 60CSx from the 60CS. I’ve had a chance to run the “x” through its paces and am very happy. The reception is excellent– manifest in very fast time to initial position and good tracking under tree cover, amongst tall buildings, inside some buildings!, and from within a backpack or pocket.

I use the unit (as I did its predecessor) for auto-mapping when I travel and also for outdoor fun. In the spirit of full disclosure, I own and use the Garmin TOPO and City Navigator North America software (about $100 each).

Auto-Mapping:
I never travel to a new city without the 60CSx loaded with the appropriate City Navigator data. Finding hotels, appointments, dining, airports is now an absolute breeze. Unlike the StreetPilot units, the 60CSx doesn’t provide voice feedback and the interface takes a little practice–but these are small concessions when you consider the handheld flexibility of the 60csx. The automatic route calculation works well and provides very good guidance at the point of turns, etc. The CS could hold data for 2-3 destination cities– but I can load destination data for everything west of the Mississippi onto one 512mb chip in the CSx. Pre-load 3 chips and you’ll have the full US. This increased storage capacity and flexibility was the feature that motivated my upgrade.

Outdoor Fun:
With the help of the Topo software and some USGS quadrangles, I’ve had great success plotting waypoints and creating routes on backpacking and hiking trails. I typically do all of the plotting on the PC and upload the data to the GPS–it is a great comfort to have the route and waypoints in-hand as you explore new areas. On a recent cold weather bacpacking trip, the CSx kept my position locked under dense foliage while the unit was in my breast pocket– under similar conditions the CS reception would have been spotty (but still useful). It is amazingly fun to return from a hike and upload your track (electronic breadcrumbs) to the PC and then view the data in GoogleEarth.

I think the CSx has slightly poorer battery life than the CS. Hours of battery life varies widely with conditions–my current pair of Energizers have sustained the unit through about 10 hours of cold weather hiking (hard on batteries) and another 3-4 hours of auto-navigation. The battery level navigator is down to a single bar and I’m going to replace them before the next trip.

I heartily recommend this unit for the all-around user–it’s not often you get a toy that is so much fun while still being useful.

Lots of people are expecting this GPS to be the perfect GPS. I really like it so far and I don’t have any complaints. Most of the complaints you’ll see are people comparing the features of this GPS to the 60CS. The issues most people are complaining about are really minor.

Icons: Ok the new icons are more cartoon like. None of them are hard to tell what the function is which is the point of an icon. It’s an artistic style choice some people will like it and some will not.

No alarm: I have about 10 devices with an alarm clock on them I don’t see where not including this feature is such a big deal.

No barometric trends while off: Garmin has stated this is a limitation of the new hardware. Useful if you’re in the back country and can’t get a weather radio broadcast. Otherwise a mostly unused feature.

Expectation of indoor reception: I can personally get reception in my house. This is not going to hold true for everyone. It’s still a GPS and needs a somewhat unobstructed view of the sky. The new receiver is a HUGE improvement over the old one though and gets a lock much faster and holds it better in terrain that is tough for a GPS to work in.

Over-Expectation of accuracy: People keep forgetting that this is still a consumer GPS and is limited as to the accuracy it can get. Just because the GPS says it’s got 3′ accuracy doesn’t mean it’s correct. The 60CS and the 60CSx calculate their accuracy differently.Since the 60CS claims it is more accurate people fully trust the number the GPS is reporting and claim the 60CSx is less accurate. This isn’t the case however in real world tests in clear skys both units have similar accuracy. However in challenging reception situations the 60CSx get better signal and is then “more accurate”.

GPS “Walking”: The 60CSx tends to walk around when stopped for a while causing the stopped time and distance traveled to be inaccurate. Garmin is aware of the problem and has stated it will be fixed with a firmware release.

Mini SD Card issues: This is the first offering by Garmin with a removable memory card. There are a few limitations however compared to other brands. First the cards are ONLY used to store maps. No waypoints, tracks, routes, etc. are stored on the cards. It would be nice to have these features but it doesn’t seem that this is something that will (or can??) be changed with a firmware update. People also complain that there is no way to view information about the memory card (Space left, file listing, etc.) since there is no way to add data without having the GPS hooked into MapSource this is a non-issue. You can’t write to it so why does it matter how much space is left? Oh and if you haven’t seen a Mini SD card in person, wow they are really tiny about the size of a fingernail. People without good dexterity might have issues changing the card.

This is a really great GPS. If you have a 60CS already you need to carefully weigh your decision to upgrade since this unit will really only add increased reception(not accuracy) and the removable memory card. If you’re upgrading from something other than a 60CS you’ll love it, I sure do.