5 Responses to “Garmin GMAP 60CSx Handheld”

1. Daniel Silva says:

   March 29, 2010 at 12:00 am

   I just received this unit, after some problems with the carrier.

   I was waiting that being new, it came with the new chipset, MediaTek MT3329, but its still the old Sirf3.
2. Mr. Peter Davies says:

   January 21, 2010 at 12:00 am

   Garmin GMAP 60Cx Handheld colour GPS with removable MicroSD card for mapping I purchased this device on the recommendation of friends for railway train performance logging. It arrived within days of ordering and works exactly as indented When searching for the availability of a product I am never afraid to order from or through Amazon as, to date over a number of years, all transactions have been 100% reliable.

   Peter Davies
3. Julie Binding says:

   January 4, 2010 at 12:00 am

   I bought this for my husband for Christmas for the intention of it being used on a boat. When he went to download the software from the Garmin site is says that the software has been withdrawn as it is unreliable and no definite date for a replacement is available!!

   What use is a GPS without maps/software and WHY is the product still being sold with it is not fit for purpose?

   I am sure the hardware is fantastic as it has had several good reviews but I can’t comment as so far we can’t use it!!
4. Dory Spy says:

   November 10, 2009 at 12:00 am

   I use the GMAP60CSx for geocaching.

   I’ve found it to be accurate and reliable in most situations, the biggest error I’ve found so far is around 20 feet in dense tree cover (assuming the cache co-ords were accurate).

   As in other reviews you’ll see here the built in mapping is less than perfect so I’ve added a 2G microSD and downloaded talkytoaster’s free UK maps. Whilst not OS standard they are a great improvement on those built-in.

   I like the ability to customise the pages, in terms of both which pages I see and which information is displayed on those pages and the method for doing this is pretty intuitive.

   Based on other reviews I’ve turned off the compass and altimeter and I’m seeing good battery life (16 hours +) on a standard set of alkalines.

   The case seems well designed and suitably rugged and I’ve added a screen protector film just to keep the view scratch free.

   My only slight grumble is the start-up/sat acquisition time. My wife caches with her Nuvi and she’s up and ready to go while the 60CSx is still warming up, even though it’s only 30 seconds or so slower, sometimes that feels like a long time.

   All in all, its a good solid and dependable piece of kit, easy to use and with a few tweaks here and there is just about the perfect caching tool.
5. Jan Janikovic says:

   October 8, 2009 at 12:00 am

   I have owned this handheld for half a year. I also have another satnav for driving navigation. I have used it in Peak district, some forests in England, High Tatra Mountains in Slovakia and in few other hill areas in Slovakia. Generally, I am satisfied with the unit. Meeting with few people owing different GPS units I can make some comparisons. It represents a compromise between expensive mapping units from Oregon series, devices with long battery life and devices with great satellite signal reception. In details:

   Advantages:

   ———–

   - Versatile device, offers great performance, many features and long battery life in one unit

   - Great satellite signal reception, best of all GPS devices. Signal is picked up quickly and it holds even in dense forests, inside the building, if the device is in your backpack below packed clothes. Some problems may appear if you walk in an area surrounded by high rocks, and the device receives signal bounced from other rocks. But this is very rare problem

   - Long battery life. Although device has colour display and high-sensitivity receiver, on one set of Duracell batteries it stays on for around 20 hours. Manual says that if you switch to battery save mode, batteries will work for around 30 hours.

   - Very bright display – during the day there is no need to turn the illumination on. The brighter the sunlight, the better the display readability. Even during dawn and dusk illumination is not necessary. Other GPS devices with black screen background (those with touch screen) must be illuminated during the day and in direct sunlight the readability is worse. (but you can still read it).

   - when additional memory card is inserted the device can record tracklog on it… resulting that it can store milions of track points and many tracks (more that 20, the exact number depends of the size of the track and size of the memory card, but in general it can store hundreds (even thousands) of tracks.

   - Rigid – solid built, waterproof

   - Lots of settings – Settings even of page sequence, data which should be displayed on each page, grid system, units, and many many others.

   - Pressure altimeter is calibrated automatically and allows to measure depth of places without GPS signal (such as caves and tunnels)

   - Compass sensor is automaticaly switched of while device is in motion what saves the battery (north is calculated from position change)

   - If you download City navigator, the unit will navigate you to your destination. No 3D motion display, no voice for turns (only sound beep), but all turns and roundabout exit will be displayed.

   - Last software completely fixed the problem of crashing the unit when it calculated route

   - Proved and durable device ( it feels it will work forewer)

   - Large buttons – the unit can be operated in leather glowes

   - Garmin still keeps releasing free updates to it’s software solwing problems

   - Looks great

   Disadvantages:

   ————–

   - Little bit obsolete (obviously, writing takes much more time and it is more inconvenient using buttons than writing on touch screen, but it is not as difficult as I initially thought) => Creating waypoints using device takes some time

   - Waypoint name length is more limited than on Oregon or Colorado series

   - Screen has larger pixels than you are used to from modern phones – less details fit on the map, contours and icons are not smooth.

   - Base map has just few major roads, some rivers and lakes, cities towns and some villages. Auto-routing or routing is not possible with this map, and if you don’t have garmin topo map loaded in device you must have a paper map to determine your position from coordinates. Even if you have a topo map in device it is better to carry a paper map.

   - Map doesn’t have 3D rendering

   - Compass accuracy depends on good calibration. It is wise to check the north from the device inbuilt compass and north that will be shown when you start to move.

   - Sometimes altimeter is not calibrated properly when you switch the device on, especially if there has been big ambient pressure change. If you do a hike, check the elevation after few minutes of walking. But mostly the altimeter is very accurate (my average accuracy in Tatras was around 1-2 metres compared to paper map altitude.

   - Car turn-by-turn navigation is very basic and can’t be compared to car satnavs (as I mention earlier, you need also different map for car navigation). I will not suggest to buy this device for those who intent to use it for both hiking and navigation.

   Conclusion:

   ———–

   I am very satisfied in terms of battery life, signal strength and device performance and accuracy. I love it’s bright screen and rigid body, but does not like large pixels and base map. Even topo map loaded into device looks a bit weird, but it does it job.

   Whether I would buy it again? Good question I hesitated between 60CSx and 400t before and I hesitate now (between 60CSx and 550t). Long battery life, device durability and bright screen of 60CSx are nice, but smoother and more detailed map, paperless geocaching and nicer GUI of 550t are nice too. It’s all about preference.