Varta

I sent Garmin a mail some weeks ago, asking what these "brand-new state-of-the-art receivers" were, i.e. if this was something like the SIRFStar III with hundredthousands of correlators. In their reply they said they didn't have more information than on the web site and I should wait until the units were released, then the full specs would be available. I bet the 76C/S will have the same electronics as the 60C/S, except for the memory chip.

In principle this is available in Europe and called TMC. The traffic data is simply broadcasted by FM radio stations. You can buy GPS navaids using TMC for dynamic route calculation, though no portable ones. In Germany, government has installed cameras on the highways which automatically read license plates of the bypassing vehicles. But they say it would only be used to detect trucks that didn't pay the toll. Well, I guess they meant to say that they won't use it for other purposes until some terrorist acts justify it.

- Pressing the FIND button twice takes you to the recent finds page (this is my favourite). - When street-navigating to a goto, FIND FIND ENTER ENTER computes the route completly new, which is different from recalculate. - The welcome page can be skipped with ENTR. - Turning off auto-recalculate when routing with the basemap makes sense.

The friction (beanbag) mount works for me. Inserting the unit into the clip is a bit cumbersome and requires both hands. The clip is the same for the suction and adhesive mounts. The mount of my mobile - and any other mobile mount I've seen - is far better in this respect and also automatically provides external antenna plus external power...

I've pressed the power button for several seconds with no effect. How long was your delay? I mean, before I hold the power button for two minutes, I'd rather remove the batteries.

I'd always use the firmware indicated for the respective unit, but in this case a file comparison shows that the firmware 3.10 for the 60C and the 60CS is the same.

I like the profile idea Not too many extra menu items please Add a detour function (all other routable Garmins have this) Limit auto zoom factor, or better, auto zoom not by distance to next waypoint but by velocity (i.e. show next 30 seconds on map) Permit routing setup page in page sequence Louder beeps Optical alarms (blink, blink). The beeps can easily be overheard when radio on or on a bike. More proximity waypoints (for speeding traps) Support raster maps (jpg, gif, ...) Let active route color be customized, sometimes hardly distinguishable from other roads Fix the unit lock-ups (just had one with the new version 3.10 firmware). Or at least give us a hardware reset button, I'm tired of removing the batteries each time Automatically power on unit after abnormal power-down. Thus when batteries lose contact caused by a bump, the unit would instantly turn on again when batteries regain contact When showing turn instructions, indicate on which lane to keep after turn Custom uploadable beeps (*.wav) and melodies (*.mid) Add public transport timetables and routing using public transport (take subway 56 to central station, change for bus 111, get off at Churchil Street) Add a detour function. I know I've said this before, but cannot resist to repeat it

I think even $75 is too much. I'd rather have left the unit in a cache, but this would have violated local laws because with all that Prop 65 stuff in there it's considered hazardous waste. And seriously: I wished the buttons had better feedback because I tend to type ahead, not waiting until I actually see a difference on the display or hear a beep. Fire and forget.

Such a lock-up happens to me at least once a trip, usually when passing a particular position. I'm using beta firmware 3.01, thus I just report to Garmin but don't complain. Which firmare do you use?

If you're using the latest non-beta firmware version (3.0), I'd report this to Garmin and ask for advice.

Since your unit probably is on warranty, I'd send it in for repair. If you try to fix it by yourself you may render it non-waterproof or even break it. That won't be covered by warranty and you'd be sorry.

Except for the power button, there is no sensible "click" indicating that a button has switched when pressed. The only tactile feedback is that a button is pressed up to its pressure point, that is when the button does not move further in when applying more force. Some of the buttons on my 60C switch before that pressure point is reached (good) and some after (bad). Especially the menu button needs noticably more force on top of pressing it up to the pressure point before switching. Is this normal? How do your buttons behave? When you gently push them in, do they switch before or after the pressure point?

I just used to clamp my Vista between the dashboard and window. Worked good because of the rubber armor around the Vista.

The multi color option is cool but needs improvement. The hollow bars (while receiving ephemeris) are difficult to spot for some of the lighter colors. I stick to the single color view.

Hm, the link explains the SIRF chipsets, but what makes you think that Garmin would use SIRF for the 76C? AFAIK they only use their own chipsets...

I also have no doubt that Garmin will provide a solution if there was a problem with the first batch. For example, the glue which attaches the rubber to my Vista started dissolving more than two years after purchase, thus completely out of warranty. When I asked Garmin how much a repair was, they asked me to send in the unit and within 3 days I got a brand-new Vista in return - for free.

- bigger and heavier than the 60 - supposed to have "brand-new state-of-the-art receivers" I've asked Garmin what this "brand-new state-of-the-art receivers" claim on the product web page would mean, i.e. technology like in SIRF III or at least something like SIRF II with Xtrac. But they replied that they didn't know what it means and I should wait until the units ship. I'd guess that "brand-new state-of-the-art receivers" is to be seen in contrast to the "old" 76S and means their own state-of-the-art as found in the 60ies which are reported to have a better reception than the 76S. But we will see...

I don't have a CS, but assuming it works the same way as with my Vista - as the 60CS' manual indicates - the following will be true: - you cannot turn the barometric altimeter off - you can read the GPS elevation only from the menu on the satellite page and that reading will not update automatically - you cannot use the GPS elevation as a data field, the elevation field will always show the barometric elevation

Rubberhead, the maps used in the Garmin units are vector maps, not color maps. The color is not in the maps. The maps contain hints, for example here is water, here are woods, this road is a freeway etc. Its then up to the unit to make use of the hints and display them. A greyscale could display the woods hatched, a color unit would just show them in green. Thus color couldn't be left out in older maps for grayscale units, because the color was never in there. What does make a difference in memory is the additional information in the maps needed for street level routing. I'd say it inflates the maps by ca. 80%. This is not a problem for units without street level routing, because in MapSource you can choose to leave this information out when transferring to the unit.

We've discussed this question in another newsgroup and it seems that none of the units were shipped with a belt clip cover.