scottjl

well.. who's forcing you to upgrade your GPSr anyway? keep using your existing unit with your existing SD cards and be happy. generally you can put the card in your unit and forget about it. just hook up via usb and never have to touch the card again. for those of us who want to use the same card in multiple devices, we pull it in and out as needed. again, i don't get your argument (other than to troll). if you don't like the oregon and the microsd card, don't buy one. stick with what you have. calling garmin "dumb" certainly isn't going to change anything.

well if you take a look back through time you'll see all card formats eventually are replaced by something newer, smaller and with a larger capacity. Standard SD cards were replaced by mini and later microSD cards. micros are used in everything from cell phones to cameras to toys and GPSr's. there's no reason to keep the larger/bulky SD format if you want to keep your device small. you can get microSD cards with capacities as large as 8G right now with 32G on the horizon. calling Garmin "dumb" for using newer technology is hardly going to get them to switch back. most of the them when you buy a microSD card it comes with a standard sized SD card adapter anyway so you can use it in a card reader on your PC. so there really is no reason to complain about the new format. unless you are "dumb" i guess.

no. sorry, no cable. i got mine from amazon for $9.99. hope to have it by the end of the week. note it's a SERIAL cable, so make sure you have one of the old 9 pin serial ports on your PC, or you will need a serial to usb coverter (another $10 or so).

Eagle Vista Pro (sold long ago) Garmin eTrex Vista (sold 2005) Garmin 60cs (currently in use) Garmin foretrex 101 (currently in use)

Just thought I'd pass this on. But the Garmin foretrex 101 is currently selling for $99 at Aldi's Foods. The units are brand new. If you're shopping for a nice basic GPSr or even a secondary unit, this isn't a bad one to have.

don't forget things like the invisible shield great for protecting the screen from scratches.. i'm very happy with the one i put on my 60cs..

shutting off waas to conserve battery life?!?! you have to be joking. with a good set of 2500ma nimh batteries i get at least 20 hrs of life, with waas on, and using the backlight now and then. bring an extra set or two and that's good enough for a long weekend. waas can't consume that much battery.

pretty good. i paid $370 + $7 shipping..

i saw a friend's rhino.. personally i didn't care for the design. my 60cs has many buttons on it (though i'd like a few more). getting around takes a few presses of various buttons. on the rhinos they scale back the number of buttons and some are for the voice functions (push to talk) and some for the GPS functions. a lot more was done using on-screen menus. in the end, it was longer to navigate around the GPS on the rhino than a few quick button presses. now everyone would have a different take on this, but i didn't care for it. also the 520/530 has the ability to hook up to an EXTERNAL battery pack. that lion battery is internal to the unit and can't be swapped out. you can download the owners manuals http://www.garmin.com/products/manual.jsp?...ct=010-00392-01 and see for yourself. they're a nice idea. but i'll stick with separate radios and GPRs. yes. two things to carry around. but you don't lose one device and lose everything at once.

shrug. don't like your 60? get rid of it. no big deal.. it's funny how many people i see complain about "not enough memory". but with 56 meg i can load the entire series of topo maps for my STATE (wisconsin). or just about the whole state's topo maps AND city select. that's in 56megs. the 76 has double my ram and would be more than i could use. so really, people who are complaining they don't have enough. just what are you loading into it that you're running out? i wonder if most people just have a case of size envy? you certainly aren't going to hike a whole state in a day and for long distance driving you could still cover a good 8-12 hr stretch of city maps in 56m. if you're not using your GPS every day, then why do you even care how much memory it has? i don't use it every day, but i do use it every weekend. and swapping maps takes about 5 minutes over usb. i almost wanna say the OP sounds like a troll.. as for speculation on new models, it's a waste of time. unless someone has firm information about upcoming models i could say "well i hear garmin will have 3d holographic displays on the GPS 6000cs due out in 2025."

as many have said, batteries and the LCD are affected most by tempatures. but cold will have no effect on receiving a signal and the GPS calculating where you are. heavy cloud cover/rain will have an effect though and you'll see higher error values in accuracy. clear skies let the best signal through. wind should have no noticable effect.

looks neat. very pricy toy though. but considering it comes with city select v7 pre-loaded that's $100 on the price right there (now i wonder if you can upgrade it when the time comes and how much that will cost). would i blow $1k for it to go geocaching? no. for driving, maybe, but i already have a 60cs that works just fine. being a brand new unit with new technology/software running it. i'd say wait for version 1.5 or something after all the bugs are worked out. still, a nice look at things to come.. now that name, ugh.. WTF were they thinking? nuvi?

wow. $60? forget it. how long does it take you to take the batteries out and put them in a charger? most likely you're going to use 2 sets of batteries anyway and swap dead for good ones. nice idea. just overpriced.

i have a 60cs and it does both quite well.. paid $370 for it online, another $140 for the auto package (mounts, cig adapter, city select v7). the 76 would do as well but more expensive. personally i didn't like the size/layout of the 76 so opted for the 60 and am very happy with it.

sounds like a bum unit to me. call garmin and send it in for repairs...

Well, all GPS manager lets you do us upload and download waypoints saved on the unit. GPSBabel will pretty much do the same thing and works fine under linux. I've never bothered to attempt wine or vmware with mapsource since i just dual-boot back into windows. I'm curious how you can manage to install and run a linux distro but have problems installing windows on your hardware. I'm as pro *nix as the next guy (*nix admin for over 20 years now) but even I know now and then you have to bite the bullet and run another OS. As for software development, converting from a windows programming project to a *nix based one might be more expensive than you think (been there, done that). For the very small marketplace it just isn't worth it. Linux on the desktop is at about a 5% marketshare according to some of the more recent surveys. Now think about how few of that 5% have/use GPSrs. Is it worth it for Garmin to hire a programmer or two (salary, benefits, etc) for a very small minority of people? You and I may be happy with it but that's what, two people? Ah well, you can still do very much w/o a PC connection. Or take it to a friend's house and borrow some time on their computer to load up maps.

it would be handy if it were stated very obviously on the web site somewhere (and it isn't, i looked) that the registration fee is: $13.30USD the only place i found the fee amount was to click on the paypal link itself.

first off, congratualtions! after you use the unit a bit, see if the 56m still bothers you much. i've got most of southern WI and northen IL loaded, the city select v7 and topo maps. i haven't had any need to change maps since (other than just playing around). even if you do, USB transfers are very fast and easy. don't know what ABM is, but what linux support are you looking for? mapsource will most likely never run under linux (though you could try wine or vmware, i've never tried since i just dual boot into windows). gpsbabel runs just fine under linux though. it's unlikely we'll ever see a mapsource for linux since the market isn't large enough (i'd guess they'd support macos X before linux and that isn't happening either). congrats again and enjoy!

i just got one off of ebay, new, 27C, $45. :-D

i paid $370 from buy.com and shipping was $10 or so.. this was in july '05

Currently using a Garmin 60cs purchased July 2005 which replaced a Garmin eTrex Vista which was purchased in 2000. This unit replaced a Lowrance Eagle Pro (which long ago fell off the face of the planet) purchased in 1995. My 60cs is currently protected by an InvisibleShield which I think should be purchased right when you get your GPSr. Other accessories are a set of Energizer 2500mAh recharagble NiMH batteries, a Gilsson carrying case, and the Garmin Auto Navigation Kit (Maps, mounts, auto-adapter). I've been shopping for a Garmin GA 72C low profile antenna on eBay lately. I use MapSource with CitySelect v7 maps as well as GSAK 6 (registered user) and am a premium member of GeoCaching.com (and have been for several years, love the site). My Lowarance worked just fine for finding caches and I could still be using it today but I do like the extra features my later GPS units provided. Currently I am loving the color display of my 60cs as well as the autorouting features when driving around, none of my 3 vehicles have any built-in GPS systems, so this is perfect as I can carry it between vehicles. I've never had a lick of trouble with my Garmin units and happily recommend them. From the threads I've seen their customer service is top-notch though I've never had to use them myself. My biggest suggestion for people looking to buy a GPS. Go look at the units in your local sporting goods/outdoor/electronic store and handle them if you can. See if you're happy with the feel, size and weight of the unit as well as the screen and key layout. Then go shop around on the internet. Prices vary from place to place and eBay can be a great resource for new or used equipment.

any GPS that doesn't lead you 100mi in the wrong direction! sorry, this thread is a flamewar waiting to happen.. ps. i love my 60cs!

I suggest you just browse through the forums, many people have posted on what a GPS can do for you in the long run... no need to carry around paper maps.. seeing your location at all times.. marking points of interest.. navigating to points.. tracking back your exact route.. saving information on where you've been on your computer for historical purposes.. knowing your altitude.. the list just goes on.. what works best? well that depends on how you're going to use it, kinda hard for anyone else to answer this question. if money is no object, i suggest a garmin 60cs or 76cs.. accessories? what do you want? batteries obviously, a carrying case if you want, software with maps (topo, city select, etc). check out the links at geocaching.com resource page as well. they'll point you to a lot of newbie information..

wow. that's great to hear. good customer service like that keeps a very brand-loyal customer..

well like thcri i sold my ~5 year old vist this past july and replaced it with a 60cs. i couldn't be happier. i liked my vista a lot, i like my 60cs more. honestly, you can't go wrong with a vista c or a 60c. both units have pretty comparable features, just difference in price and size. yes, memory difference too, but for geocaching 24M is just fine. so the question is, what do you want to spend?