krisse

If I feel like walking with a stick I just pick one up by the nearby trees. - If your'e going high remember to find a stick before leaving the tree-line.

Taken from http://www.garmin.com/cartography/ontheRoad/ : City Navigator™ North America v7 - Will automatically create point-to-point routes in MapSource and on the StreetPilot III, StreetPilot 2610 and StreetPilot 2650 City Select® North America v7 - Will automatically create point-to-point routes in MapSource and on compatible Garmin GPS units MetroGuide® North America v7 - Will automatically create point-to-point routes in MapSource on the PC Based on those descriptions I would say that only the City Select could do the job for you.

Edit: Sorry for double post.. Think I'll pick up some rechargeable 2600 mAh - and a good charger to. - Any suggestions? Maybe buy some lithium for longer trips where I don't have access to electricity.

Thanks for all your replies. I guess it all boils down to the definition of 'typical use', and how much use of the compass is included in Garmin's 'typical use' of the CS. - Sent them an e-mail a min ago asking that question. The compass will only be used for caching - when I go hiking I'd rather have a small transparant compass to put on my paper maps. The GPS is more of an advanced topo backup map. Wikipedia has some very nice articles on the different battery types and ways to handle them for maximum performance. Oh, btw - I have just pre-ordered the 60CSx.. Looks like I'll have to go pick up a decent 'intelligent' charger and some Li-Ion's to go with it.

I would definitely go for the 60cs - the compass is really nice to pin point that box and to avoid traveling in circles for extended amounts of time. Also believe that the antenna will give you some better reading especially in tree (or other types of) cover. Of course there is the price to consider, but if you have the extra dough I wouldn't hesitate a second.

The 60csx / 60cs both include a 64Mb micro SD - so if you decide to upgrade you will replace the original memory in you unit. But you can carry both with you and exchange them whenever you like. The micro SD is the ONLY available memory in your unit. The unit also has some basic firmware and basemap but that part of the memory is not accessible as RAM.

I'm not sure where you got the January date. If you look at Garmin's spec pages: http://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap60cx/ http://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap60csx/ ...and so forth It says 'Expected Availability: January 2006'. - Lets just hope thats true..

I see.. So it is not at all possible to pull less power by altering the settings of the sensors?

Wow - 'prenews' from Yahoo, that's great news. And if 'first quarter of 2006' turns out to be true we are in for a big treat just around the corner. Still can't find anything on garmin.com, but I guess they are busy putting the final touches on the promotional release as we speak. Time to spam my local retailer.

Okay, thanks for clearing that up. Does it mean that you can get (nearly) the same amount of battery time as the 60C with sensors turned off.. - Has anyone experimented with that?

Yea.. I was planning on getting a x-model anyway. Lets just hope they get in stores before summer. If it uses up trackpoints when the receiver is turned off is that because it reserves space for reading that aren't there? - I didn't quite get that. Still not sure if I want to sacrifice the 10h of battery time for some elevation sensors.. For hiking at least. - I'm not even sure I would use it very much, well its fun to look at afterwards of course but the topo mapping is whats really interesting. Is there no way to be selective about the features? I imagine it would be pretty easy to make a function to turn off the compass or altimeter and by that save some power..

Uhhh.. I cant wait. When it goes retail will it be worldwide or just US to begin with? - What have they done in the past?

Since the search feature is down atm I decided to go ahead and make a new thread. I'll try and make it short. This will be the first unit I own. My need for a GPS unit springs from a love for mountain hiking and caching. So I will need a unit that is reliable, waterproof, easy to read and with a lasting power supply for those weeks out in the wilds. To sum up the differences between the two units; 60C - 30h battery 60CS - 20h battery - Compass - Altimeter I know the compass would be great for geocaching, where you have to locate something within one meter (or less), but I wont have much use for it on the long walks in open terrain where I will bring my 'analogue' compass anyway. So my questions are as follows: - Is it possible to turn the compass and/or altimeter off to get longer battery life? - How much more accurate is the altimeter compared to the GPS's elevation measurement? - How accurate is the digital compass, and how quickly does it align? Any other opinions will be gladly welcomed. Price tags are of no importance.

I think the m/s is, yea - pretty dang accurate. But you must take in to consideration any distance your device travels relative to the satellites. I don't know much about GPS sampling, but since the average speed samples rather frequent, I guess that any movement perpendicular (or some angel v|0<v<180) to the line of travel also would account for some acceleration, and hence add up to the average movement speed. Correct me if im wrong.