nobodyhere

Do the new units have a better battery compartment design? Will I have to pay shipping both ways, and how much has this typically run? If it's just going to break again, and cost me a fortune to ship back and forth...

One of my 76CSx's battery tabs broke pretty quickly after I started using 2.5AHr AA's, and I was fudging it by using a piece of tin foil between the battery terminal and the battery. On the side of the compartment with unbroken tabs, I have to use another piece of tin foil because the battery doesn't make contact very well. It's a horribly unreliable solution- the unit keeps shutting off, and the poor connection also screws up the battery gauge. I can't believe I paid $500+ for this piece of crap that's now useless because Garmin couldn't design the battery terminals and battery compartment properly! I refuse to pay Garmin a penny to fix something a $5 squirt gun manufacturer can get right. Has anyone found a way to repair the tabs or otherwise fix the problem? The unit is useless to me right now because it keeps shutting off. I regularly disassemble and repair laptops, etc and have experience soldering- the warranty is up, so I don't care about cracking it open for that reason. I suspect that as long as any seals are kept clean/greased it will retain its quasi-waterproofness (which is a joke- it once took a minor splash and fogged up almost instantly. I had to leave it on the windowsill with the battery door off.)

Okay, so I was running 2.7, and I updated to 2.9 this evening. After doing the update, the Web Updater told me that I should check again for more updated software. After doing so, it found "GPS Receiver software" that it installed. There was no version or description, and the unit did not go to the blank screen during the update. Was this an update to the SiRF receiver? Checking the Garmin website for "all updates", I don't see anything relating to the 76csx except the main firmware. Fiddling with the unit just now, I noticed something was "different". It felt a lot...snappier. Button presses (particularly Page) seem much more instantaneous. Am I imagining things? POI searching seemed much faster too...route calculation about the same. I also noticed the 2.9 changenote described USB mass storage support (buried in the system menus) and "improved macintosh compatibility"...which is hilarious, since there isn't any MacOS X Garmin software (yet) that I know of. Is this a precursor for upcoming releases, I wonder? Oh, btw- I downloaded nRoute. Good stuff! Why is it so buried? :-) I only wish they would keep updating it, and then I wouldn't need Streets & Trips installed as well...

Confirmed on the 76csx with the latest non-beta firmware...has to be calibrated each time.

1)This is not leaving the unit next to a PC indoors. This is going from full coverage, to a minute later full coverage again, in conditions the unit would be expected to experience in normal usage. 2)I already said that selecting "GPS OFF" then "GPS ON" immediately re-establishes lock. That does not make it a viable "fix". If I'm navigating- some of the turns come up immediately after exiting the tunnels. The time to: a)switch off+on the unit b)Choose Recent Find and select the destination c)wait for the route to be calculated means that you could get hopelessly off-course. We'll see what Garmin support says...

Asking which one is "better" is like asking someone which is better: A Corvette Z06, or a Spec Miata? Well...if you're going to a track like Watkins Glen...the Z06. Doing an Auto-X, or going to a really tight track like NHIS's road course? The Miata, most likely. It is better to talk about strengths and weaknesses, and keep in mind what units are designed for...and do they do what they were designed for well? Handheld units are generally more durable. I dropped my 76csx on the ground the day it arrived, and it bounced 3 feet and then hit a stone wall. It's bounced around the car a bit in the last few days too. Not a scratch on the case, and functions fine. Later that evening, I had it outside when it was snowing like crazy. So, a PDA GPS with lots of hiking/boating functionality would be, in my book, something of a failure unless it was in a ruggedized case. Handhelds also have better battery life these days- 20 hours on a pair of AA's can't be beat by any PDA I know of. PDA based GPS units have more 'horsepower', the screens are bigger and higher resolution, and data entry is easier (ie, entering an address.) They do common, sensible things like allow you to look up a person and click "go to" straight from the address book. They calculate auto routes very quickly. They display maps much more smoothly. However, they're generally marketed towards PDA users- so you'll be less likely to find things like MOB, anchor drift alarms, or even track logs sometimes. I think it is impressive how far handheld GPS units have come with regards to autorouting and 'guidebook' info, but they're still far from perfect. Finding a place in my 76csx is a pain- for example, I wanted to get to the Museum of Science in Boston, while on Route 1 yesterday. The search, even if restricted to "attractions", takes at least 20-30 seconds AFTER entering 'science'. For a unit that runs for 20 hours on a pair of AA's, I'm not surprised, but it's an important caveat. When I was searching for a unit, a friend kept egging me to get a PDA based unit. I said no, because I want to hike/bike/ski occasionally with it and go boating. So nothing that won't float, survive drops, and be weatherproof. I don't see much reason for any geocacher to buy a PDA-based unit. If you're a 'travelling salesperson' type- I'd say a PDA based unit wins hands-down. You won't be in The Great Outdoors. You'll be doing a lot of address entry. You'll probably already have, or be able to make good use of, the non-GPS PDA functionality. Delivery type guy, livery driver, etc? Tomtom or similar device targeted to the auto market. Etc.

The 76CSx seems to have a serious conniption with tunnels. 4 out of the 5 times I've gone through various tunnels in Boston (93, Pike both directions, Tobin), I've come out the other end and the unit shows -zero- satellites even after several minutes of clear sky. Going back to the satellite page and turning off+on GPS fixes the problem instantly (and in one case, I was on the Tobin bridge, which is covered- it still got a lock very quickly via the open sides), but this is an unacceptable defect, especially given all the talk with SiRFstarIII having sub-1-second hot reacquisition times...and the number of tunnels. Oh, and CN's data is -horrible- with regards to the stuff that changed with the Big Dig...fairly annoying, since some of the inaccuracies are on stuff that had been finished before CN was 'published'... Can anyone else verify on the re-acq problem? Keep in mind that the problem could be related to the unit changing position, not just the obscuration...and it may need to be a VERY thorough obscuration, not very easy with the new SiRF units since they're so sensitive.

It's not quite that simple anymore, especially with the SiRF chipset. It can reject reflected low-strength signals, among other tricks. http://www.skyaid.org/LifeWatch/sIRF_gps.htm (Keep in mind that was written about the first generation SiRF chipset, not the 3rd gen in some newer units, aka SiRFStarIII). Angular movement of the satellites is miniscule compared to even a few inches movement of your receiver. What you are probably seeing is some side effects from the various features in the SiRF chipset...one in particular uses the last known heading+velocity, along with down to just 1 satellite, to guess if you're still headed on that course. Also, the chipset is much more sensitive- so whereas an older unit would get 1 or zero satellite signals, the newer chipset might pick up 2-3...and position will obviously be very inaccurate. Honestly? Don't use GPS while in the grocery store. You have some pretty unrealistic expectations of your unit if you expect to be able to leave it on inside a building and not have it "wander", especially with a fancy new chipset that works hard to get you any kind of navigation ability.

I don't have much patience for all the apologists for unlock schemes. They're basically just a way to force us into upgrading or re-purchasing a product that doesn't need it; let's face it, they don't really add that much year to year to mapping data, the data isn't all that great anyway (apparently the Canadian data, for example, is outright atrocious) and costs really aren't that high- most of the time, the information comes from town/city/county/state GIS departments anyway. Here are the sort of questions I see a lot of people asking, and I haven't been on here long: "Why do I need to 'unlock' something I already bought?" 'Why do I need to get your 'permission' to use something I bought?" "So what do I do when I don't have an internet connection, or your servers are down, or you go out of business, or decide you don't want to 'support' what I bought anymore?" "If this is to fight piracy, why isn't your product any cheaper with the unlock codes? What do I get in exchange for the restrictions and inconveniences placed on me?" And last but not least: "Why don't you admit clearly before I buy your software that you place a lot of restrictions on how I can use what I've bought? Like that I can only activate it with two units EVER...no way to "remove" a unit, etc.?" Take a glance over at Garmin's website. City Navigator's product page says: "Before you can download map detail to a data card or directly to your compatible Garmin GPS, you must “unlock” the MapSource City Navigator North America v7 DVD. Simply follow the instructions on the included certificate to unlock the entire DVD. Next, download the data to a data card or to your compatible Garmin unit." Sounds like you just activate it and you're done, right? Nowhere is there an explanation that the activation is even tied to a specific GPS unit! It's even implied that there is no link between the GPS unit and the activation process. Why? Because they know that if consumers know about all the restrictions up-front, they'll be scared away, especially given the VERY hefty pricetag on the mapping data. Time to start researching whether anyone has reverse-engineered the data format, or cracked Garmin's Digital Rights Management scheme, so that users can regain control over data THEY PURCHASED with the rights they thought they had.

Further checking: West Marine, "mid-Feburary"(hey, at least they know/are being realistic)... Circuit City- nope Best Buy- nope Target- nope (still lists a Garmin 12 and other dinosaurs, amusingly) Staples- nope I could go on down the list of major+regional chains that are supposed to be Garmin handheld unit dealers. None of them have any of the X units. Why is Garmin releasing them exclusively online?(the 60csx has been available for at least a few weeks now online.) So that we can't play with them in the stores? And it's been two months since they were originally projected to be "in the marketplace"... No reviews anywhere, either (except for all the "web loggers" that are just parroting the specs). Makes you wonder if either Garmin thinks they have this one in the bag, retailers have lots of leftover inventory on the non-X models, or they don't want people to read reviews or play with 'em in stores...

Hey all- I'v been trying to find a 60csx/76csx in the Boston area and I haven't had much luck. REI: "we don't carry any 76 series units at this store...click click, the 76csx is online only, no eastern MA stores have it." Walmart: "A GP what?" Dick's Sporting Goods: "Oh, uuuuuuh, duuuuude, that's like, a hiiiiiiigh end unit, we don't carry that, like, you know." Local outdoor store: "No X's. Got the 76cs." I -know- I can buy one online. I don't -want- to buy one online; I want to hold it in my hand and play with it before I plunk down $500+ on something. Any suggestions?