[Garmin 60csx Observations]

Hey man, I'm merely making a comment here! I HAVE dealt with both companies as well as unit features, chill out! I can point out as many pluses Garmin has over Magellan if I wanted to take the time to do so. All I'm asking here is questions about the Garmin 60CSx and trying to get feedback. What's your problem with taking such an attitude about defending Magellan?

[Garmin 60csx Observations]

I have been the "GPS Guy" at a large local outdoor outfitter now for over 15 years. We sell only Garmin since we just feel they make better products and are a great company to deal with business-wise. Doing this job here, naturally, I always purchase the newest, latest, coolest new unit as Garmin cranks them out. So a couple of days ago when the first 60CSx units came through the door, I immediately grabbed one for myself. My previous unit was a 60CS (a nice unit itself!).

I just thought I'd post a few observations here that I've discovered so far, any hopefully get some agreements or disagreements as other 60CSx users read this and make their own observations:

 

1. My first impression was a somewhat "dumbed-down" appearance to the menu icons, more like those used in the color eTrex units instead of the nicer looking ones as in my previous 60CS. Wonder why?

 

2. For some reason the 60CS's alarm clock function has disappeared in the new 60CSx. I found this pretty darned useful maybe this will return via an update?

 

3. There's no icon or any type of menu item pertinent to, or giving any mention of, the miniSD (or is that TransFlash) card in use. This would be helpful. At least sort of a "gas guage" of used and available memory. A formatting utility would be handy here also.

 

4. Signal acquisition is pretty remarkable though I must admit. Although it wouldn't locate indoors where I work, (concrete ceiling) I was able to get it located quickly outside (11 sats, 10 @ max signal with 11 foot accuracy!), then walk back inside and hold position anywhere within the store. And it kept its fix as long as the unit was turned on.

 

5. I am noticing a strange little "wandering about" of the position icon (like back in the old SA days) when zoomed in to the 20 or 30 foot screen. I never noticed this with my previous unit. Wonder if this is the unit or something the signal itself?

 

6. I wish they had included a "lithium" setting for the battery type menu item. I would assume many GPS users out there are using the new much lighter and more efficient lithium AA's. This surely would have been helpful.

 

7. I've begged and begged Garmin in the past to give the stop watch function a multiple lap memory so that one could utilize it as a truly useful stop watch by recalling several lap times after finishing with whatever you're timing. I see this suggestion has still gone nowhere in the new 60Csx though!

 

This morning I took the 60CSx for a 5 mile walk and used it as my timer/pedometer etc. I zeroed out the trip computer just prior to the walk and kept the unit in my coat pocket for the entire 1hour 20 minute walk.

The walk involved some canopy (conifers) and varying terrain. After finishing the non-stop walk, the unit showed zero stopped time telling me that it had maintained position fix the entire period. Most of the time it was showing 12 sats, 11 of which were at full signal strength! I was a little disappointed that with this situation it didn't maintain any tighter accuracy than 11 or 12 feet which it seemed to constantly display?

 

Please give me any feedback whatsoever that any of you guys are experiencing.