Night Parrot

Hi Comphelp. Thanks for the Post - hope it all goes well for you - I'm not far away from putting my Order in as well with them - Garmin came back and told me they were an Authorised Dealer - so no problems there. Thanks for the tip on the Charger as well - here's what they told me : " This link might help you with knowing if the charger would work for you: http://www.mahaenergy.com/store/searchItem.asp. It looks like they have a special one for Australia, which we don't carry. Garmin's return and repair center is in Olathe, Kansas, USA. Thank you, Vauna Davis Offroute.com 121 Woodland Avenue Suite 150 Reno, Nevada 89523 775.787.7444 Vauna_service@offroute.com " Please do let me know how you go ! Good luck with it.

hmmm ... good idea !

Thanks a lot.

Thanks for all the feedback - definitely some very good points / suggestions there. Just one other thing - how about a Card Reader - is it worth getting one of those and if so any recommendations or are they all pretty much the same ? Thanks.

... and a "Nag Sensor" for that Unit to tell the wife to "Shut Up ! Shut Up ! " when she just won't let up -

I'm going to purchase a Garmin 60CSx from USA to use for hiking here in Australia. I'm just jooking at the optional extras for the Unit and have come up with the following list : * Scandisk MICROSD MEMORY CARD 512 MB * CARRYING CASE (GPSMAP 60 SERIES) * MAHA PowerEX SMART CHARGER WITH 4 NIMH AA 2500 MAH BATTERIES, CAR ADAPTER * MAPSOURCE METROGUIDE AUSTRALIA * INVISIBLESHIELD - SCREEN PROTECTOR There will be some Topo Map Software available here at end of this month that I will also purchase locally. Can anyone who had bought this Unit suggest any other extras I should be looking at getting for my intended usage as may as well get it all bundled up and shipped in the one go. Thanks a lot.

I also researched this. GME Australia will honour a GPS purchased from O/S as long as you have the proof of purchase, and it was purchased from a reputable retailer with a tax invoice. No auction sites or dodge internet crowds. Their policy should not have changed. Check with them anyway. Thanks for your follow up and reply Sunpazed. Actually it looks like they have changed their policy. GME Australia told me on 20 March, 2006 ... for warranty and support you would have to deal with the place of purchase ... I've been following up with Garmin direct in USA as well and they are still looking into this matter for me. Once I get resolution on the Warranty Return issue I'm going to get a 60CSx.

I second the recommendation from "Jiheffe", OziExplorer is one very good option for what you are looking for. The CE version is specifically dsigned for the PPC.

Well, I get your drift, but it isn't exactly the same comparing a $400 Garmin to a $400 Magellan and a $3.95 Big Mac Meal to a $49.99 Ruth Chris(I've never been there, so I'm guessing) steak now is it??? Most customers already know they want a Garmin, they just have to be helped in choosing the model. Now if McDonald's upped their price to $49.99 for a #1 value meal, then you'd have a fair analogy for comparison! McDonald's would be to Magellan as Ruth's Chris would be to Garmin!

exactly Geonerd - that's what Sunpazed said too (he's here in Australia as well and has already imported a Legend Cx from the States for himself). In fairness, the Australian Importer (s) have to pay 5% duty on FOB value and 10% GST on (CIF Value + duty) as their bulk Orders will be over A$1,000.00 + Shipping costs and clearance / delivery / handling this end + programming of the Australian Basemap - then there's there "mark-up" for their profit - however as I can import a single Unit into Australia for under that $1000.00 threshold I don't have to pay those taxes and other add-ons. Still, that's my good luck I suppose and I'm not going to throw money away by buying locally at prices A$400.00 above what I can get it for from your side of the world (less of a differential with the shipping cost of course). I just had to check out the "Warranty Return" set-up and whether the Basemap had any bearing on the Units functionality - those were the 2 issues that I needed to address before I was going to make the decision.

Thanks Sunpazed - that info. you supplied certainly helps me with my decision. ... by the way, GME in Australia have advised just recently that the new CSx models will be here about mid to late April. They should be priced at : 60CSx - A$969.00 plus mapping & the 76CSx A$1,069.00 plus mapping ..City navigator A$349.00 or Metroguide A$176.00.

Thanks Olar. Actually I want to use the Unit primarily for hiking - I don't really intend using it in the car - perhaps I'll change my mind later on though !

I live in Australia and will be buying a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx soon direct from one of the USA / Canadian Suppliers. If I purchase direct from eg. USA, I will get a Unit with a routable USA Basemap showing cities, highways, interstates, exit info, rivers lakes; preloaded with worldwide cities (so I'm told). Does anyone who has one of these Garmin Handhelds actually use this Basemap ? - or does it have any association with other MapSource Software subsequently loaded ? Is it of any use at all ??? What I'm basically asking is - will I be disadvantaged in any way at all by not having my local Basemap in the Unit ? (I think that the Australian Basemap is loaded by some company here in Australia after the Units are imported before they are then sent to the Dealers to sell them - at a hugely inflated price). Thanks in advance for any comments / advice.

Hi Quoddy Yep - that's the one (as per your link) - thanks a lot !

Thanks a lot

Thanks for your reply webscouter. These batteries I am looking at are described as follows : Full Description Kit includes 4 Maha 2200 Power-Ex mAh NiMH batteries and Smart Charger with 4 charging channels. An AC adapter, a Cigarette lighter adapter and a battery holder are also included. Enjoy the extra capacity and recharging convenience at home or on the road. Kit includes charger and four (4) Maha 2200 AA mAh batteries Batteries can be recharged up to ONE THOUSAND (1,000) times to full capacity Memory free No cadmium, mercury, lead, or lithium Charger will charge any combination of size AA and size AAA NiMH or NiCD batteries at once Charge Time can be set to 100 minutes or to Slow Charge for a 5 hour charge time 4 Individual Charging Channels automatically coverts to lower "maintenance" charge rate when batteries are fully charged Red indicator LED illuminates when batteries are charging Green indicator LED illuminates when completely charged Charger can charge 4 AA or 4 AAA batteries at once, or 2 AA and 2 AAA batteries simultaneously li>Maha batteries may remain on charge for extended periods of time without damage

Would some one be kind enough to tell me if I can use these rechargeable batteries for the Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx ? Thanks for your time.

Cool. Thanks. It will be good to see what they say. Its also a good opportunity to see what their customer service is like Got an answer overnight - You can find all of our prices in US dollars on the website for each item. You will find that our prices are very competitive. When you add your items to the shopping cart, you will get to a page that will tell you how much your shipping options will cost. We are an authorized Garmin dealer. You can contact Garmin to find out about the warranty being covered in Australia; try their website www.garmin.com. That is a great site to find out compatability issues, accessories available, etc. We do not offer extended warranties, as the warranty is covered by Garmin. We do ship batteries without a problem. We don't sell a microSD card reader. Did I answer all of your questions? I know how the Shopping Cart works - so no "special" deals from asking other than what's listed on their site - fair enough. As you can see, they didn't direct me to a link or anything so I could confirm about them being an official Garmin Dealer (I could always check that out direct with Garmin if need be). Anyway - their price listed for the 60CSx varies from day to day so I am just going to wait until our Exhange Rate improves a bit (went up a cent overnight ) and also for their price to hopefully go back under US$400.00.

Hi comphelp Actually I already did - so hopefully will get a confirmation (or otherwise) overnight + hope to get their price too on the 60CSx with a few additional bits and pieces I asked about.

I think The AdventureStation site is the main one - see here. Will have to confirm your query on the "Authorised Garmin Dealer" position though. Pity about our Exchange rate too at the moment - just when you want to buy something in US$ the exchange rate hits a 4 year low !! - anyway only talking US$400 to $500 so not a "huge" difference.

Hi Comphelp. Actually it's the same deal with AdventureStation.com. This company actually advertises with Groundspeak (you can see the Groundspeak logo in their Banner) - that's where I found them - on this site !! I sort of feel like I might have a bit more confidence knowing that - particularly being here in Australia and with the "return" issue as per previous posts in this thread. I've also asked them for a few price options with larger SD Card, Carry Case etc.

Has anyone heard of (or dealt with) "off Route" before ? - they will ship internationally (Australia in my case) and have the Garmin GPSMAP60CSx advertised on their site at US$399.99 at the moment - just following on from this thread I started - was hoping to get some feedback on their service with regard to returns (if necessary). Thanks a lot !

Cheers ! - I'll check out Otterbox (well worth spending a few $$'s I reckon on a good one).

Thanks for your comments freejam - I think the PDA option sounds great actually - I suppose I would need to get a good case for it as I want to use it primarily for hiking. By the way, what sort of PDA are you using and have you got a case for it (what type / brand) ? Also with the PDA option as you say, maps are better and cheaper + you get to be able to use the PDA for other applications as well. I think I might have talked myself into the PDA option.

Thanks for posting that. Its a shame they wont honour the warranty in Australia. Still, if its a minor fault, it might be cheaper to get it repaired locally than pay 2 x freight charges. As I said before though, hopefully this will never matter. Another reply from Garmin regarding their position on Warranty service for countries outside country of purchase : - I’m getting a little out of my area here but I do agree, it does seem like it would make more sense if you could take your unit back to any Garmin dealer for repair. I wish I had more information for you but the people making those decisions are way above me. It sounds like they wrote the warranty wording back before internet sales were a big deal. They probably didn’t imagine that people in Australia would be purchasing from Canada (did you really find a USA supplier? I didn’t know of any suppliers in the USA that ship internationally, just Canada). I just don’t know enough about the ins and outs of how dealers are reimbursed and all of that. I will try to find more out and let you know if I get a good explanation. As for the price difference, again, a little beyond my expertise. I know that Europe is the same way. I think Garmin does that to protect their dealers around the world and since there are so many different currencies and economies they just aren’t able to set a single price. Again, I can try to find out a little more on that and I will let you know what if I find something of interest. I hope you still plan on sticking with the 60csx. I think you’ll find that it is a wonderful unit and I don’t think you’ll have any problems. I’ll let you know if I find anything out. Please let me know if you have any other questions and thank you for your interest in Garmin. Regards, Nathan