planewood

If I remember right, my 60cx would not power up with less than 8V applied to the external power plug. 8V-15V works fine IF there is enough amperage. I did not test the current required but I suspect it to be about 100 ma as I get about 15 hrs with my 1800ma rechargable batteries. The Garmins have a voltage regulator inside to protect against high voltage (up to 18V) and against reversing the polarity. A 12V zener diode in series with the power supply would provide additional protection. I think it might be best to use a solar charger to recharge a set of batteries. 3.5V at 0.5 amps (max) would work fine. Make sure it has a reverse current protection diode. 1N4001 would work fine.

My testing has shown that an external antenna definitely improves reception and accuracy especially in areas of tree cover or heavy cloud cover or high humidity. But, get either the Garmin antenna or the Gillson antenna. Do NOT get the other one that is advertised on eBay a lot. Basically a piece of junk that will fail the first time you drop it and the seller will not honor the so-called warranty. Better to get a longer cable and coil up what you don't use. For auto use, you should get a plug in adapter to power the unit. Or, make one like I did. 12V works fine as the Garmins have a voltage regulator inside.

Joe, anything that degrades the signal strength can negatively affect accuracy. The better the signal strength, the better the accuracy, had been my observation. (this is a general statement which means it happens more often than not). Go to the Trimble web site and download their Planning software. With that, you can see the satellite tracks and it will also tell you the time of day for 'optimum' satellite configuration. It does make a BIG difference. The trimble data that is used to calculate the satellite positions needs be be updated every couple of days. You can download that too from their website.

I forgot to add that both units had been updated with the latest software & firmware.

I put my 60 cx and my sons new Legend cx out in the back yard to acquire sats. After 10 minutes, they only differed by 0.001 minute of Lat/lon. That's about 5', I think, at this location. My 60cx had the external antenna connected. Sky was bright and clear. Both had a waas lock. I checked them 8 or 10 times and it was always 0.001 minute difference. That was at the lower limit of resolution, so actual diff was probably smaller.

Sure! Just hook up the CSx to the laptop using the USB cable, Load Mapsource and CN to the laptop and your good to go. The laptop will power the GPSr through the USB cable. Probably need a longer USB cable, too. Auto-routing will work in Mapsource. Also, one of those little antenna/receivers will work too instead of a full blown portable GPSr. Look at the Garmin GPS 18 (USB) and similar products. Most now have 12 channel with Waas and Sirf and/or BlueTooth. Or Google on "GPS Sensor". Just make sure they support the Garmin protocol. Oh yeah, gotta have nRoute software too.

In the UK the words additional means the unlock codes for two more units on your existing software are very much cheaper than buying the 'full new DVD price'! What is mentioned here is the puchase of completely 'new' DVD software, not 'additional' [additional is Garmin's wording] What the heck does the DVD cost in the UK?? Costs about $120-$140 here in the USA depending on where you shop. Each DVD you purchase can be used in a maximum of two GPSr's. Right now, I have 4 GPSr's and only 1 DVD. How did you use one DVD on 4 gpsr's? I thought you couldn't do that. I haven't tried it, but is there a software or web based restriction that won't allow the software to load on more than 2 gpsr's or is it the honor system? If there is a restriction for 2 gpsr's, could you copy the maps to other memory cards to get around the restriction (for personal use)? How does the CN software know how many gpsr's it is used on? For example if I purchase a used garmin 2610 and the seller loaded it onto another GPS unit without my knowledge, could I use the CN software to load onto a legend cx as well as the original 2610 for instance? Again how would the software know what unit it has been loaded onto unless there was some internet based clearinghouse of code/gpsr usage? That's why I'm wanting to obtain two more license!

Yeah, go for the gold and get the 60cx or 60csx. Also get an external antenna if you going to be out in the boonies (heavy timber) or under heavy cloud cover.

In the UK the words additional means the unlock codes for two more units on your existing software are very much cheaper than buying the 'full new DVD price'! What is mentioned here is the puchase of completely 'new' DVD software, not 'additional' [additional is Garmin's wording] What the heck does the DVD cost in the UK?? Costs about $120-$140 here in the USA depending on where you shop. Each DVD you purchase can be used in a maximum of two GPSr's. Right now, I have 4 GPSr's and only 1 DVD.

Nope. Lots of people load the card externally using a SD slot on their USB card reader. MUCH faster. I think now you can also see the card when in the GPS and the GPS is plugged into the USB port. Not sure if that gives you faster transfer, though.

Thanks! The cheapest I've found it on the web is $119. Anyone seen it cheaper than that? Of course, those dang sites not say what the shipping cost is up front.

When I went to the Garmin web site to acquire an additional license for CN, it said the cost was $139. They did not say whether that was for one additional license or for two, but it implied that it was for just one. The 1st CN DVD I bought cost that and you got license to install it on two units. Anyone know the straight poop here?

Can someone explain what Integrated Assisted GPS is and how it works? I just noticed that some Motorola phone advertise this.

Thanks! I don't know where the h-e-l-l I got EPS! I meant EPE.

What kind of maps do you want to put on your eTrex? Auto-routing street/highway maps, TOPO maps, marine maps??? For auto-routing maps I think you have to use the MapSource software that was shipped with the eTrex and, using MapSource, load auto-routing maps purchased from Garmin. Don't know about other kinds of maps.

With my Garmin 60 Cx it seems that I get the same EPS reading regardless of whether WAAS is turned on or off. I know I get better lat/lons with WAAS turned on, but it doesn't seem to affect the reported EPS. I've tested my unit many times again known benchmarks so I know I get more accurate lat/Lon's with WAAS on. Also, most of my testing against known benchmarks was done with an external antenna. I've never seen it report an EPS less than 8' under any conditions. Is it possible that that my 60Cx is calculating EPS using the uncorrrected data?

I finally went to the Garmin site and downloaded MapSource, but it was still slow. When done, it failed trying to run the Zip executable. I searched my hard drive and found where it was stored and double clicked on the .EXE file. That worked. My son in law had the exact same troubles.

I sent mine in yesterday. But, I sent mine direct to Garmin in Olathe, Kansas cause that is what Garmin told me to do. I purchased 3 Etrex legend Cx's to give as Christmas presents and the regular rebate site (El Paso, TX) would only do one at a time and wouldn't allow copies of the receipt.

I rigged mine on top of a 10' PVC pipe. Put a wooden plug in the end and screwed a large steel washer to the plug. The magnet holds the antenna to the steel washer. Rigged up a carrier for the GPS 60cx at eye level on the PVC pipe. Have to carry it horizontally if in heavy brush.

Trying to download Mapsource. I have DSL and the Mapsource download speed has been running about 20K bps. Normally I get 2.4 MEG bps. I'm on about the 10th try and am getting connection errors during the download and have to start over. Have done several Internet speed tests to various parts of the country so know it not a problem on my end. Mapsource won't let me get a 2nd license for City Navigator without first getting the new Mapsource version. Are there any mirror sites?

Last month I looked on my 60cx for the nearest Walmart store. It said the nearest was 14 miles away. So, I did a GO TO and off I went not bothering to check the full route. Well, 30 miles later and after circling around a large lake, I arrived at the Walmart. Had I checked the route first, I could have saved 25 miles in round trip distance by going to another Walmart. But, it did get me right to the front door of that Walmart! FYI - the Distance found is the straight line distance! Duh!

Dang, I got my copy of Version 8 about 4 days after I ordered it from GSPNOW. That was 7/8/06.

What does "NT" stand for? How is it different from the regular version?

The tires on my truck are larger than what came on it. FYI - After driving for 2 or 3 years with a bad ERG valve and getting, at best, 18 mpg, I finally got it repaired and am now getting 21 mpg on the highway. 1995 Dodge Dakota one owner with 60K showing miles.

Was out on an interstate last week that had mileage markers. I used the stopwatch feature then calculated the MPH between signs. I had my truck in cruise control and it was a level highway. Also was using a Gillson antenna on top of the cab. The GPS indicated speed was always within 1 mph of that calculated. My truck was always low by about 3 mph. Took about a dozen readings between 60 & 80 mph. FYI - to get MPH just divide 3600 by the time in seconds between the 1 mile markers. My co-pilot used the calculator.