Garmin 60 Csx Vs Magellan Explorist 600

[solidbruddah]

I am interested in buying one of these units. Which one would be better for geocaching????

Edited July 14, 2006 by solidbruddah

[solidbruddah]

I am interested in buying one of these units. Which is the better buy and Which is the better unit?????

[+Miragee]

The Garmin 60CSx.

[+Tharagleb]

The Garmin 60CSx.

 

What she said.

[+Tharagleb]

Yeah, we heard you in this thread

 

It is considered bad form to start the same thread twice in two different areas.

 

[Edit to clairfy 2nd sentence.]

Edited July 14, 2006 by Tharagleb

[+BadAndy]

Geocachers who use Explorist units are generally smarter and more attractive than those who do not.

 

[+Tharagleb]

Geocachers who use Explorist units are generally smarter and more attractive than those who do not.

 

 

Yeah, but they have a hard time getting anywhere near the caches.

[+The SuzyQs]

Each unit has it's own pluses and minuses. So you really need to look at what features you really want, versus what you can live without.

[+Mudfrog]

Don't know about the 600 but i do have a good friend of mine who has the 60Csx. It works great! Satellite reception has improved noticeably over the older 60cs model and the color screen is very nice. There is alot of stuff on the menu to learn but i figure it's probably about the same as you would have with the Magellan.

[Keystone]

I am moving this thread from "Getting Started" to "GPS Units and Software" where it will then be merged with the OP's duplicate thread from the "Geocaching Topics" forum.

 

I get paid double for trick moves like that.

[+Lil Weed Pot and Flower]

Geocachers who use Explorist units are generally smarter and more attractive than those who do not.

 

Very hard to argue with you. I have the Explorest 500 and really enjoy getting out into the brush and search for the treasures.

[+EScout]

Some suggestions:

1. Buy both and sell the one you do not like on ebay.

2. Flip a coin

3. Do some searching on this site and others on which one has the features most important to you. If you are new to GPS, you may not know what you want, so do 1, 2 or 4.

4. Find some other cachers who have these and use them.

[freeday]

Some suggestions:

1. Buy both and sell the one you do not like on ebay.

2. Flip a coin

3. Do some searching on this site and others on which one has the features most important to you. If you are new to GPS, you may not know what you want, so do 1, 2 or 4.

4. Find some other cachers who have these and use them.

 

Number 1:

I sold the EX600 and am still using gpsmap60csx

[+geognerd]

Geocachers who use Explorist units are generally smarter and more attractive than those who do not.

 

I must be incredibly intelligent and the hottest person in the world:

 

[freeday]

Geocachers who use Explorist units are generally smarter and more attractive than those who do not.

 

I must be incredibly intelligent and the hottest person in the world:

 

Are you married???

[+Lighteye]

Geocachers who use Explorist units are generally smarter and more attractive than those who do not.

 

 

Yeah, but they have a hard time getting anywhere near the caches.

 

YOUCH!

 

Anyways...60 CSX and 76 CX here, and after starting with a Meridian Gold, then a VistaC, I could never go back.

[Jerry Bransford]

Me too, having owned Magellan and switched to Garmin I could never go back to Magellan either. My sole reason was nothing more than Magellan's klutzy user interface that forced me to keep the owner's manual handy.

[+geognerd]

Geocachers who use Explorist units are generally smarter and more attractive than those who do not.

 

I must be incredibly intelligent and the hottest person in the world:

 

<image of 3 eXplorists snipped to save space>

Are you married???

Obviously not. The eX100 will be sold eventually since I have the 210 to serve as my spare receiver now.

 

Me too, having owned Magellan and switched to Garmin I could never go back to Magellan either. My sole reason was nothing more than Magellan's klutzy user interface that forced me to keep the owner's manual handy.

I get frustrated when trying to use a co-workers GPSmap 60. I prefer Magellan's menus over the icons used on Garmins. I like drilling down through the menus on my eXplorists - it's all nice and hierarchical. The Garmin just didn't seem as user friendly for me, and I've read the manual and used it several times. Of course, if I had as many hundreds of hours running that Garmin as I do running my eXplorists, I might not have an issue. I've been seduced by Garmin a few times when my eX400 wasn't working 100% right. But after help from this forum and good service from Magellan (I must be special), I can't imagine buying a Garmin when my eXplorist is working right. Which is most of the time.

[dulcimoo]

Well I've only had my 60CSX for a few (well two) days ...

I have received as many as 6 SV's inside three different buildings with large windows and / or open doors. I expect this was via multipath (bounced) signals.

I the two (out of two) caches I have found I got with in a few feet of the cache. The unit had me walking in circles - was pointing right at the unit.

 

I would find a store in your area to try both units. See how they feel in your hand and what the interface is like. I made my brand selection based on geopolitical considerations.

 

I would say that the autorouting on the Gramin is kewl. (You have to purchase extramaps for it to do that). There was a watermain breake that closed road today ... I just turned around and it started routing me a different way ... one I had not thought of.

[+CJOttawa]

I've owned several GPSr's and borrowed or used dozens more, currently own a 60CSx.

 

I prefer the Garmin user interface and find it very efficient with many ways to customize it.

 

Thanks to a good antenna and a SIRF III chipset, receiver sensitivity on the 60Cx and 60CSx is extremely high to the point of being borderline "twitchy": they will pick up extremely weak reflected signals off buildings or rock walls sometimes causing multipath errors. It still does a good job at sorting this out and, in difficult positions, you at least GET a position, instead of a complete "signal lost" message. You may see some wandering of displayed position while stationary. (mostly I see this indoors, likely due to reflected signals)

 

One thing Garmin should take cues from Magellan on: a multi-axis compass. You must hold the Garmin perfectly level for the compass to work correctly. I understand the Magellan lets you use the compass at any angle. I suspect the Magellan gets less accurate at angles approaching vertical but it would be nice to be able to hold the Garmin up a few degress.

 

Maps: I love the Garmin map products but they can get very pricey if you use the "Blue Chart" marine products. The purchase price ONLY gives you ONE unlocked area (say, the St.Lawrence River) and you pay another $100+ for each extra area. I've been told Magellan offers an entire continent unlocked with each marine map product.

 

I recently moved to Montreal and the urban planners here are on smack. You NEED a GPS. Auto-routing on the Garmin is fantastic and lets me navigate easily. Sometimes the maps have errors that cause the unit to direct me the wrong way on a one way street but, as others have mentioned, if you just keep driving away from trouble, the unit will auto-recalculate a new route.

 

I don't know what the auto-routing on the Magellan is like but suspect it's similar.

 

The Garmin has a "geocaching mode." I haven't quite figured it out but I use the custom cache icons: closed treasure chest for unfound, open for found. I understand the Garmin has the ability to make a calendar entry when the cache is found.

 

Bottom line: get whatever you're most comfortable with. Any modern, commercially available GPS will get you from A to B. Another reason I like the Garmin: I prefer it's aesthetics. The case design, buttons, typeface etc just looks more "evolved" to me - but that's entirely personal.

Edited July 15, 2006 by af895

[kb9nvh]

You know, on that 3 axis compass thing. It would be nice to have the magnetic compass work whileon the dash in my car but to be honest, the car is usually a difficult environment for a magnetic compass to work ( you have to calibrate) and this would also mean that North on the gps would either be the direction of the antenna or the back of the case. I can see why garmin chose just to implement a 1 axis since real compass's are just one axis. I would take the 3 axis option if it was available but, when walking, I just dont think it matters much and holding the gps level flat makes it easy to know what direction is marked as north.

 

I've owned several GPSr's and borrowed or used dozens more, currently own a 60CSx.

 

I prefer the Garmin user interface and find it very efficient with many ways to customize it.

 

Thanks to a good antenna and a SIRF III chipset, receiver sensitivity on the 60Cx and 60CSx is extremely high to the point of being borderline "twitchy": they will pick up extremely weak reflected signals off buildings or rock walls sometimes causing multipath errors. It still does a good job at sorting this out and, in difficult positions, you at least GET a position, instead of a complete "signal lost" message. You may see some wandering of displayed position while stationary. (mostly I see this indoors, likely due to reflected signals)

 

One thing Garmin should take cues from Magellan on: a multi-axis compass. You must hold the Garmin perfectly level for the compass to work correctly. I understand the Magellan lets you use the compass at any angle. I suspect the Magellan gets less accurate at angles approaching vertical but it would be nice to be able to hold the Garmin up a few degress.

 

Maps: I love the Garmin map products but they can get very pricey if you use the "Blue Chart" marine products. The purchase price ONLY gives you ONE unlocked area (say, the St.Lawrence River) and you pay another $100+ for each extra area. I've been told Magellan offers an entire continent unlocked with each marine map product.

 

I recently moved to Montreal and the urban planners here are on smack. You NEED a GPS. Auto-routing on the Garmin is fantastic and lets me navigate easily. Sometimes the maps have errors that cause the unit to direct me the wrong way on a one way street but, as others have mentioned, if you just keep driving away from trouble, the unit will auto-recalculate a new route.

 

I don't know what the auto-routing on the Magellan is like but suspect it's similar.

 

The Garmin has a "geocaching mode." I haven't quite figured it out but I use the custom cache icons: closed treasure chest for unfound, open for found. I understand the Garmin has the ability to make a calendar entry when the cache is found.

 

Bottom line: get whatever you're most comfortable with. Any modern, commercially available GPS will get you from A to B. Another reason I like the Garmin: I prefer it's aesthetics. The case design, buttons, typeface etc just looks more "evolved" to me - but that's entirely personal.