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My Experience with 60CSX on Long Road and Hiking Trip


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I just got back from a summer vacation - 4000 mile road trip and multiple hikes in Yellowstone and Tetons. I used my 60CSX extensively with City Select and the TOPO 24K maps for the National Parks. We also did some Geocaching during the trip.

 

I have to say I was very impressed with the performance of the GPS throughout the trip. I had created waypoints for each of our destination points and relied on the GPS to route my trip. Worked great! Never got lost and saved the hassle of my wife managing maps and navigation. The hassle factor savings alone was worth the cost of the GPS and software.

 

I loved the exit feature. Always knew where gas stations and food establishments were. I wish there was a one button option for finding a Culver's though (kids favorite eating establishment)!

 

The Geocaching features are excellent and easy to use. It was nice doing some caches at rest stops or at particular sites. I used the route pocket query and had all the caches loaded before I left for the trip. Added a nice element to the trip.

 

I used the TOPO maps in the parks. All the trails I hiked were on the map. It allowed me to route on the trails and the altimeter was accurate within 50 feet of posted signs (which I didn't expect after my experiences with the altimeter in airplanes). One quibble, the 60CSX doesn't seem to distinguish between trails and roads when routing using the TOPO 24K. I would get some strange results when driving through the parks - it would occasionaly try to send the car down a walking path!

 

I will never take a road / camping trip without a GPS again. Indespensible tool.

 

Garmin makes a good product in the 60CSX. I am not a Garmin rep, sales person, and don't own stock (thank goodness, looks like it took a dive the other day). Just a pleased customer.

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I loved the exit feature. Always knew where gas stations and food establishments were. I wish there was a one button option for finding a Culver's though (kids favorite eating establishment)!

 

I'm sure you know, but in case someone else doesn't -- with a full load of City Navigator for your region, you can

Find | <Food> | [Enter] | [Menu] | <Nearest Containing...>

and use that to find your nearest Culver's.

 

Too bad there isn't a "Nearest Containing -- but stay on the highway I'm on" or "don't backtrack me two hours" option :laughing:

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puddlewalkers - when you were looking for exits, did you ever find the 60csx to report exits from a highway other than the one you were on? that has happened to me several times, on some fairly major highways (not 6 or 8 lane major interstates, but on 4 lane farly important highways - ny/nj/ct area).

 

I know the gpsr knows where I am so that's not the question, and I attributed it to lack of basemap data (e.g. if we don't have exit data for the highway they are on, show them exit data from a nearby highway). In addition to the basemap data seeming to be a bit older than CN, I can't imagine they'd have every highway exit data in the basemap, even for what I consider to be 'important' highways.

 

Did this ever happen to you?

 

When this happened to me, we tried to use the find nearby for a food category, and while somewhat successful, it was harder to correlate the exit to the food establishment.

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Another minor issue I have with the nav on the handhelds is if you select find->food (or gas) it will return stuff that is closest to you, but some of them you may have just passed.

 

I'm not sure, but it seems that the car nav units don't have this issue. Other than that, I 100 percent agree with puddlewalkers.

 

My wife has used the gps a bit recently for autonav, and she is warning me that she is now addicted to it. Looks like I'm gonna have to buy a car unit now if I want to keep my 60cx.

 

;->

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puddlewalkers, I echo your enthusiasm for the 60csx. Our family just got back from a 9000 mile road and camping trip covering 18 states and 2 canadian provinces. The GPS was indespensible as you used it on the road and trails, especially in large cities for the first time. We never got lost! The exit for gas was especially useful for planning our next fillup. Also, drbugs, I would look at our direction on the interstate and correlate that to direction to gas stations.

Edited by photomaniac
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puddlewalkers, I echo your enthusiasm for the 60csx. Our family just got back from a 9000 mile road and camping trip covering 18 states and 2 canadian provinces. The GPS was indespensible as you used it on the road and trails, especially in large cities for the first time. We never got lost! The exit for gas was especially useful for planning our next fillup. Also, drbugs, I would look at our direction on the interstate and correlate that to direction to gas stations.

 

It's great to hear all this positive feedback.

 

Just upgraded from an E-trex legend I have had for quite a while to the 60csx.

 

I just got City Navigator v8 yesterday and got it loaded up last night. Totally awesome. I think it is cool that I can load both the City Navigator and Topo maps for my area and switch back and forth. We are heading on a trip over labor day and it will come in real handy.

 

Steve

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Another minor issue I have with the nav on the handhelds is if you select find->food (or gas) it will return stuff that is closest to you, but some of them you may have just passed.

 

I'm not sure, but it seems that the car nav units don't have this issue. Other than that, I 100 percent agree with puddlewalkers.

 

My wife has used the gps a bit recently for autonav, and she is warning me that she is now addicted to it. Looks like I'm gonna have to buy a car unit now if I want to keep my 60cx.

 

;->

 

Exact same issue here. Might have to spring for another unit too!

 

-HokieBird

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Another minor issue I have with the nav on the handhelds is if you select find->food (or gas) it will return stuff that is closest to you, but some of them you may have just passed.

True, but I would consider that a feature, not a bug. If junior needs a restroom now, I'd like to know about the one that's 2 blocks behind me, rather than one 13 miles ahead of me. Besides, it displays the distance and direction from your current location, so you can choose what works best for you.

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puddlewalkers - when you were looking for exits, did you ever find the 60csx to report exits from a highway other than the one you were on? that has happened to me several times, on some fairly major highways (not 6 or 8 lane major interstates, but on 4 lane farly important highways - ny/nj/ct area).

 

I know the gpsr knows where I am so that's not the question, and I attributed it to lack of basemap data (e.g. if we don't have exit data for the highway they are on, show them exit data from a nearby highway). In addition to the basemap data seeming to be a bit older than CN, I can't imagine they'd have every highway exit data in the basemap, even for what I consider to be 'important' highways.

 

Did this ever happen to you?

 

When this happened to me, we tried to use the find nearby for a food category, and while somewhat successful, it was harder to correlate the exit to the food establishment.

 

I did not experience that, at least where I caught it. The times I looked for exit information it was accurate. I was on major highways (Interstates mostly) when I was using the feature.

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Another minor issue I have with the nav on the handhelds is if you select find->food (or gas) it will return stuff that is closest to you, but some of them you may have just passed.

True, but I would consider that a feature, not a bug. If junior needs a restroom now, I'd like to know about the one that's 2 blocks behind me, rather than one 13 miles ahead of me. Besides, it displays the distance and direction from your current location, so you can choose what works best for you.

 

I echo the restroom comment.

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