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Getting 60csx-any tips?


robcaryh

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Well,the wife will kill me,but we both agreed it will get us out of the house and to get some exercise,so i went to amazon and got the Garmin 60csx just now since it seems to be the current best GPS unit to get.

 

It will be here tomorrow,any tips or other things I should get or start thinking about tonight?

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If you hadn't already bought the unit, I would have suggested you save a couple of bucks and get the 60cx instead (the one without the compass and altimeter). Unless you really think you'd use those features. I thought I would use the built-in compass, but it's so ornery that I leave it turned off -- I seem to get better results when I'm moving and the thing calculates my bearing based on position.

 

If you don't have a city street mapping CD, get one! You'll find the unit SO much more useful and you will use it frequently, not just for geocaching but for driving all over the place.

 

Get a case. If you smash the rubber rounded buttons the wrong way, they can break off. I did that with my 60csx, and it only just got back from Garmin yesterday. They were really good about it, though! Even though it was clearly accidental damage and my own fault, they gave me a replacement unit under warranty!

 

Otherwise, enjoy the unit!

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Sweet,i cant wait to get this thing.Last gps i had was 3 or 4 years ago,i think it was a color legend that i paid over $350 for at the time,i was trying to find a cache and the dadgum thing had me driving around residential streets a mile from where i was supposed to be. Trees killed it's reception.

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I have been using a 60 CSx since they came out, in fact my wife and I both have one. Have never used the altimeter, but we do use the compass. I have it set up so it switches to the magnetic compass about the time we are out of the car and ready to start walking. I find it handy to be able to get a direction to the cache without moving. Sometimes it is handy to stop, look at the direction and study the terrain for easiest way to proceed. Having said that the compass is MUCH more tempremental than the one on my older eTrex Vista C. I calibrate it at the start of the day each time we are caching. Normally that is sufficient, although a few times I have had to re-calibrate it during the day. Some users report more serious calibration problems, but this works on both of ours. If yours needs calibration more than once a day on a regular basis, send it back and try again. It's personal preference, but I like the sensor model.

 

PS. Check software and chipset software versions and update to latest if needed.

Edited by vaetanone
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My 60CSx compass works great. I had an electronic compass on my Vista, and made sure my next GPS also included one. It's been my experience that compass issues are usually due to user error, or simply not understanding how they work. For example, once you enter the "circle of error", the directional arrow will start to jump around. People think there's something wrong with it. However, if you used pocket compass to shoot the direction based on the current GPS bearing, it also would be jumping around. But people with pocket compasses, or no compass at all, have already put their GPS on their belt-clip and started looking around for the cache.

 

If you take the 20 seconds necessary to calibrate it before you start out, and learn to hold it level, it works fine.

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If you take the 20 seconds necessary to calibrate it before you start out, and learn to hold it level, it works fine.

 

Right. But I didn't pay the extra $50 so I could stand and spin in circles at the start of every caching trip. And no matter how level I hold it, it never seems to be quite happy -- and I need to sit there for a few seconds while it levels itself.

 

Forget it. I leave it turned off, and I use the bearing from the GPS calculations.

 

As far as "user error" goes, I know how to use it, it's just a pain to calibrate and hold it still while it gets its bearings, and it uses up battery faster to boot.

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OK, I guess I will type this in.

 

The problem with the compass on the 60CSx is that it must be held flat. The reception of the GPS drops appreciably when it is held flat. This causes the GPS location to wander and anything you are gaining by taking a bearing is lost due to the GPS accuracy degradation.

 

The best appraoch for geocaching is to hold the unit vertically with the compass off above shoulder height and move a little to align the navigation arrow. It provides a much better navigation. On the Vista Cx, this is not a problem as the GPS wants to be held flat.

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Thats good. Can the compass be disabled?...

Yes you can turn it off easily. I also find the compass of very little use.

Press and hold down the the "PAGE" button about 2 seconds while in the compass or map screens to turn the compass on and off at will. I have the compass off until I'm within 100 feet or so of the cache. The electronic compass eats up a lot of battery life and this practice significanly improves longevity. I still prefer having it than not.

Edited by Chuy!
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"The problem with the compass on the 60CSx is that it must be held flat. The reception of the GPS drops appreciably when it is held flat. This causes the GPS location to wander and anything you are gaining by taking a bearing is lost due to the GPS accuracy degradation."

 

So would using an extra antenna get round this problem, by allowing you to have the unit horizontal to use the compass, and simultaneously getting a strong signal from the plug-in antenna?

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I've left mine on top of the car - twice, but pulled over several blocks away when I realized what I had done and found the GPS still up there, on both occasions. Once, I also left my 60cs on top of the bed rail of my pickup. When I pulled over, it was not there, but had fallen into the bed - whew!

 

Which brings me to recommend a GPS cover. For my 60cs I use Gilsson covers. For my Etrex Vista, I prefer the Garmin design.

 

r60n.jpg

 

You won't regret a cover! It protects the glass and buttons.

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OK, I guess I will type this in.

 

The problem with the compass on the 60CSx is that it must be held flat. The reception of the GPS drops appreciably when it is held flat. This causes the GPS location to wander and anything you are gaining by taking a bearing is lost due to the GPS accuracy degradation.

 

The best appraoch for geocaching is to hold the unit vertically with the compass off above shoulder height and move a little to align the navigation arrow. It provides a much better navigation. On the Vista Cx, this is not a problem as the GPS wants to be held flat.

If you changed "appreciably" to "slightly", I'd agree with you. I've never noticed it drop enough to actually lose a single satellite lock. And since it only takes a few seconds to get a direction reading, it's never in the horizontal position very long.

 

That said, I don't know why don't adopt the swivel antenna that's on the GPS II and GPS III units. You could have it pointing straight up for auto navigation, and at a right angle for hand-held use.

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If you changed "appreciably" to "slightly", I'd agree with you. I've never noticed it drop enough to actually lose a single satellite lock. And since it only takes a few seconds to get a direction reading, it's never in the horizontal position very long.

 

Not enough to lose a lock. Accuracy drops about one third to a half. For Geocaching, this can be huge when you are close to a cache.

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Thats good. Can the compass be disabled?...

Yes you can turn it off easily. I also find the compass of very little use.

Press and hold down the the "PAGE" button about 2 seconds while in the compass or map screens to turn the compass on and off at will. I have the compass off until I'm within 100 feet or so of the cache. The electronic compass eats up a lot of battery life and this practice significanly improves longevity. I still prefer having it than not.

 

i was wondering how much battery life does it eat up if we use leave our compass on? do they mention that in the manual or something? what about WAAS? does it eat even more than the compass? i really like to know this question, so i could make a decision to turn both off if necessarly

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Well,the wife will kill me,but we both agreed it will get us out of the house and to get some exercise,so i went to amazon and got the Garmin 60csx just now since it seems to be the current best GPS unit to get.

 

It will be here tomorrow,any tips or other things I should get or start thinking about tonight?

 

The CSX will give more accurate altitude and a vertical trip computer. Were as the CX doesn't have the vertical data. i.e. profile,total gain,total descent,etc. The compass is nothing special of course cause you can by one for a few bucks but the all the other stuff makes it worth an extra 50. Also If you go to sell it you will get more as it's a csx.

 

Compare the manuals for the two units at Garmin. You will see all the additional vertical data offered.

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i was wondering how much battery life does it eat up if we use leave our compass on? do they mention that in the manual or something? what about WAAS? does it eat even more than the compass? i really like to know this question, so i could make a decision to turn both off if necessarly

Strangely enough, the compass being on or off doesn't seem to significantly effect 60CSx battery life (on the 60CS by contrast, turning on the compass increases the battery drain by about 50%). Don't know why this is, but several of us tested this early on when the "x" units first came out. WAAS on or off doesn't significantly effect battery life either, but frequent use of the backlight can shorten battery life.

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The problem with the compass on the 60CSx is that it must be held flat. The reception of the GPS drops appreciably when it is held flat. This causes the GPS location to wander and anything you are gaining by taking a bearing is lost due to the GPS accuracy degradation.

Please explain. This makes no sense to me. The satellites are flying all over the place and you are not pointing the antenna at any one satellite. Which way is up or horizontal with respect to all of the visible sattelites? My compass works great compared to my old method of bearing and compass. Sorry to hear yours doesn't. Do you have metal clip. I saw someone suggesting a case with a big metal clip. You have a metal plate in your head? :o
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The problem with the compass on the 60CSx is that it must be held flat. The reception of the GPS drops appreciably when it is held flat. This causes the GPS location to wander and anything you are gaining by taking a bearing is lost due to the GPS accuracy degradation.

Please explain. This makes no sense to me. The satellites are flying all over the place and you are not pointing the antenna at any one satellite. Which way is up or horizontal with respect to all of the visible sattelites? My compass works great compared to my old method of bearing and compass. Sorry to hear yours doesn't. Do you have metal clip. I saw someone suggesting a case with a big metal clip. You have a metal plate in your head? :o

 

The antenna on the 60CSx is mutidirectional so it gets its best reception pointing to the sky. When you hold it flat to use the compass, only "half" the antenna is seeing the sky so, as Red 90 points out, reception decreases. You can experiment with this first hand for yourself and decide whether "appreciably" or "somewhat" is the appropriate description of the accuracy loss. Hold your 60CSx up over your head with the antenna facing straight up for a few minutes and note the reported accuracy. Then hold it level in front of you as if you were using the compass and note how the accuracy changes. (during this test, if you hold the unit up over your head (really stretch) the metal plate in your skull should have little impact on the unit accuracy ;) )

 

I have had good luck with the compass on my new 60CSx. As another poster described, I leave it off until I'm within 100 - 200 feet of the cache and then turn it on, get the bearing, choose a landmark to walk to and then watch the distance as reported by the GPS. The unit has to be LEVEL to get good results with the compass. You can watch the compass needle shift as you tilt the unit slightly from side to side.

 

I also agree that even if you don't use/like the compass, hikers will appreciate the barometric altimeter. I have found it to be much more accurate and consistent that using the GPS to determine elevation.

 

If you just use the unit for Geocaching, neither function is all that important and you can save yourself some green by leaving out the S.

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The problem with the compass on the 60CSx is that it must be held flat. The reception of the GPS drops appreciably when it is held flat. This causes the GPS location to wander and anything you are gaining by taking a bearing is lost due to the GPS accuracy degradation.

Please explain. This makes no sense to me. The satellites are flying all over the place and you are not pointing the antenna at any one satellite. Which way is up or horizontal with respect to all of the visible sattelites? My compass works great compared to my old method of bearing and compass. Sorry to hear yours doesn't. Do you have metal clip. I saw someone suggesting a case with a big metal clip. You have a metal plate in your head? ;)

 

The antenna on the 60CSx is mutidirectional so it gets its best reception pointing to the sky. When you hold it flat to use the compass, only "half" the antenna is seeing the sky so, as Red 90 points out, reception decreases. You can experiment with this first hand for yourself and decide whether "appreciably" or "somewhat" is the appropriate description of the accuracy loss. Hold your 60CSx up over your head with the antenna facing straight up for a few minutes and note the reported accuracy. Then hold it level in front of you as if you were using the compass and note how the accuracy changes. (during this test, if you hold the unit up over your head (really stretch) the metal plate in your skull should have little impact on the unit accuracy :o )

 

I have had good luck with the compass on my new 60CSx. As another poster described, I leave it off until I'm within 100 - 200 feet of the cache and then turn it on, get the bearing, choose a landmark to walk to and then watch the distance as reported by the GPS. The unit has to be LEVEL to get good results with the compass. You can watch the compass needle shift as you tilt the unit slightly from side to side.

 

I also agree that even if you don't use/like the compass, hikers will appreciate the barometric altimeter. I have found it to be much more accurate and consistent that using the GPS to determine elevation.

 

If you just use the unit for Geocaching, neither function is all that important and you can save yourself some green by leaving out the S.

Thanks!!! You learn something every day. I am a ham/engineer so I did a Google on quad helix gain. On http://www.gpsinformation.org/joe/mwj_qfha_paper.pdf Fig 2 it is actually a 120 degree cone(+- 60) with 4 db gain. So you were right except two thirds of the sky has low gain not a half.

EDIT link was for another post I was doing.

Edited by John E Cache
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You also asked about other things to get? Premium membership, GSAK, Palm Pilot, Cachmate.

 

Get GSAK to load, manage, sort and send cache coordinates to your Garmin. Also to send pocket inquiries to cachmate.

 

Buy the premium membership so you can do pocket inquiries.

 

Buy a palm pilot so you can view pocket inquiries

 

Get Cachmate to transfer the pocket inquiries to your palm pilot.

 

 

Bought my 60cs in late June. Bought the Palm Pilot off e-bay, and signed up for the rest one week ago. Regret that I didn't do it 4 months ago!

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