GPSmap 60csx and batteries

[beauxp]

Anyone out there use Energizer e2 Lithium or e2 Titanium batteries with their GPSmap 60csx. I currently use energizer rechargables and get about 19 hours out of them. Any experience with these others?

[+Prime Suspect]

Lithium batteries are good long-term/rare-use conditions - backup battery in my alarm clock or weather radio. Can't imagine spending the extra money on them for my GPS. Plus there's the environmental issue of single-use batteries.

[+scotte]

No idea on those batteries. I've been using NiMh rechargables some of which I've been using for 4 or 5 years and I am still getting excellent life out of. They work great and pay for themselves quickly. I've got a Maha smart charger, which probably helps.

[+LeonW]

I love my GPS60CSX and will only use lithium to please her! She is worth any amount spend to protect and sustain her. If you need to save some money - don't buy beer or cigarettes.

 

LeonW

[Hertzog]

Anyone out there use Energizer e2 Lithium or e2 Titanium batteries with their GPSmap 60csx. I currently use energizer rechargables and get about 19 hours out of them. Any experience with these others?

You can expect to get about 30 hours out of a pair of the e2 lithiums (with minimal use of backlight). Unfortunately, their nominal initial voltage is a little too high for the 60CSx's voltage sensor and it will usually come up and immediately shut down (screen will slowly fade) when you try to use them. You can get around that by using them in a flashlight or something equivalent for a few seconds to knock the voltage down; after that they work fine.

 

Don't know if the units coming out now are as sensitive; Garmin might have adjusted their design by now, but if so they haven't advertised it and offered to retrofit earlier units.

[+Sputnik 57]

I normally use NiMH rechargables. Last fall, hiking down from Mount Harvard in a snow storm, they gave up the ghost after only about 12 hours of use. Fortunately, I had some lithiums in my pack. Popped them in and found the trail. Lithiums are light weight and work well in cold weather, but I agree with Prime Suspect. Great in extreme cases, but I don't use them every day.

[Clutch Cargo]

Don't know if the units coming out now are as sensitive; Garmin might have adjusted their design by now, but if so they haven't advertised it and offered to retrofit earlier units.

The new units have a battery setting for the lithium batteries. There is one for alkaline, NiMh, and lithium. I think it lets the unit calibrate the battery meter to the initial and ending voltages.

[+Sputnik 57]

The new units have a battery setting for the lithium batteries. There is one for alkaline, NiMh, and lithium. I think it lets the unit calibrate the battery meter to the initial and ending voltages.

Lithium batteries have a very flat voltage curve for most of their life, with a very fast decline at the end. If you run lithiums but don't tell the GPSr, your battery indicator will show a full charge for a very long time, and then drop like a rock with no warning. Telling the unit it has lithiums should make the battery indicator more accurate. AFAIK, the setting has no effect on how the unit actually operates.

[Hertzog]

Don't know if the units coming out now are as sensitive; Garmin might have adjusted their design by now, but if so they haven't advertised it and offered to retrofit earlier units.

The new units have a battery setting for the lithium batteries. There is one for alkaline, NiMh, and lithium. I think it lets the unit calibrate the battery meter to the initial and ending voltages.

The so-called "lithium" setting was added in an early firmware update, and if they intended it to solve this problem, it didn't. For one thing, they call it the "Lithium Ion" setting; the e2 lithium batteries are not "lithium ion" and the 60CSx can't use lithium ions, so it only added confusion to add this. The problem seems to be in the hardware and not correctible with a firmware change (else I suspect they would have corrected it by now). My guess is whoever designed the voltage regulator didn't allow enough margin for the slightly higher lithium voltages (it's very marginal; some e2's on the low edge of the nominal range will work right out of the package).