vtmtnman Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 I've been using my Garmin GPS II since 2000.I bought a GPS V here in Iraq recently.I love my V and II.I've had very good experience with Garmin units.I use my units for Road trips,Hunting,Fishing,Hiking,and Caching.Pretty much a wide range of uses.So I cut my teeth on GPS quite a while ago,and have plenty of experience operating them(Garmin units anyways). My doubts start here.Recently someone over here purchased a new Gamin 60csx.WOW,like night and day with the ol' GPS V!Did some practice caching with it (had a buddy ride the wheeler out into the desert here on base and hide some stuff for me to find and vise versa).Outstanding unit..Friggen thing accuires sats like lighting!So I decided to lose the II,keep the V as backup and look in to a Magellan XL or 600,OR the 60CSX.I've read reviews on Amazon,Tiger direct and other sites,and it seems the xl/600 has about equal bad/Good reviews on it.The Garmin has like 90% good reviews on it.I also think I'd rather stick with AA's in the unit,since all you have to do is change em' out instead of find an outlet and wait.Last time I checked Black Spruce or Tamarack don't grow 120v outlets LOL. Anyone have any input on this subject?Blast away at Garmin or Magellan.I want to know real experience and facts.I'm curious about Magellan units,but if everyone's having units crap out or whatnot,I'll stick with Garmin. Cache on! Quote Link to comment
+storm180 Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 I have both a garmin 60csx and a Magellan 600. I use one and my better half uses the other while geocaching. No problems with either of them. Love them both Storm180 Quote Link to comment
Team Sidewinder Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 First thing first. Thank you for serving our country over there. IMHO go with the Garmin as their customer service is just the best there is and you won't be sorry. ' Quote Link to comment
+RugerPilot345 Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 I am in Kuwait and have been doing my research and caching too.....I have had 3 - Garmin's and 2 - Magellan's and after all my playing around with them and caching and flying I chose a Garmin 60CSx while home on R & R and like you said...WOW....acquisition time and pinpoint accuracy is great. I have not used the new 600, the reviews are good but I have always more fun and better success with the Garmin series and I agree with Sidewinder the Customer Service @ Garmin can not be beat. Go 60 CSx you will not be sorry........!! Be safe and keep your head on the swivel!! Cool!! -- RugerPilot345 Quote Link to comment
vtmtnman Posted March 29, 2007 Author Share Posted March 29, 2007 First thing first. Thank you for serving our country over there. IMHO go with the Garmin as their customer service is just the best there is and you won't be sorry. ' I'm a contractor here just so you know...But I am a former Marine,and I do support the world's finest Quote Link to comment
+ArtieD Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 60 CSx all the way...I have one and it is a treat to use. Quote Link to comment
vtmtnman Posted March 30, 2007 Author Share Posted March 30, 2007 Don't everyone jump on this topic at once now.... I see you out there lurking!!! More than one person has experience with both units...I KNOW you do!Please share. Quote Link to comment
+bill50here Posted March 30, 2007 Share Posted March 30, 2007 I have the 500 exporist from magellan and several area geocachers run the 60csx.I luv my magellan...but the Garmin rules belive me it does!!!!!! As for powewr the garmin has it over magellan switching batts easy magellan find the outlet to charge and by the way.BUYITCHEAP has portaqble power outlets on sale,can be used anywhere,but it needs ac within reach.(LOL)seriously the garmin is better portable and works out better for people who shove batts in and have em to spare.Magellan does make a drycell pack but it lasts a whoping 3-4 hours out there.SOOOOOOOOOOOO!oh and by the way thanks for being there for us.YOU MAKE US PROUD back here at home!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment
+Cacheoholic Posted March 30, 2007 Share Posted March 30, 2007 I’ve owned 42 GPSr’s including a 60CSx and eXplorist 600 but no eXplorist XL. I prefer the 60CSx over all GPSr’s I’ve ever had. I still have and use the 60CSx and have sold my eXplorist 600. Hey, thanks for you service! Quote Link to comment
Riggs1 Posted March 30, 2007 Share Posted March 30, 2007 Just got my 60CX a couple weeks ago. Already used it on the Harley & the truck. Next weekend in the boat & ATV'n. Love it. (still have the 12XL also) I did about 2-3 weeks of research & comparisons on many many units. You'll come to find out what I did. Quote Link to comment
stutzismydog Posted March 30, 2007 Share Posted March 30, 2007 No experience with the Garmin 60CSX but I have a Magellan eXplorest XL and think that the GPS is one of the best on the market. AA battery's, 2 Gig SD chip, LARGE color screen and a good file system in the OS and the satellite acquisition is awesome. The only thing that I am disappointed with is the new ToPo3D software not being as detailed in off road features as the older ToPo V4.20 that will not work with the eXplorest series. Hoping that Magellan will come out with more detailed ToPo software SOON. Thank you for being there for us. Quote Link to comment
freeday Posted March 30, 2007 Share Posted March 30, 2007 I have/had ex600 ex-XL 60CSX Overall - I would take the gpsmap60csx with eneloop batteries Quote Link to comment
vtmtnman Posted April 2, 2007 Author Share Posted April 2, 2007 Magellan fans you're not lookin' good here... Quote Link to comment
+EScout Posted April 2, 2007 Share Posted April 2, 2007 I have the 500 exporist from magellan and several area geocachers run the 60csx.I luv my magellan...but the Garmin rules belive me it does!!!!!! As for powewr the garmin has it over magellan switching batts easy magellan find the outlet to charge and by the way.BUYITCHEAP has portaqble power outlets on sale,can be used anywhere,but it needs ac within reach.(LOL)seriously the garmin is better portable and works out better for people who shove batts in and have em to spare.Magellan does make a drycell pack but it lasts a whoping 3-4 hours out there.SOOOOOOOOOOOO!oh and by the way thanks for being there for us.YOU MAKE US PROUD back here at home!!!!!!! Regarding the battery, I believe that the eX4,5,500s have a great system. You can charge from car, AC or computer USB. You do not need an external charger. Think of your cell phone or PDA. How would you like pulling out batteries and charging them every day. The eXplorists charge like your cell phone. I just drop it in a cradle and it starts charging and stops when done. (Re the AAA battery clip: I got over 10 hours on Alkalines, but this clip should be considered only as backup.) The best feature of the eXplorists is the memory/file system. No other GPSr comes close. If you like working with Tracks, routes, and multiple waypoint files this is the one for you. There are two drives, the internal memory and the SD card. You can copy or move files or waypoints from one drive to the other, which means that in the field, you can move files from one GPSr to another without a computer. Connected to your computer as a USB device, you can copy, move, save, work with files on either drive to your computer. There are a lot more things to do with your GPSr than geocache, and these features have great utility. Quote Link to comment
+Gadget_Cacher Posted April 2, 2007 Share Posted April 2, 2007 Magellan fans you're not lookin' good here... I just got the explorist 400 and i love it. With the SD card i can save a lot of detailed map info the lith-io batter lasts a long, long time, with the ability to throw in some AAA's if needed. The map send software, for me at least, has been great. spent 10.00 on it and I have added so much info to it since i have the extra memory available that i dont even have to worry about going back to my computer. As the previous poster said you can sawp between different GPSr units with the SD and you can also switch your maps on the 400 in no time. Just upload what ever you need to the SD card and in a few button presses you have whatever map you want in full detail right at your finger tips. I am personally glad that i got this unit. Of course i know little to nothing about the garmin units so i really would like to hear more about them. I do know that the legend series just want for me since it doenst ahve the SD card capability. Quote Link to comment
+Cacheoholic Posted April 2, 2007 Share Posted April 2, 2007 Garmin Legend Cx has mico SD memory. Any “x” series has expandable memory. “C” denotes color display and “x” denotes expandable memory. Quote Link to comment
Pacific NW Posted April 2, 2007 Share Posted April 2, 2007 Just bought a Garmin GPSMAP 60Cx here. With the Cx or the CSx (adds elec. compass and barometric pressure sensor) you can't go wrong. I chose the Cx model because I don't need an electronic compass (some users report it's a pain to calibrate & is a battery drain) and I don't need barometric pressure (users report it can't be turned off, also an additional battery drain). It's also a little cheaper. Both the 60Cx and 60CSx have the new SIRF chip in them which means super fast satellite lock and great accuracy. I was amazed at how quick even fresh out of the box. Another +1 for Garmin's customer service and support. I sent them an e-mail with a question one night and it was answered THAT night. I was impressed. Also the online updates and downloads are great. Quote Link to comment
vtmtnman Posted April 3, 2007 Author Share Posted April 3, 2007 (edited) Yeah I was looking at them again on Tiger Direct,the cx might be the better way for me if I go with Garmin.Still unsure with the Magellan choice though.I like the XL,but the 500 is good too. Edited April 3, 2007 by vtmtnman Quote Link to comment
+paulamur Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 I have used a explorist 400 and a 60CX side by side. The Garmin performed better, kept a better lock on the satelites. That was about a year ago, since then Garmin has refined the software on these units, and I'm more impressed now with how it works. I don't think you would be dissappointed with the Garmin. Quote Link to comment
joeytoth Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I've been using the Explorest XL for 4 years now. It's been to Japan, the Ukraine, Israel and high up in the Mountain Warfare training school in Bridgeport CA. Ive never had a problem with it until this weekend. While doing a little USMC LandNav course I was unable to save new points. Restarted the unit a couple of times to no avail. Then I noticed all of my POIs were gone, deleted from the memory. I have no idea what happened. This morning I fired it up an my points are still gone but I can save new points. Its a good thing that I had finished the Land Nav course prior to losing the points. So all in all I've had a great experience with my XL. If anyone can think of what happened to my POIs let me know. Semper Fi Quote Link to comment
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