Garmin Colorado vs. 60CSx or ?

[+quintios]

Hi folks,

 

(I'm very new to this website so if I have posted in the wrong forum or missed some FAQ somewhere I apologize; please direct me to the resource I've missed. Thanks.)

 

I've known of geocaching for a while and now that the kids are old enough it's something in which I am quite interested. It looks like a heck of a lot of fun! I've also seen the Wherigo site and that looks quite interesting as well. That being said, I would also like the unit to have along in the car to get from place to place. I've been using Microsoft Streets and Trips for a while so it was a bit of a shock to me that I would have to purchase maps AFTER I bought a GPS (at least the Garmin models, right)? I am also bothered by the fact that if my unit breaks/dies, the maps are tied to it and thus I will have to purchase the same thing twice. From what I've seen, I'll want to add the North American NT maps and the 24K West National Parks.

 

Based on what I've seen at the local REI and from what I've read online it would seem the two models to choose from are the Colorado (400t) and the 60CSx. A friend of mine recently went on a trip to a foreign country with a Colorado and, battery issues notwithstanding, he seemed quite happy with the unit. That being said, I also read a lot of complaints and issues with the Colorado (such as poor battery life) and I am concerned about having a non-functioning or disabled unit. The 60CSx seems to be a solid unit with great reviews but it seems it has fewer features than the Colorado.

 

So, in your opinion, should I get a Colorado or a 60CSx, or is there some other unit that I should be considering? I'd like to keep the unit price around $500 or less, but for the right unit I might be willing to pay more. I don't care about having to add SD cards; they're cheap. I've seen this site but unfortunately I don't quite understand the pros/cons of all the features mentioned in the list.

 

I hope I've given enough information. I appreciate any help and advice you all can offer. Thanks!

[+quintios]

OK, found a couple other threads which essentially cover this topic. I'd still appreciate any advice you all would care to give.

 

(Moderators, when I tried the first post borked the db, so I hit 'submit' again. Delete the other thread I suppose.)

[+storm180]

Well I own both units and both of them have good points. Paperless cache function on the colorado saves me from having to carry around my PDA. There are some locations being way off issues right now but in my opinion I think they are in some of the older units. Mine has not reproduced those issues as of yet. I just got mine about a month ago.

Battery issues, I am not sure what your friend was using for power but the colorado does use more power than the 60CSx. I can get 16+ hours on the 60CSx and about 12 Hours on the colorado. Still not bad. I carry extra batteries so its not really an issue. I use 2700Mah PowerEx batteries for both of my units.

 

The 60CSx is better if you are an avid hiker I would say but the Colorado is defintley geared towards caching without a doubt. I am sure there will be firmware fixes out that will add really cool stuff to the colorado and fix some of its minor issues to make it an excellent unit.

 

So far the device has performed up to specs. I run v 2.51 beta and I haven't seen any issues and I have been out quite a bit with it.

[+quintios]

I appreciate the reply!

 

With the 60CSx, are the Wherigo functions available as they are on the Colorado?

 

I'll search for paperless caching as I am not familiar with how that works.

[+storm180]

I appreciate the reply!

 

With the 60CSx, are the Wherigo functions available as they are on the Colorado?

 

I'll search for paperless caching as I am not familiar with how that works.

 

60CSx does not have the Wherigo software and won't support it either. Paperless caching is just having the ability to have the entire cache page on your gps device instead of carrying around the hints and the notes on a piece of paper.

[+Team LRS]

I have also looked at both units very close......the colorado also doesnt have distance to cache or so i was told.....seems a little odd if its geared for caching.

[+Gob-ler]

I have also looked at both units very close......the colorado also doesnt have distance to cache or so i was told.....seems a little odd if its geared for caching.

 

The Colorado does indeed have distance to the cache. You can set two map field displays. I have the compass arrow on the map page along with distance to the cache. A lot of different combinations that you can set up and run.

 

I too have both units, but my 60csx is really missing me. It does not get used all that much anymore.

[+Team LRS]

I have also looked at both units very close......the colorado also doesnt have distance to cache or so i was told.....seems a little odd if its geared for caching.

 

The Colorado does indeed have distance to the cache. You can set two map field displays. I have the compass arrow on the map page along with distance to the cache. A lot of different combinations that you can set up and run.

 

I too have both units, but my 60csx is really missing me. It does not get used all that much anymore.

 

Thanks for that......i stand corrected......im still in 2 minds as to which unit to go for.

[+v2lek]

About paperless.

 

if you have fairly advanced cellphone (anything with symbian or windows mobile on it) you dont need extra PDA with you.

 

I found that GSAK has nice option of converting your database to html files.

 

So i converted my pocket queries into html files using GSAK, connected my phone to the computer, transferred all data to memory card and then in phone browser bookmarked the place.

 

So I'm real happy with my 60csx - its reliable and accurate. And when I am in trouble or in a need of additional hints - cache logs, etc - I just take out my mobile phone, fire up browser - choose bookmarks - geocache and thats it. It looks like this:

 

But I do admit that all the data in the same place would be a bit more comfortable. But for me its not worth the extra cost right now, and there really seems to be too many problems with colorado right now. In the future - I'm sure it will be superior unit. Alltough - I'm hoping to use my 60CSx so long that my next gpsr will be whatever replaces colorado

[bmirak]

Here is an excellent comparison between the Colorado and the 60csx. Colorado v 60csx

 

Generally speaking, the Colorado is superior to the 60csx regarding geocaching and car navigation. The CO does have some bugs and some missing features, but they don't seem to bother most of the geocaching enthusiasts on this site.

 

I think the Colorado 300 is a smarter choice than the 400t. For about $100 more than the 300, the 400t has more internal memory and preloaded topo maps (but NOT 24K topos!). For less than that $100 premium, you could buy a 4gb microsd card and a topo mapset for your 300, AND you'll be able to use those topo maps on your computer. You cannot use the 400t's preloaded topo maps on the computer.

[+quintios]

I think the Colorado 300 is a smarter choice than the 400t. For about $100 more than the 300, the 400t has more internal memory and preloaded topo maps (but NOT 24K topos!). For less than that $100 premium, you could buy a 4gb microsd card and a topo mapset for your 300, AND you'll be able to use those topo maps on your computer. You cannot use the 400t's preloaded topo maps on the computer.

 

That's an excellent point. I appreciate you pointing that out. Any more thoughts on these units? What about units from Magellan?

[+storm180]

I think the Colorado 300 is a smarter choice than the 400t. For about $100 more than the 300, the 400t has more internal memory and preloaded topo maps (but NOT 24K topos!). For less than that $100 premium, you could buy a 4gb microsd card and a topo mapset for your 300, AND you'll be able to use those topo maps on your computer. You cannot use the 400t's preloaded topo maps on the computer.

 

That's an excellent point. I appreciate you pointing that out. Any more thoughts on these units? What about units from Magellan?

 

I used to be a hardcore magellan fan but I have finally seen the light. I own a Explorist 600 which was my first handheld GPSr. It was a good unit, however there are a ton of issues for some people in regards to WAAS (provided accuracy) which some US units cannot get waas anymore because of a change in the waas satellite. Magellan hardcoded the satellite info into their units, they decided they were not going to provide a US firmware fix for the units. There is a EU firmware patch that enables waas again but some units cannot do the upgrade. Then they retired all the explorists just this year and the tech support is very very bad. I am even getting rid of my magellan roadmates that I have for a tom tom 930 and garmin nuvi 760. Just tired of dealing with people from india on tech support. I spent more time saying what and can you repeat that.

 

I check out a triton 2000 by magellan prior to me buying my colorado and was not happy with it. It seemed very slow, bulky, locked up a lot, I have lots of various issues. I did like the touchscreen. I thought it was a pain to set up for geocaching. So it went back to the store and I bought my colorado.

 

Now during all this my better half has been using her 60CSx ever since I got my first explorist and she is very happy with it. Very strong and reliable unit. Well tested.

Edited June 16, 2008 by storm180