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Garmin Gpsmap 60c Or Cs


bmk1

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I'm a non upgrader and I'm going to pass on the 60 series.

 

1) They don't have blue tooth and I see this as handy in the future

2) Tracklock issues.

3) Not enough memory for my travel range.

4) Only 1000 waypoints? I've got 2000 caches in my range to track.

5) My GPS V still does the job.

 

If I were buying new today a 60 would be an easy choice. But I'm caching now and have the luxery of waiting. Besides there are some things on the Magellans that Garmin could learn from (3 axis compas among others). Don't tell any of those evil Magellan users I said this.

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I have 60C, I was wandering wich way to go, and I decided that the extra hassle with calibration is not worth the price. Of course you can get some really nice compass from Recta that will not eat your batteries and still work long after your GPS will be long forgotten. It's really not a price decision the difference between the two is really not that much.

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I've had my Garmin Legend for about 3 years and love it. Now I also have my new 60C. What a great unit this is! I absolutely love it. It is quantum leap over my Legend. Tons of memory for loading maps, color screen, many features that I will not list here, auto-routing, and the button operation is very comfortable. I will say the G-60C is a superior product overall. Go for it.

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I've got the C. A nice piece of equipment. If I'd known they were going to make a 76C, I MIGHT have waited for it to come out. Twice the memory of the 60C would've been a nice feature. Still, I'm happy with the 60C and it has a lot of nice little features that're pretty cool (calculator, alarm clock, games, etc.)

Edited by Neo_Geo
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I have 60C, I was wandering wich way to go, and I decided that the extra hassle with calibration is not worth the price. Of course you can get some really nice compass from Recta that will not eat your batteries and still work long after your GPS will be long forgotten. It's really not a price decision the difference between the two is really not that much.

 

I already have a very nice compass. I had the Magellan platinum with the compass and altimeter. I was not impressed with those features. I am not looking to compare between the 60c and the 60cs. I just figured that they are very similar so I wanted input from people who own either model. Thanks for your input.

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I've got the C. A nice piece of equipment. If I'd known they were going to make a 76C, I MIGHT have waited for it to come out. Twice the memory of the 60C would've been a nice feature.

I would like the extra memory of the 76c but I use mine for hunting more than anything so I like the compact size of the 60c.

Thanks

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I have the cs, havent had any problems. i have not done the software upgrades yet thought id wait till they are done changing things. i had a 76 and like the size and handling of this unit better. i dont use auto routing, so i put in topo maps, was able to put all of il,in, most of wi and some of upmich. thought if i went out of these areas ( i doubt) id just trade out maps. the usb connection made the loading of the maps a lot faster, i think it took around 5-6 mins. A lot quicker than the serial port.

overall i like it. i started with the II+, got a rino 120 (still have) then the 76s. sold the 76s to buy this one. a 3 axis compas would be nice, but if you have a reg. compas its only 1 axis. i use the alt. sensor as a baro. (not much alt change in central il.) but i like to keep a watch on possible weather changes.

Bronz

Edited by bronzback
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I have the 60CS. The compass doesn't seem to be much of a battery hog, but I only turn it on when I need it. Overall, the unit is tremendously easy on batteries. My 2200mah rechargeables seem to be lasting forever.

 

I haven't had any lockups or bugs since the first week I got the unit. I've updated the s/w twice since then. The early s/w was buggy, and I suppose there's still a bug here or there in the latest update, but I haven't seen any (though I don't like how topo/contour lines are now displayed... but Garmin says they'll fix that and it's not really a "bug"). The display is terrific, the antenna works great, and autorouting works great, too. 56MB was enough memory for me. I live near DC, and loaded all of DC, to the west to halfway into WV, out to the east to the Atlantic Ocean, on the north side to PA, MD, DE, and south to Richmond, plus 24K topo of all of Shenandoah NP (a very large park) and the Harper's Ferry WV area -- all in all, a very large amount of data.

 

I'm very satisfied!

Edited by 4x5shooter
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The biggest advantage to the CS that I have not seen posted here is this:

 

Hiking off trail on snow last week... needed to stop to look at GPS fairly often to get back on course. Everytime I stopped to look at the gps, the map page and the arrow page became useless because I had stopped moving. In fact, if the map page is set to orient to track instead of "North up", the map has a tendency to drift while you're standing still.

 

Here's the point where the CS's compass comes in handy. Under set-up, set the compass to automatically turn on when speed is less than 2 mph for more than 15 seconds. This way, if you're moving, you conserve battery power. But when you stop moving to look at your GPS (as most people need to do), all the functions continue to work. The map stays positioned relative to your bearing and course, and the arrow page does the same.

 

The big deal is- you need to stop to look at your GPS. Without an electronic compass communicating with the reciever, a GPS has no way of knowing the direction you're facing when you're not moving.

 

This certainly does not mean you shouldn't still carry a trusty magnetic compass. Absolutely necessary!! But the CS has the added functionality of direction, bearing and course information when you are standing still, that non compass GPS's simply cannot perform.

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I have a Vista and a V, and now I also have a brand new 60C. The Vista has the compass and altimeter, and I rarely used those, so I decided against the CS and saved a little greenery. I must say that in my opinion, the 60C is hands down the winner over the Vista or the V, the main reasons being USB, more memory, and color, of course. I can't see myself even using the others again.

 

Howie

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I've had my 60c for a week now, upgrading from my old GPS III+ that I've used for years. The big reason for the upgrade was for the additional memory and speed in redraws, etc. Works like a champ so far, no problems.

 

I chose the 60c over the cs because of the listed battery life difference, the 60c having 30 hours and the 60sc having 20 hours.

 

The altimeter is an ok addition although hopefully the GPS fix will be good enough to render that redundant and I already have an altimeter in my Jeep and in one of my watches, the latter of which is good for +/- 10 feet.

 

The built-in compass is a nice addition but I always have a regular compass (Silva Ranger) with my GPS gear as well as a keychain type compass attached to the 60c.

 

In short, for me I would rather have the 50% greater battery life in the 60c than the two additional capabilities of the 60cs, which duplicated things I already had. YMMV!!!!!!

 

The color, geocaching features, etc. in the 60c/cs are nice but I don't consider them important features. Same for the increased drawing/panning speed etc. If it wasn't for the fact that the 60c has vastly more memory than my III+ I wouldn't have bothered to upgrade. I also considered the 76c/cs for even more memory but I prefered the form factor of the 60.

 

Everyone's going to evaluate their purchases with different criteria, but those were the main ones for me and I'm happy with my choice. That and the fact that the 60c was a birthday gift from my wife who knew she would then inherit my III+. :lol:

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I'm having a problem with my 60c that I just got. I've got a yellow etrex also. While I was using the newly aquired 60c it put me 25ft off the cache. After giving up with the cache owner sitting there laughing at me I broke out the yellow etrex it had mr within 5 feet of the cache. This was very upsetting I thought the 60c was supposed to be acurate when the etrex was closer. Some one please help me I love all the perks of the 60c except the acuracy.What am I doing wrong? :o

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I'm having a problem with my 60c that I just got. I've got a yellow etrex also. While I was using the newly aquired 60c it put me 25ft off the cache. After giving up with the cache owner sitting there laughing at me I broke out the yellow etrex it had mr within 5 feet of the cache. This was very upsetting I thought the 60c was supposed to be acurate when the etrex was closer. Some one please help me I love all the perks of the 60c except the acuracy.What am I doing wrong? :D

The first time I went out with my new 60c, I was a little disappointed. I experienced the same thing you mentioned in your post. I had the hardest time finding the first cache with it, and the cache should have been an easy find. It's all good now.

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I just switched from a MeriColor to the 60cs, I have only good things to say about it. I am still on a Garmin "learning curve", but the features, particularly the geocaching ones, are great. I already feel comfortable with it, and believe I made an excellent choice.

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My 60CS has been stellar. I don't have anything other than a PPC w/Bluetooth GPSr to compare it with, but it's stellar none the less. It has guided me to within feet of each cache I've sought out, but for some reason it has me going through all manner of creeks and such. Hmm, maybe its time to get a Topo product... :D

 

The form factor is fantastic.

The color screen looks even better in bright sunlight.

Battery life is fantastic. I just did a 5hr drive from OK to my home in TX on just one bar showing the entire trip!

My Socket/Emtac Bluetooth unit will pull in a good amount of satellites, but the 60CS usually gets two more. Great reception!

 

Money well spent!

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Went out today and still had problems the wife used the Yellow etrex I used the High dollar 60c because I did not want her to break it. Still had problems zeroing in some were right on most were 50+ feet away. I'm not liking it so far. For the price I paid for it I could buy almost4 etrex and get closer to the cache. As for firmware it has the latest version. :unsure:

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I went from the Vista to the 60CS. I haven't had any problems with it. I did use the electronic compass on the Vista when geocaching, so I definitely went for the 60CS. I only turn it on when I need it, the battery life is MUCH MUCH better than the Vista.

 

I am running the latest firmware, but didn't have any problems before I downloaded that...

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Went out today and still had problems the wife used the Yellow etrex I used the High dollar 60c because I did not want her to break it. Still had problems zeroing in some were right on most were 50+ feet away. I'm not liking it so far. For the price I paid for it I could buy almost4 etrex and get closer to the cache. As for firmware it has the latest version. :D

Are you sure you have your map Datums and your coord settings in you 60c are set up to match the source of the coords you getting from the web site? I would check to see if both your GPS measuring units and datums are set exactly the same. If they are they should be very close with each other in accuracy. If not I would send it back to Garmin under warranty.

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I upgraded from a legend to a 60cs and I love it. The color screen, autorouting, better antenna/reception, increased battery life, and increased map memory are my favorite features. I also like the geocaching mode and the built-in compass which only activates when moving very slowly so it hasn't proven to be much of a drain on battery life for me.

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I started with a Legend a year ago. Wonderful piece of gear I love it. I dithered about the 60 series. I looked at both and decided I did not want to spend the extra $$ here in CA for the sensors. So I bought a 60C, and am very very very happy. Lots of Ram, like the colour, USB works well etc etc. BOught a bike mount and works well. I have had none of the lockup or power down issues I have heard about. I find it fits my hand much better than the 76Map series. If you want lots of ram, wait fore the 76c.

Thats my opinion.

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I love my 60CS too. The only thing I want to add to the chorus is that I'm extremely glad that I held out for the 60CS over Etrex to get autorouting. With Etrex, I would still be able to do the same geocaching and bike tracking things I can do with the 60CS, but it is so cool having a little machine that will take me anywhere I want to go in this half of the state at the drop of a hat. I meet old friends for lunch on Thursday and we can hit a different restaurant every week and I don't have to worry about the fact that I'm lame with directions.

 

Another significant factor that I haven't seen mentioned is that if you get City Select (which you have to do for the autorouting), you are almost carrying around a yellow pages because it has phone numbers of restaurants and shops and other POIs.

 

Let me also echo how nice it is to have the compass functionality integrated with the GPS. If you are in a poor GPS reception area, like the woods, it is bad enough zeroing in on a cache with a 60CS. I usually am holding my GPS, a Palm, sometimes an external antenna, a 5 year old's hand, and a camera. If I also had to hold a separate compass and expend the mental energy to reconcile the compass direction with the GPS map, it would be even more frustrating to zero in on the cache.

Edited by mochalatte
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