60cs - First Impressions

May 30, 2004

I got my 60CS yesterday and couldn't keep myself from posting my first impressions:

Overall: I am very impressed

Routing:

I never had a routing GPS before - so I played with it yesterday extensively while driving places I needed to go (and I knew how to get there). It works quite well. 95% of the time it recommended the same route I would have taken anyway.

I already found a bunch of errors in the CitySelect 5.02 maps - especially with Town boundaries. That's a bit disappointing - those boundaries where last changed 20+ years ago - yet some POI's show up with the wrong town...

Overall: Thumbs up - I didn't buy it because of it's routing abilities but I shurely like them and they'll help me be much more relaxed going places I have never been before.

Caching:

Went on an 8 mile six cache hike today. The 60CS behaved very well. Reception was much bettern than with my eTrex. Even in difficult terrain (cliffs and dense trees at the same time) it never blinked. I only lost reception twice while I was hunched over it for a long time...

I am using the eTrex neck lanyard for now. Not 100% ideal - but I want the thing around my neck and not on my belt. I do a bit of rock scrambling and a belt mount would be a very bad idea...

The track log held up (after reading the posts here) with barometric sensor on variable. At the end I had 47% of the log used (after approx. 5 hours total time). Loggin was set to 'less often'. I think that is sufficient for me...

What I am missing:

When using 'find-waypoints' the Geocache waypoints are listed with all others. I can filter by category - but only one category at a time. Why not leave out the Geocache waypoints since they have an extra menu item anyway...

Here is my biggest complaint so far: I use a very different map setup when auto-routing vs. caching. I would love if the unit could store different setups for each group of maps (e.g. CitySelect vs. Topo) or for Geocaching vs. regular mode.

When I cached I use: North up, no guidance text, 2 data fields (distance to target and elevation)

When I auto-route I use: Track up, guidance text, no data fields.

That's quite a number of clicks to get from one to the other...

I should probably send these suggestions to Garmin for future releases.

Not so good:

Compass: It's really a bad design - needing to hold it fairly level. In difficult terrain I get 6-9ft accuracy when holding it up, but when I need a compass reading the accuracy drops because of the non-optimal antenna position...

Sounds: Would be nice to have louder beeps. I drive a convertible and the routing beeps are pretty low with the top down.

Friction Stand/Bean-Bag: The Bean-Bag holds up well in my second car but does not hold up to the roads (and my driving style) in the convertible. The roads here are very hilly and windy and I don't drive slow... I need to find a better way of placing it - but I am not commited to drilling holes or permanetly mounting it yet.

A very happy new 60CS owner...

May 30, 2004

Friction Stand/Bean-Bag: The Bean-Bag holds up well in my second car but does not hold up to the roads (and my driving style) in the convertible. The roads here are very hilly and windy and I don't drive slow... I need to find a better way of placing it - but I am not commited to drilling holes or permanetly mounting it yet.

They offer a window suction mount, I am going to get one of those. The bag friction mount works ok but I had a window mount for my 76s and I prefer that. On the compass issue, Use the compass to get you to the general location then lift the GPSr to get the closest.

May 30, 2004

They also have a stick on mount that has two adhesive disks one labeled permanent and one that's removable. Both discs come with the stick on mount. I use the latter myself.

1.1k · May 30, 2004

I have the 60C and have been very impressed with it. Would you please clarify on thing for me regarding the compass. When you say hold it up do you mean you should have the GPS in a vertical position instead of horizontal for the compass work properly? I normall hold the GPS parallel to the ground at all times....

Zack

May 30, 2004

Friction Stand/Bean-Bag: The Bean-Bag holds up well in my second car but does not hold up to the roads (and my driving style) in the convertible. The roads here are very hilly and windy and I don't drive slow... I need to find a better way of placing it - but I am not commited to drilling holes or permanetly mounting it yet.
They offer a window suction mount, I am going to get one of those. The bag friction mount works ok but I had a window mount for my 76s and I prefer that. On the compass issue, Use the compass to get you to the general location then lift the GPSr to get the closest.

I have the window mount and don't care for it. The mount dos not swivel from side to side, therefore it must be mounted right in front of the user. I did not like this at all.

May 30, 2004

I have the 60C and have been very impressed with it. Would you please clarify on thing for me regarding the compass. When you say hold it up do you mean you should have the GPS in a vertical position instead of horizontal for the compass work properly? I normall hold the GPS parallel to the ground at all times....

Zack

Correct. The best reception with the 60CS is when you hold it vertical. The compass only works when you hold it (fairly) horizontal

May 30, 2004

They also have a stick on mount that has two adhesive disks one labeled permanent and one that's removable. Both discs come with the stick on mount. I use the latter myself.

Permanent sounds good. Is it REALLY permanent? Does anyone have experience in removing it? Will it damage the dash (at some point I want to sell the car and don't want to have replace the dash...)

May 30, 2004

I notice using my 60cs you had to hold the gps level for the compass to work right there isn't much play at all before you get that warning to hold unit level. My Vista worked alot better than the 60cs did when it comes to using the compass, And yes I do calibrate the compass on the 60cs. I think its something you have to get use to and once you do it will be a great unit. I did loose sats in heavy tree cover this weekend. Here in Washington State the tree cover is heavy. I would say I lost sats 5 or 6 times. Keep in mind this is heavy tree cover you couldn't see much of the sky at all, And it was a very overcast day. Over all this is a good unit. I bought the 60cs to see which unit worked better beings I have one unit with a patch (VISTA) and one with a quadhelix (60cs). I can say this I do see a difference but not much at all. I don't know why I bought it other than it was the latest color unit from Garmin.

May 30, 2004

Go to http://www.proclipusa.com and have a look at what they have, I use these mounts in my 4runner and my wifes Beetle for mounting the GPS, phones and IPOD and they are bombproof. The best part is that they require no drilling, they just clip in.

May 30, 2004

They also have a stick on mount that has two adhesive disks one labeled permanent and one that's removable. Both discs come with the stick on mount. I use the latter myself.

Permanent sounds good. Is it REALLY permanent? Does anyone have experience in removing it? Will it damage the dash (at some point I want to sell the car and don't want to have replace the dash...)

I don't see a need for the permanent disks as I have been using the temporary one for over 2 years and it has never budged. Just be sure to clean the surface with some rubbing alcohol first before applying the disk. In fact I think it comes with a cleaning wipe.

May 31, 2004

Permanent sounds good. Is it REALLY permanent? Does anyone have experience in removing it? Will it damage the dash (at some point I want to sell the car and don't want to have replace the dash...)

I personally don't use the Garmin supplied adhesive mounting discs since they don't really work for my mounting area which is curved and irregular (and I'd have to cut it to pieces anyways). Instead, I use 3M Heavy Duty Attachment Adhesive which is basically the same adhesive that the Garmin discs are made of. You can also find the same product under a different name (but still 3M brand) in Office Max stores...I forget the name but it comes in roll form and is labeled "use instead of nails, screws" or something similar. Both of these are double sided acrylic adhesive tape made for hi-temp automotive use. It is "permanent" but still removeable (but not very easily...you need to "roll" it off slowly with your thumb and not try to pull it directly off). Note: Don't use standard 3M "double sided foam tape" as this will not last a few weeks in the SoCal sun.

A mention was made on cleaning the surface with alcohol prior to using it...beware when using even plain old rubbing alcohol on automotive interior surfaces since it can dull some plastics and even remove paint (some of the harder interior plastics are painted and most of the shock absorbing, softer vinyl type materials are not). Regardless, test a small, inconspicuous area before going full-on with the alcohol.

Here are a few shots a what can be done mounting your GPS using some creative thinking. The car is my 1994 Mustang GT.

The Garmin mounting plate. Under the plate (and unseen) are plastic shims to allow the plate to conform to the irregular/curved mounting area. The 3M adhesive was used here and holds the bracket and GPS very firmly. The same mounting plate position here also holds my GPS V, Vista and GPSMAP 76S with only minor angle adjustments to their respective brackets.

The mounted 60CS

Driving view through the steering wheel (the only blocked gauge is the oil pressure). All buttons are easily accessible. The Valentine One Radar Locator extension unit just below the speedo/tach is also mounted using the same adhesive.

The bottom line is to experiment...you can ususally shim as needed to get the proper angle and position. The 3M adhesive will hold extremely well...I trust the adhesive more than the actual bracket. :blink:

Edited May 31, 2004 by SergZak

May 31, 2004

Good... some other people are noticing the poor compass of the 60CS.

I thought for a while that I was the only one. This problem was compounded by the fact I *did* have a faulty unit whose notion of "level" was off... but it is still a very tight tolerance.

I don't know why they just couldn't have used the VISTA compass mechanism.

-Jif

May 31, 2004

Good... some other people are noticing the poor compass of the 60CS.

I thought for a while that I was the only one. This problem was compounded by the fact I *did* have a faulty unit whose notion of "level" was off... but it is still a very tight tolerance.

I don't know why they just couldn't have used the VISTA compass mechanism.

-Jif

First of all... The reason your "level" indicator is off is most likely from the fact that you didn't hold the GPS level during the compass calibration. The level indicator sets itself to however you hold the gps during the calibration. If you hold it at a 10 degree angle, then by golly, the GPS is going to think that 10 degrees is level!

Secondly, the vista uses the same compass mechanism that the 60CS uses. I know this because I owned a Vista and it works the same way... you must hold it 'level' to get a proper reading. The difference was that the Vista uses a patch antenna which works best held flat, not vertical like the 60c/cs.

May 31, 2004

I too find the level indicator a bit to rigid... How the .... am I supposed to hold then thing perfectly level (probably +-10degress tolerance) while bushwacking

Thank you all for the great advice on the car mount... Since I have one mouting plate already I'll head off to Officemax tomorrow and get the adhesive and give it a shot (the GPS shot off my dash twice again today when accelerating - I am starting to drive like a school bus driver already :blink: )

2.9k · May 31, 2004

They also have a stick on mount that has two adhesive disks one labeled permanent and one that's removable. Both discs come with the stick on mount. I use the latter myself.

Permanent sounds good. Is it REALLY permanent? Does anyone have experience in removing it? Will it damage the dash (at some point I want to sell the car and don't want to have replace the dash...)

I used an old plastic Slotted Spatula for gently prying off the permanant adhesive disc from the top of the dash.

Using an old spatula gently dig under from different sides, then when you find a good spot, use side-to-side motion to pry off permanantly mounted base.

No bruises have been left to my dashboard in doing this removal. I now use a bean bag mount with a GPS V holder, and a GPS 60 holder.

2.9k · May 31, 2004

Interesting that you have your GPS mounted fairly low, Instead of up higher, also what is that funny black box under your speedometer there?

May 31, 2004

Interesting that you have your GPS mounted fairly low, Instead of up higher, also what is that funny black box under your speedometer there?

It may be low compared to window mounts but it's easier to reach and operate and is pretty much directly in the instrument cluster line-of-sight. It's also less likely to be seen by someone walking by the car (although I do remove the GPS when leaving the car for any long period of time). Reception is exactly the same as if it were mounted higher.

That "funny black box" is the concealed display unit for the Valentine One Radar Locator. (Valentine One website link)

The main radar locator unit is mounted on the windshield just above the rearview mirror. The concealed display basically puts all the visual alerts of the main radar locator unit in a more convenient area, like where mine is mounted.

May 31, 2004

Neat, I haven't thought about mounting the disk vertically. I've always thought you're supposed to mount it on flat the dash.

I've been using the friction mount and really love it. I have it in my RSX and despite spirited driving my 60C stays put through the roughest terrain and the occausional throws around the corner. I guess in a convertable the wind adds a whole new dimension to the forces acting on displacing the friction mount.

May 31, 2004

I haven't tried moving my mount now that I'm using the 60CS. I had my mount as far forward on the dash while still being flat enough for the mount that I could. The reason was that even with this mounting directly under the windshield the Vista I was using wouldn't get it's best signal and if the satellite was behind me at all it would not pick it up do to the roof of the vehicle. This doesn't seem to be a problem at all with the 60CS.

3.8k · May 31, 2004

i use my CS to route us around to urban caches and it works great. beats the heck out of my previous setup, a legend for finding caches, my ipaq with CF GPS for routing.

1.4k · June 1, 2004

I used my compass for the first time the other day. It's a life saver under heavy tree cover. It keeps you heading in the right direction even when the signal's not coming through too strong. Having to keep it level's a bit of a pain, but it really did help.

June 1, 2004

I think the reason you weren't picking up sat signals was because you wasn't holding the 60cs vertical

as you know for best reception you need to hold the unit vertical. Now this causes a problem with the

compass knowing that you have to hold the unit horizontal for the compass and you know how that is

one tilt one way or the other and you get that message to hold unit level.

June 2, 2004

I think the reason you weren't picking up sat signals was because you wasn't holding the 60cs vertical
as you know for best reception you need to hold the unit vertical. Now this causes a problem with the

compass knowing that you have to hold the unit horizontal for the compass and you know how that is

one tilt one way or the other and you get that message to hold unit level.

Even with my unit horizontal I get overhead sats very strong there signal strength does not decrease. It's the the ones towards the horizon that fade in and out. So I typically at least maintain a 2D lock. I personally also use the compass for projecting waypoints and also for heavy tree cover. I only resort to it when I'm going cross terrain without reference points and only after I lose signal completely. Here in Oregon almost any trail you hike you will lose signal with any GPS the tree cover is just too thick.

60cs - First Impressions

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Join the conversation