76cs Or 60cs

[zcoyote12]

I know this has been discussed before but what is the difference between the two and why should I buy one vice the other. My unit will have boating appications.

[Bobthearch]

At the Garmin website you can do a product comparison between any of their units. It'll give you a side-by-side list of specs.

 

Happy shopping,

Bob

[+BlueDeuce]

The 76cs is designed as a marine unit. (Marine as in water, not military, )

Edited October 20, 2004 by Elf Danach

[+geoSquid]

Chicks dig guys who have a 76CS more.

 

Seriously though, I bought mine because it floats and I use it in boats/canoes when I'm not caching.

[Neo_Geo]

Major differences are:

° Map Memory - The 76CS has 2X the map memory as the 60CS

° Basemap - The 76CS has a better basemap than the 60CS

° Look & Feel - 76CS has buttons on upper part while the 60CS has buttons at bottom

° Weight - 76CS weighs 2.2 ounces more

° Price (of course) 76CS costs about $50 more

Edited October 20, 2004 by Neo_Geo

[zcoyote12]

GEO

Great post thanks for the quick reference guide.

[+geoSquid]

The other major difference is that a 60 sinks like a brick, and a 76 floats. That may sound silly until your canoe flips or your boat tips (or you're tromping through some swamp on the way to a cache and drop it )

 

That may not be an issue for many cachers, but if you plan to use the thing for anythign aquatic, it can be. More than once I can remember jumping to catch my old GPS II+ before it took a dive over the gunwhale.

[peter]

The other major difference is that a 60 sinks like a brick, and a 76 floats.

Certainly not like a brick. This picture was posted before by we3dements showing a 60cs floating with Lithium cells. With heavier alkaline cells it still barely floated. To be on the safe side you may want to attach a little keychain floater to the lanyard, but the unit is very close to neutral bouyancy even with the heaviest AA cells.

http://www.we3dements.com/geocaching/ScreenUnderWater.JPG

[+geoSquid]

Cool a very light brick That's good to know though.

 

What I was told (so admittedly it's 8th hand) is that if you're gentle you can float a 60, but if it splashes in hard (like might happen getting dumped from a boat), it's likely to drop below the waves for good. A floater keychain is a great idea though, didn't know there was such a thing. Now I kind of which I'd heard that before buying the 76

 

The 76 is designed to float. Both are supposed to be water proof to 1m for 30 minutes, so even some gentle sinking isn't the end of the world.

 

Your pic prompted me to test the claim though, so here's a pic of a floating 76 with batteries in it. I forced it down by hand and let it do what it felt was appropriate.

 

Edited October 21, 2004 by geoSquid

[+GOT GPS?]

60C/CS = Batteries Vertical <-- Lots of shut-offs possible

76C/CS = Batteries Horizontal <--Better

 

Also having a 76S and 60C, I trust the 76 series better in a boat, I believe it would be better protected against water intrusion if it were to hit the water hard.

[CenTexDodger]

If you were hiking (which is what the 60 series is designed for) you would want it to sink. if you were crossed a shallow, fast moving stream and it fell out of your pocket, you don't want it taking off like a dugout canoe.

 

If you were boating (which is what the 76 is designed for) you would want it to float because you are over deep, still water.

 

Just my $0.02

[Hankhan]

2x the memory is a big difference, but for me the batteries sitting horizontal has been a real help. I don't use my 76cs on the water (never have) but I do use it on my quad and cycle in a ram mount and it has never shut down due to the batteries losing contact.

[+geoSquid]

One thing I didn't see mentioned above:

 

60xx - better fit in a smaller hand

76xx - bigger form factor, may be awkward for a small hand

[+julgeo]

I tried both and really wanted to like the 76 (more memory, better basemap) but it just wasn't a good fit for me. It is really a personal decision, some have said they think the 76 was a better fit. If you can find a place that has both, by all means try them out.

[+Team DEMP]

One thing I didn't see mentioned above:

 

60xx - better fit in a smaller hand

76xx - bigger form factor, may be awkward for a small hand

I don't think I have large hands and the 76 fits fine (and no, it has no impact on my sexual abilities). I carry it on 15 mile hikes in my left hand (I'm righty) and my hand is not tired at all.

 

One thing I like (and maybe it's because I was used to my GPS V with the buttons on top) is that the majority of the unit on the 76 is still in my hand when I use the buttons on the top. With the buttons on the bottom of the 60 series, assuming single handed operation, you have almost none of the unit in your hand when using the buttons.

[vr12]

60C/CS looks cooler.

[+Rubberhead]

I have a GPSmap 60CS that I purchased before the 76CS was announced or at least before it became available.

 

I love the 60CS but if I had it to do over again I'd go for the 76CS because of the better basemap and double the memory.

[+Team GPSaxophone]

...but which one can you convince to wife to purchase for you

[Neo_Geo]

...but which one can you convince to wife to purchase for you

You're goin' about it all wrong...

 

It's not, "Which one can you convince to wife to purchase for you?"

 

It's, "Which one do you tell the wife that you bought?"

[+Night Stalker]

I have the 60CS which is a great unit, but if I were going to buy now I would buy the 60C. I haven't used the extra features on the CS enough to justify the additional cost.

[+Sevateem]

I have the 60CS and love it. I would rather have the extera features and not use them much. Than not have them and wish I did.

[+tneigel]

I looked at the 70 series but noted it used in water navigation, so I figured I didn't need those features and for primarily land use, and the 60 would be the correct choice, but I did like and notice the great features of the 70.

 

I just got mine so just not that experienced with it yet, but the electronic compass has interesting..... use. When navigating to a cache with the compass on, it only works well (in track up mode) when totally horizontal. Heck, one main reason for buying it was the D-helix antenna. If you tilt the unit up, the track up may be track down or any direction. I didn't know where I was going till I figured that out.

 

I do,,, I really do wish to use the electronic compass feature. Found a setting for where the compass takes over for the satilite navigation. The defaults were set for the compass to take over under 10mile/hour and stay on for more then 90seconds. A little confusing. I set it to 1 mile/hour and will have to see how it works. A bit confusing (ok, a lot confusing), but fun to be in the learning curve.

 

I found battery life to be half as stated, but we all knew that. Fresh alks, with compass off, during the day should yield easily 9 hours. Turn on that compass or use with the backlight, and it will suck your recharables dry, just as fast as in my old maggie.

 

Now trying to figure out how to get the Mapsource Software to read from the hard drive and not the cdrom drive. The install all on the hard disk didn't work, and I changed the registry default location, but didn't work yet. Still learning.. Still learning.

[MacBandit]

60C/CS = Batteries Vertical <-- Lots of shut-offs possible

76C/CS = Batteries Horizontal <--Better

 

Also having a 76S and 60C, I trust the 76 series better in a boat, I believe it would be better protected against water intrusion if it were to hit the water hard.

I would not say there are lot of shut off problems. Yes there are a few people complaining about it here but what about those that are complaining because they don't have the issue. I for one have not had this issue.