Do You Have A 60cs Or A Meridian Color?

[ORsouthpaw]

In my contiued saga of upgrading. I have narrowed it down to the Garmin 60CS and the Meridian Color. Let's here some last minute points for each. I also want to hear the problems people have had as well as what features make or break each unit for you personally. One of the two will be coming home. I don't want to base my decesion strictly on the color screen. thanks

[CenTexDodger]

Another Magellan vs Garmin topic

 

Seriously, I went with the Garmin 60cs because I had Garmin maps. From what I understand the Garmin color screen is easier to read in sunlight than the Magellan screen. The Garmin allows you 56 mb of storage for maps, whereas the Magellan allows you to use removeable memory cards (so I have been told).

 

I like the Garmin, but you would expect a Garmin user to say that.

[+lakedawgs]

I own a 60C. The superior color screen in sunlight was a huge factor for me and I could not be happier. The memory not being removable was a concern but with 56 megs to play with I can fit my whole state with street level and topo maps. We are traveling from Indiana to D.C. for the holiday and I fit street level maps for the whole drive and added topo maps for the Virginia/DC area. So far the memory has not been a concern.

I struggled with the decision on C vrs CS. The GPSr acts as a fine compass while you are moving and I had no use for a barometer. I have been happy with the decision to go with the C. I have lately heard about a rebate or price drop the make the CS and C roughly the same price, in light of that I would have gone with the CS.

I cannot speak for the Maggie but the Garmin is an awesome device.

Here is a review http://gpsinformation.us/gps60c/g60review.html

Good luck,

Lakedawgs

[+Quoddy]

I had a Meridian Color for 13 months with both Topo and DirectRoute installed. I liked it, but resented being being beaten to almost every cache by the much faster reacting Garmins when group caching. When the 60cs came out I switched over immediately (early April 04)and haven't looked back since. I have both Topo and CitiSelect in this one and I can honestly say that I believe the Garmin to be a much better unit for both caching and road routing. The display and caching features are great....AND I now beat almost everyone to caches while group caching, too.

[+bird_and_bear]

I bought my 60cs primarily for hiking, backpacking and geocaching. It excels at all three. But the icing on the cake was that I recently purchased 60cs's auto navigation kit and started using it for driving directions and mapping. It's good at that too, making a solid all-round unit.

 

Barry aka Bear

[nobby.nobbs]

i've got the 60c. again i've no use for the compass or barometer which extends the battery life on the 60c to about 30 hours.

i download the nearest 500 caches to me without any problems at all with memory so that covers any caching trips. the screen is easy and clear to use.

 

can't comment on the competition but can say i'm perfectly happy and wouldn't change.

[+kbn]

I'm trying to decide between the same two units. I currently have a Magellan GPS 315 (older unit) and I want something with maps on it. My dad's friend has a Meridian Color and I've played around with it and took it caching a few times. It's a really nice unit. It locks on very fast and never loses it. But let's face it, its an older unit and it's probably going to be soon replaced. The 60CS is brand new and it shows.

 

Here are the advantages each unit have:

 

Meridian Color: Better lock, larger screen, expandable memory, price

60CS: Higher resolution, more colors, smaller, weighs less, has a barometer, has an electronic compass, longer battery life, USB cable, more features (i.e. geocaching mode)

 

Everything seems to point to the 60CS being the better unit unless you're blind or need to take cross country trips. What holds me back though is the reception. While I'm sure 60CS users will say they don't have too much of a problem with reception, they probably haven't used a Magellan unit to compare it to. I've read reviews where people say the 60CS frequently loses its lock in the car. I can have my GPS315 lying on the floor on the passenger side of my car and it won't lose lock! I turned the Meridian Color on in the middle of my dad's house and it locked in under 30 seconds. That's a huge advantage imo. When I go for those caches where people say they kept losing their lock in the woods, my GPS315 stays strong.

 

The decision is usually not helped much by people on these forums. People are very religious about what brand of GPS they use, and its hard to cut through the spin sometimes. I'm trying to be as objective as possible. I get the feeling that Magellan has a unit right around the corner that is going to blow the Meridian Color AND the 60CS out of the water, but I don't want to wait on it and then have it end up being next winter before it comes out.

[ubievol]

i've looked at both the magellan color and the BW meridian gold, and to me the meridian color screen is not worth the difference in price. so i'm debating between a merigold or meriplat, and the garmin 60/76c. next week i'll finally get to see the garmin in person.

 

i've looked at the reception question extensively, and it is confusing. some who have used both units are adamant that there is no significant difference, while others who have used both are adamant that the magellan is significantly better in acquiring and maintaining lock. no one has said that the garmin is better in this respect, btw. i'm not sure how to explain the different results. it might be that differences show up when the units are used in some certain situations and not others, or it might be that someone got ahold of a defective garmin unit.

[+Sevateem]

I have both a 60CS and a Magellan 330. I decided on the 60CS over the Magellan Gold because of the USB hook-up and it's buttons were in the same place as the 330's, and size about the same.

Memory has not been a problem, I have topo of most of NY and some of 5 other states in it . There is still 20 meg left.

My 4 year old grandson loves the compass. He has no trouble using it to find were a cache is. Nothing beats hearing him yell "We have to go this way"

I get about twice the battery life out of the 60CS compared to the 330.

My advice would be to go with the one that feels better in your hands. That is what I did.