Garmin 76cs Versus Garmin 60cs

[+mantis7]

Hi all. My brother-in-law took me Geocaching and now I am HOOKED! I have been reading these forums trying to figure out which GPS unit to buy. I am considering the Garmin line, and I have found that the 60CS and the 76 CS are about the same price. The 76cs has double the memory (over a hundred MB compared to 56MB on the 60cs). The 60 CS looks more rugged and durable....but I don't know if this is true.

 

If anyone knows the answer to the following questions I would appreciate any help:

 

1) Is the 60CS more durable or rugged as it appears on the website?

 

2) Do either of these units take SD cards? (If not do any of the garmin units?)

 

3) Considering that these units are nearly the same price, why would I want to buy the 60CS over the 76CS?

 

Any other information or recommendations in this price range would be appreciated! (~$400.00)

[Raoul]

1) Is the 60CS more durable or rugged as it appears on the website?

 

2) Do either of these units take SD cards? (If not do any of the garmin units?)

 

3) Considering that these units are nearly the same price, why would I want to buy the 60CS over the 76CS?

 

Any other information or recommendations in this price range would be appreciated! (~$400.00)

1) Well,I wouldn't say that the 60c(s) is more durable..(check out the antenna!!)

2)No,these two do not take additional memory cards (I think there are some Garmin car-GPSr's that take sd-cards)

3)Take your pick.....they're both top of the bill....(the 76 has a bit larger basemap though and 115mb in stead of 56)

 

hope I've been of some help.......oh yeah,and......welcome in the wonderfull world of GeoCaching!!!

[+TractorHawk]

Hey Mantis,

 

I'm in a similar situation. Got fascinated with this when my father visited a couple weeks ago and gave me a demo. So like yourself I have been trying to come up to speed on the technology. I am yet to get my first unit but I have the new Magellan Explorist 500 on order (tigergps for $319). I was real close to picking up the 60 or 76 as I could have these units anytime and I have heard so many good things about them. Right now I am still waiting for the 500 to ship - I was told it should be no more than 2 weeks. I guess I'm holding out (though it's driving me nuts) for the newer model and I like the fact the Explorist have the SD option as well as everything else that I would need.

 

I realize I'm not in a position to answer your questions directly, but just wanted to share and say hello as I am in a very similar position.

 

Good luck!

[Raoul]

I must admitt,even though I have a map 76c which I'm very content with,I'm also very anxious to read the first user reviews on the magellan 400/500/600!!

 

just thought I let y'all know!!

[+GOT GPS?]

The 76C/CS are better choices, except the 60C/CS are easier to handle. Ive got the 76S and 60C, and I think the 76S is more ruged. The older heavier GPS units usually are better at surviving punishment. There are cases now for the 60 series that will help a bit on protecting the GPS.

 

I don't quite like the screen Resolution of the Explorist units, which are at 120x160

 

would be so cool if Magellan would come out with a 240x320 pixel screen for the Meridian series GPS units, then TOPO would look good on the GPS screen, and you wouldn't really need a paper map, except for emergency.

Edited March 19, 2005 by GOT GPS?

[+Wooly]

Hello....

I have had Garmin II, III+, V+, and am now using the 76CS. I take it everywhere. Cruises, Flights, hiking, camping and of course caching. So far I like the 76 the best for its screen, routing, and especially its memory size!! The only con I have is the screen did scratch easly on one of my hikes/cache. Something the others didn't seem to do. I would still go with the 76CS over the 60.

Wooly

[+W7WT]

I have the 76S and the 76C. A friend of mine has the 60C. I am supprised the owners of the 60C & 60CS haven't jumped in here to say how much better the 60 series fits their hands. Maybe you should actually try to find two of those and see how they feel to you. Since I had the 76S, I chose the 76C for more memory and was use to the size. One thing I like about the 76 series is that with a non skid pad behind them, I can jam them between the dash and windshield on my Land Cruiser and they will stay there. My friends 60C will not. Of course you can buy a

holder for it. For the same price I sure would buy the 76 series just for the expanded memory. I travel quite a little and the extra memory is needed. You can't go wrong buying either one. Dick, W7WT

[Team Sidewinder]

Here is my 2 cents worth also. I also have the Garmin 76S and now the 76CS. I did like the way the 60C fit in my hand but that wouldn't sway me away from the 76CS with its larger memory which I have yet to use all of it. The way the barometer keeps track of baro readings even while the unit is off makes telling if the weather is going to turn bad or not really is nice. Since having the 76S first the way the buttons are arranged is more natural for me. It's 76CS for me but like mentioned before " different strokes for different folks "

team sidewinder

[+Rubberhead]

Basically they are identical except in operation and functionality but the 76C(S) has twice the memory of the 60C(S), a much better basemap and it is designed to float. The 76 is also flat on the back instead of being slightly rounded like th 60 so the 76 would set nicely on a flat surface where the 60 won't.

 

I would actually think that the 76 is more rugged because the antenna cover is hard plastic instead of the rubber coating on the 60C(S) antenna.

 

The one advantage of the 60 series is that it fits perfectly in my hand so it does seem like more of a handheld unit than the 76C(S).

 

The 56 MB of memory in the 60C(S) is plenty for me. I frequently travel in a three hour raduis of my home and usually keep some combination of Bluecharts, Metroguide (with autorouting loaded), Fishing Hotspots, and some Points of Interests loaded and the 56 MB has never been a limitation. I do occasionally have to load different map sets but it only takes about 3 minutes to load a full 56 MB because of the USB connection.

 

My Vista takes about 45 minutes to load 24 MB.

 

Sorry for being so long winded - you cant go wrong with either the 76C or CS or the GPSmap 60 series.

[+mantis7]

WOW Thanks for the replies everyone!!!

 

I had a very difficult time with this decision......especially after seeing the magellan explorist could use SD cards....

 

I ended up buying a Garmin 76CS from amazon.com for 349.99 (after a mail in rebate). I could have received an additional $30.00 off (price of $319.99) if I wanted to sign up for a amazon credit card, but I opted not to.

 

I wanted to just take a minute to thank all those who responded! I am now anxiously awaiting my order, which should ship monday (I also got city select N. America)...

 

Hopefully with 2-day shipping I will receive it and be able to start caching in a week or so!

 

My girlfreind and I are looking forward to being a part of the community!

 

Cheers,

 

Mantis7

Northern California

[Raoul]

Hope it will arrive soon,and then........HAVE FUN!!!!!!

[Team Sidewinder]

Excellent choice. You won't be sorry and you will enjoy the heck out of it.

Happy Geocaching

team sidewinder

[+allenrich]

On a search & rescue mission the 76s fell out of my pocket when I got into the vehicle. When I found that I had lost it I backtracked and found it on the road. Hmmm it was laying on a tire track. I drove over it with the front wheel of a suburban. GpS still worked but the display was bad. Not broken just bad. I could still download the track and waypoints and track on a computer, just couldn't read the display. How is that for rugged?

[gps_dr]

I have a Garmin 76, and prefer the button layout

on that series for onehand use. Lays flat for easier data entry on a

table/hood whatever.

 

The 76C/CS has more detailed highway maps, seem to see more

water features on the 60C/CS though.

 

If you get the 60 series, beware of loose button.

 

In either case put a screen protector over the display.

 

The Magellan Explorist series are interesting, too bad they put

very expensive battery packs on them instead of allowing use

of replaceable batteries. They have a very limited set of screens.

This makes them easier to use, but less flexible. Their backlight

is two-level with noticable brightness streaking at end next o lights.

Their autorouting software does not automatically recalculate on

missed turns. Their TOPO3D has more elevation points. Haven't

seen an explorist with topo loaded to see what kind of profiles are

available. The other Magellan models have more profile options

than garmin and should provide more accurate profiles than Garmin

(Except for National Parks). (my guess)