Find Garmin 60csx Navigator Outdoor Pack @ Amazon.com
155 of 156 people found the following review helpful. UPDATE: September 4, 2008 – Still very impressed with the 76CSx unit. It has come in real handy recently shopping for a house. All my opinions stated previously are still current. One very handy feature the unit doesn’t have that I wish it did was the ability to choose an alternate route while your are traveling. This can come in handy in the event there is a detour or you want to calculate a route around a traffic jam. This would create a by-pass route on-the-fly. Many street specific GPS units can do this. Although, this unit can re-route if you go off course which is something different. The ’2008 City Navigator Map Update’ is not much to be desired. I have not noticed any significant improvement in calculated routes or updated points of interest (POI) data over the 2007 maps release. The same errors that I have encounter initially are still there in the 2008 release(PA, NJ, NY areas). I am hesitant to purchase the 2009 update. I will probably wait until the 2010 Update. The Foarm(R) case is the best protection out there still. I am completely satisfied with this unit I have purchased & recommended other similar units by Garmin. Overall, the 76CSx is still a great unit. UPDATE: August 23, 2007 – After reading reviews about the 2008 release of the Maps I decided to get. One special note: If you buy the update DVD make sure you get the correct release. For instance, if you have previously installed City Navigator North America v8 you need City Navigator North America 2008 UPDATE. If you own City Navigator North America v8 NT you need City Navigator North America 2008 NT. Get it? I found out the hard way but Garmin came through! UPDATE: August 21, 2007 – A year has gone by and I still very much like my GPSmap 76CSx. Top notch!!! Garmin support has been great too. It’s been great on on the road, on the trails and even on a plane! Whether I am walking, driving or riding my bike. Actually, there isn’t much I would change on this GPS unit. The button placement you get accustomed to very quickly and the menu-page layout is genius. It’s been so easy to use this GPS. Once you read what each feature does the book really isn’t required anymore. Using the menus to get around to all the features and functions is easy and self-explanatory. Since my initial purchase, I have upgraded the expandable memory to 2GB (SanDisk microSD $22 on Amazon) and managed to fit the 48-states and some parts of Canada. I see that there is a 2008 version of the North American maps replacing version 8. I am reluctant to purchasing this newer version since I have found quite a few out of date points-of-interests in the v8 maps. On a positive note, using the maps I have had many successful finds. Battery life using Duracell alkaline batteries while the GPS is set to “Alkaline” will last about 12 hours. I have tried 2500mAh Energizer rechargable batteries with the GPS unit set to “NiMH” but I only seem to get about 3 hours of use out of them. Recently, I have purchased a Garmin Nuvi 350 for my father from Amazon (price was great) and he really likes it but that unit is primarily for the road. Just what he wanted. The GPSmap 76CSx is loaded with so much more for so many other uses. ORIGINAL review July 29, 2006 - For the road, I would highly suggest purchasing the City Navigator North American v8 Maps ($112). The map extends the features of the GPS with turn-by-turn directions, millions of points-of-interests (POI) such as fuel stations, garages, attractions, restaurants and shopping venues. You can even upload your own POIs to the unit as well. Don’t be surprised if some of the route calculations it comes up with seem a bit odd. It will get you there though. If you miss your turn it re-calculates a new route very quickly. There are numerous websites that provide POI files that you can upload to your unit. You will notice that some of the pre-installed POIs may not be up to date. Unlike other handheld GPS units, the memory is expandable. I installed a 1GB microSD card ($45) in order to store vast amounts of map data or tracking that you may have done. The entire US is about 1.5GB of information. The unit comes with a blank 128MB microSD memory card that I moved to my cell phone (bonus). The sensors included are the electronic compass and barometer. Having an electronic compass allows one to determine ones (N,S,E,W) direction without moving. Many GPS units determine direction by changes in position coordinates. Therefore you must be moving. Optional sensors such has for water temperature may be plugged into the back of the unit. To protect your unit I recommend the Foarm textured, rubberized (~$20) case. The case comes with a few transparent protectors for the screen. If you don’t get this case go out and at least buy some PDA screen protectors. If the protected screen gets scratched you can peel off the overlay and stick on a new one. Since the screen is a bit small and with hi-resolution you want to keep it clear. The GPS unit floats with or without the case. That can come in handy while hiking or boating. Based on all of this I would highly recommend any other Garmin unit as well. 58 of 59 people found the following review helpful. I like to play with a unit before reading the manual, and in playing around I have figured out the major functions/features. It’s not the *most* intuitive unit, but I give it 4/5 stars on intuitiveness. The manual is not huge, but is a several-evening reading project, and that’s on my soon-to-do list. Initial satellite locking is pretty quick (3-4), then acquisition of another 3-4 satellites occurs over the next several minutes. This is *indoors*, where I routinely lock 9 satellites in a townhouse. Out in the woods while hiking, I also lock and hold at least 9 satellites. The more satellites your unit can lock, the more accurate your coordinates are. I started with using just the built-in basemap, which is … basic. The first map I added was Topo 2008 USA. While the resolution is only 100k, it adds a reasonable level of topographical detail for my uses (general light hiking), as well as non-routable local roads. (The roads appear and are labelled, but the unit cannot calculate turn-by-turn routing directions using the Topo map. For this, you must add one of the Navigator maps.) The unit is light, and battery life so far seems as promised (15-20 hours). I have not tried rechargeable batteries, but plan to do so. If they work well, fine, and if not, fine too. Alkalines are inexpensive enough bought in bulk. Downloading maps from the computer is quite a slow process, so I’m going to guess the USB is 1.1 not 2.0. I downloaded the mid-Atlantic and New England region, approximately 700k of data, which took over 45 minutes. I can’t imagine loading the whole country. The Navigator maps may be smaller, since I don’t believe they contain elevation data. All in all, I am very pleased with this unit. The main things a potential buyer must be aware of is the need to add: 1) a larger microSD card to store additional map data; 2) the need to purchase better topographical maps for serious outdoor use; 3) the understanding that while Topo maps show roads, they do not calculate driving routes on these roads; 4) for routable driving maps, you have to add a Navigator type map. 51 of 52 people found the following review helpful. The removable memory allows the user to increase memory or to create memory cards with chosen mapsets preloaded. I installed a 2 GB card and have every available MapSource map east of the Mississippi loaded, including parts of the Canada, Mexican isthmus, and Carribean World Maps! No longer do I have to sit and select maps corresponding to my next trip, load them to the device. Nor do I have to load map segments on my long trips during my trip (which required I bring my PC). It’s in there! It’s nearly as good as the DVD method found on today’s built in vehicle systems in terms of map storage. It’s far better than vehicle systems in terms of features, portability, flexibility, and so on. There are no in-motion restrictions; all data can be uploaded and download with a computer; if the road is on a map, this GPS will take you there – no “road not verified mumbo-jumbo). This marks the third Garmin GPS I have purchased. It has several capabilities that take it beyond the GPS V that I own, and puts the GPS12 (though a very fine device for it’s time) to shame. This unit has expandable memory, double the storage for waypoints, and over three times the track log memory. Tracks uploaded can be twice as large as the GPS V and three times as many total points. The satellite reception is astonishing – it often receives enough satellites to give me coverage even sitting at my desk in my home office! The addition of electronic compass and altimeter improve the usability and accuracy of an already impressive device. You will not regret owning one! If you already have a lesser Garmin mapping GPSr, take a look at this! |
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Garmin GPSmap 76CSx, Great GPS!