Name: Eco Geek
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
Date: 2006-06-24
Customer Rating: -
Summary: Impressive
Comment: When I buy this unit, it will be my 4th hand-held GPS. My current is an eTrex Vista, which does everything I could ever want except work when I really need it! The Vista looses signal in not-so-steep canyons, under moderately dense trees, and when storm clouds get too thick.
I took the CSx for a spin at REI. It wouldn't lock inside their big metal wearhouse building, of course, so I took it outside. It worked fine and did NOT wander when I was standing still. If I took one big stride (~5 feet) it noticed, but added some noise into the odometer too. (said I went 9 feet instead of 5. I can live with that)
Next I held it right up against the 30 foot tall concrete wall of the store, expecting it to lose 1/2 the satelites. Nope. Signal strength dropped but it stayed locked.
Finally, I took it back inside the store, which again has a solid sheet metal roof and only occasional skylights. It struggled there, but kept enough satelites locked (throught the skylights?) to tell me where I was. That's VERY impressive.
In a car, I have to throw the vista on the dashboard so it can see through the windshield. I expect the CSx will work fine in the passenger or back seat. I also expect I can leave the CSx in my pocket or daypack while hiking and it will track. (The vista only works if I rig it to the shoulder strap of my backpack)
The e-compass was just a toy. I always carry a paper map and old-school compass anyway, just in case the batteries die or I drop the thing and break it. (learned that one the hard way, when my first GPS's batteries froze on the way down shasta)
Can't tell if I'll use the barometer and altimeter or not, but I'll give it a shot. At least you can shut it off to save batteries.
Overall, I'm very impressed. I'll keep this unit for a long time, I think.
Name: Frank E. Debros
Location: Boston, MA
Date: 2006-06-30
Customer Rating: -
Summary: Good Job Garmin!
Comment: As the owner of a GPSII+ who has used computer-or PDA-based GPS solutions exclusively for the past five years, I'm amazed with the progress that Garmin has made since way back when I last used their stuff. Not that their devices were ever substandard, but I just hadn't been paying attention to the developments, and I can't believe that this little gizmo can do everything I was doing on my laptop or PDA (albeit with a smaller screen), and then also do things my other software GPS' can't. Plus it's small and light, and waterproof. The expansion cards are a little expensive, but in my opinion very much worth it. The thing I find interesting is that I expected working all this technology with the limited buttons and small screen would make it harder to use, but in fact the designers of the unit have taken that into account (as they should), and optimized everything from the color scheme, to the layout, to the features, so that everything is very easy to get to. Quite a departure from computer systems, where everything often feels hashed together, and the designers don't have to worry about having enough buttons or screen space, so they don't put any effort into designing their interfaces efficiently. Overall I'm very impressed. I will be even *more* impressed when Garmin releases Mac versions of their software (since that's what I have, and which they have promised to do). Way to go Garmin!
Name: Tom Ponte
Location: Bend Oregon
Date: 2006-12-02
Customer Rating: -
Summary: Git-R-Done with the 60csx !
Comment: If all you are doing is navigating to a campsite or back to your car in fairly open country the Etrex units will do just fine at a much lower price. Plus the 60csx is bigger and heavier than an Etrex. However if you ever need a gps in steep or heavily wooded country the 60csx is amazing. Being a GIS (geographic information systems) professional the thing that gets me excited about the 60csx is that it starts to bridge the gap between recreational grade and mapping grade gps units without having to bother with differential correction or the significant added expense of a unit that will allow you to do that (not to mention being three or four times as big and heavy). As WAAS satellites are added units like the 60csx will continue to move closer to the accuracy of the differentially correctable units.
I have used it quite a bit to map trails and except for a little clean up at the ends of the lines the gps files hardly need any editing and what little editing that may be necessary can be done with the included MapSource software. This unit is a great tool used in conjunction with say Google Earth or Google Maps. GPS data can be saved as gpx files and there is a menu item that will open your GPS file in Google Earth. (I imagine all the Garmin units will do this now with this included MapSource software but the 60csx produces much higher quality results)
I have used the unit on the handle bars of a mountain bike in the woods and it will keep a good satellite fix the whole time. I have also tested the 60csx side by side with a several thousand dollar industry standard 2006 Trimble GeoXT and an Etrex Legend in steep heavily wooded terrain, inventorying potential land slide areas. In the most challenging scenarios there, even with the PDOP set the to the max, the GeoXT typically would not be able to get a fix at all, the Legend would be at plus or minus 80 feet after taking several minutes to get a fix and the 60csx would quickly lock in at about plus or minus 20 feet.
The other astounding bit of technology as other reviewers have mentioned is being able to load all the roads in the US and Canada on a 1 Gigabyte Micro SD card the size of a finger nail for under a hundred dollars.
If only Garmin would make a unit like this that you could add more attribute information to the GPS data without having to have it hooked up to a laptop or tablet PC and specialized software.
Name: S. P. B.
Location: Boston, MA
Date: 2006-09-05
Customer Rating: -
Summary: Amazing Performance This Unit Rocks
Comment: First, a couple years ago I had an e-trex legend, non-color. That thing stunk, always losing signal, very slow, and pretty much painful. My job had given me a really nice Dell Axim X30 so I decided to d/l a gps program for it (destinator) and buy a bluetooth GPS receiver. This worked ok. Really fast and was ok for the car, but still I hated the cables and rechargers and stuff I had to use. and frequently, right in the middle if driving it would lose bluetooth connectivity... annoying. No good for hiking/off-road either which i really missed and hated using the etrex also.
So finally, after reading some reviews and comparing this product to the older gpsmap 60CS which you could have just purchased for dirt cheap at REI btw, I sucked it up and spent the money and bought the 60CSX.
This thing is great. I ahve been using about 2 weeks now. I get amazing reception even in the middle of my house nowhere near a window!!! Unheard of! It has yet to ever drop a signal driving in the city (downtown boston) or through really deep woods in the white mountians. I have used this thing a lot and I am still on my first set of batteries for it. No complaints there. Others must have the backlight on full blast while they sleep or something...
Also, this thing re-draws really fast like when panning and zooming. Way faster, maybe even 2X or more the 60cs.
Navigation in the car is great to. The display is obviously not as big and pretty as my Dell Axim was but I can still see all i need to and more while driving.
Complaints:
1) The basemap is worthless as everyone says. Seriously Garmin, we spend all this $$$ for the top-of-the line and you chince out...
2) The city navigator software is critical if you want to use it for driving, and thats another $130 !!! what a SCAM! And good luck trying to d/l this. you cant. no one has broken it so dont wast your time. Luckily I already owned US Topo East (which is not locked so I could use it)
3) lastly, there should be adjustable volume for the alerts for turning etc... It is not very loud.
All in all, this product is the perfect comprimise of in-car navigation combined with outdoor functionality. Really is the best of both worlds. I see why it has won the "Gear of the Year" award.
Name: R. Craig Bannerman
Location: Black Mountain, NC USA
Date: 2007-08-13
Customer Rating: -
Summary: Reliability in the palm of your hand!
Comment: I have owned a lot of hand held GPS units in the past 15 years, starting with Trimble, Nexus, Magellan and many Garmin units. I used these for recreation but wanted to use them for search and rescue. I am a paid Captain with a fire department in Western North Carolina that does lots of searches in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Because of our steep, deep and heavily vegetated terrain, no GPS has been more than another navigation aid to confirm basic map and compass locations. (Don't get me started on how important map and compass skills are; you simply have to have them.)
That was true until I spent the $300.00 for a Garmin 60 CSx. This unit works like a charm and so far I have never lost a signal for more than two minutes when on foot. I can throw this unit in my pack or side pocket of my pants and still pull in 6-9 satellites, for that matter I receive 5-6 in my office at the fire department!
Add a 1GB memory card and the 1:100,000 topo maps from Map Source and the GPS is a great tool for any outdoor endeavor. I have most of the east coast loaded on my one card. The altimeter is as accurate as any GPS I have used and the electronic compass is a very useful upgrade. The screens can be customized as needed and for those of us who use 1:24000 topo maps, the 60 CSx will allow you to display UTM coordinates on the same screen as Latitude / Longitude so we can call in aircraft or boats as needed, eliminating having to convert between the two. The symbols library is very Emergency Service friendly with ICS symbols as well as tons of other markers for waypoints and routes. Battery life is great and the backlight works wonderfully as well.
Overall this is a huge improvement over the earlier generations of GPS handhelds. My two wishes are for a true fitted custom case to mount on a backpack, and for map software compatibility with Maptech or Topo! State series using 1:24000 scale digital maps.
Folks, this is the best money I have spent in a long time on a piece of outdoor gear.
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