Garmin GPSMAP 76CS 1.5-Inch Waterproof Marine GPS

by Garmin

Product Details

Product Manual [1.95mb PDF]

• Item Weight: 5.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0001MHL0O
• Item model number: 010-00353-00
• Batteries: 2 AA batteries required.
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Garmin's GPSMap 76CS is a state-of-the-art handheld marine GPS unit with a vivid, sunlight-readable color display, sizeable internal memory, and fast USB connectivity. Central to the device is its high-resolution, highly reflective, 256-color TFT display and LED backlight, implemented so you can navigate in either broad daylight or complete darkness, as your schedule dictates. The unit retains the overall sleek and easy-to-use design of earlier generations of the GPSMap 76 family, including its rugged, buoyant, waterproof housing.

Map page. View larger.

Compass page. View larger.

Tide prediction page. View larger.

The GPSMap 76CS packs loads of features into a compact, marine GPS device. View larger.

The compact unit also boasts a 13 MB Americas marine basemap that includes tide data. In addition, an impressive 115 MB of internal memory lets you load optional MapSource BlueChart or Recreational Lakes with Fishing Hot Spots marine cartography. (The award-winning BlueChart features depth contours, inter-tidal zones, wrecks, and navaids, while Recreational Lakes includes fishing areas, boat ramps, marinas, and hazards for more than 1,000 popular U.S. and Canadian lakes.)

You can rely on the 76CS when you're navigating the highways and byways in your rudderless vehicle, too, thanks to a built-in, auto-routing basemap of major interstates and highways. When loaded with optional MapSource City Select detailed street cartography, the GPS provides automatic route calculation to millions of addresses or points of interest, complete with turn-by-turn directions and tone alerts. The unit is also compatible with MapSource U.S. Topo and 24K Topo for off-road excursions.

Loading charts or maps is faster than it was with earlier-generation devices, too, thanks to the 76CS's USB interface. Navigation instructions can be shared with repeaters, plotters, and autopilots using NMEA protocols through a dedicated serial port.

The 76CS also includes an electronic compass--which displays accurate headings even while standing still--and a barometric altimeter with an elevation computer that provides current elevation, ascent/descent rate, minimum/maximum elevation, total ascent/descent, and average/maximum ascent/descent rate.

Other features include a built-in quad helix antenna with remote antenna capability; 1,000 user waypoints with name and graphic symbols; 50 reversible routes; a 10,000-point automatic track log; 20 saved tracks (so you can retrace your path in both directions); audible alarms for anchor drag, arrival, off-course, proximity waypoint, and clock; and a trip computer that provides, among other things, an odometer, stopped time, moving average, overall average, total time, and max speed.

Battery life using 2 AA alkaline batteries is rated at 20 hours typical use. The 76CS is waterproof to IEC 60529 IPX-7 standards (submersible to 1 meter for up to 30 minutes).

What's in the Box
GPSMap 76CS receiver, basemap (Americas Recreational), database (Marine Point), MapSource Trip & Waypoint Manager CD, PC/USB interface cable, lanyard, quick start guide, and owner's manual.

Product Description

Waas-enabled, 12 Parallel Channel Gps Receiver. Built-in Quad-helix Antenna With Remote Antenna Capability. 115 Mb Internal Memory For Loading Mapsource Detail, Including Marine Cartography. Usb Connectivity For Quick Chart & Map Downloads. Sunlight-readable Display With 256-color Transreflective Tft Display (1.5" W X 2.2" H; 2.6" Diagonally); Color Operating System With New Look-&-feel. Weighs 7.6 Ounces (with Batteries). Led-backlit Display & Keypad. Up To 30 Hours Battery Life (uses 2 Aa Alkaline Batteries). Permanent User-data Storage; No Memory Battery Required. Includes A Built-in Americas Autoroute Basemap With Auto-routing Capabilities, Including Highways, Exits & Tide Data (u.s. Only). Internal Memory Is Pre-loaded With A Marine Point Database. Water-resistant To Iec 60529 Ipx7 Standards (can Be Submerged In 1 Meter Of Water For 30 Minutes); Rugged & Waterproof Housing That Floats. 1000 User Waypoints With Name & Graphic Symbol; 50 Reversible Routes. Position Formats Include Lat/lon, Utm, Loran Tds, Maidenhead, Mgrs, User Grid & More. Audible Alarms For Anchor Drag, Arrival, Off-course, Proximity Waypoint & Clock. Large-numbers Option For Easy Viewing; Dual-position Display Mode. Trip Computer Provides Odometer, Stopped Time, Moving Average, Overall Average, Total Time, Max. Speed & More. 10,000 Point Automatic Track Log; 20 Saved Tracks Let You Retrace Your Path In Both Directions. Built-in Celestial Tables For Best Time To Fish, Plus Sun & Moon Calculations. Compatible With Most Mapsource Products Including Bluechart, City Select, U.s. Topo 24k, U.s. Topo & Recreational Lakes With Fishing Hot Spots. 6.2" H X 2.7" W X 1.4" D Unit Dimensions. Features Electronic Compass & Barometric Altimeter.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

116 of 118 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For a general-purpose mapping GPSR, Garmin got it right!, June 2, 2004

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Garmin GPSMAP 76CS 1.5-Inch Waterproof Marine GPS (Electronics)

The GPSMAP76CS continues the evolution of Garmin's GPSMAP line of GPS receivers. It is well-suited for walking, car navigation and casual marine use. I already own a GPSMAP76S. The major advances of the 76CS are:

(1) Color TFT screen - makes it so easy to see your maps and data; it's bright and sharp, easy to read in any light. The variable-level backlight is great in low-light situations. The night-time color scheme is pretty cool, too. You can have the receiver automatically switch between day/night color schemes at sunrise/sunset, or manually select the mode. There are several alternate color schemes for day or night-time use.

(2) Point-to-point automatic routing - works very well. There are two audio-visual prompts for each turn, one about a minute before, and again (with a different tone sequence) about 10 seconds before the turn. You can choose from several different tone sequences, but I'm happy with the defaults. The prompts display a zoomed-in view of the intersection (great for tricky interchange exits and ramps). If you miss a turn, it re-calculates your route to get you to the next point, or your destination. Generally it uses the most major roads available for routing. For areas that I know well, I may take a local road that I know will get me where I'm going sooner. When driving in unfamiliar territory, I rely on the route it calculates for the most part. Apparently, you can select variations on the routing algorithm on the "follow roads options" page: Car/Motorcycle (the one I use), Truck, Bus, Emergency, Taxi, Delivery, Pedestrian and Bicycle. I haven't tried any of the other routing options yet. Overall, I would give the routing capability 4 stars.

(3) Customizable page sequence - in my other Garmin GPS receivers, you can cycle through the main pages forwards or backwards, but you can't change the sequence. The 76CS lets you add, remove, or move individual pages within the sequence. I put the pages I use most often next to each other; I like this feature.

(4) Recent Finds page - a new feature and real time-saver when I want to go to a place that I've looked up before. I use this page so often, I added it to my main page sequence. However, I discovered you can bring up the Recent Finds page by pressing the Find button twice.

(5) More memory - 115 MB stores detailed map data from optional Mapsource CD ROM sets. I was able to load all of North Carolina and about half of South Carolina and Virginia from the North America City Select database. This is nearly 5 times the memory of the 76S!

(6) USB connection - my old 76S (with serial connection) takes the better part of an hour to load a full 24MB map set from the Mapsource CD ROMS. The USB connection on the 76CS makes loading the full 115MB much quicker. Also, loading waypoints, routes and tracks between the receiver and PC is way faster now.

Garmin periodically updates their GPS receivers' software, and you can easily download the updates from the Garmin website. They have already posted an update to the GSPMAP76CS (version 3.40 was released June 8, 2004).

Quibbles: as mentioned in another review, you can't customize the data fields display to show small data fields three-across, as you can with the 76S. Admittedly, the small data fields on the 76S are hard to read while driving; I would consider this a minor setback for the 76CS. One can still display up to 4 data fields in large or medium size as an option on several of the pages, much like the 76S.

One feature of the 76S that I like is the ability to show the name of the upcoming cross-street (when lock-on-roads is enabled). This is a useful feature when you're just cruising around an unfamiliar part of a city. At first, I thought this was missing from the new 76CS, but I discovered that when the map has guidance text turned on all the time (instead of only when the unit is actively navigating) then when not navigating, the text area displays the upcoming street name. Another great feature of the 76S which carried over to the 76CS: graphic editing of a route. When the "use map" option is selecting while editing a route, move the pointing arrow to touch a route segment. The segment then appears as a dotted line, and if you press the Enter key, acts like a tight rubber band attached to the panning arrow. One can then move the panning arrow to any other map feature (for example an intersection) and press Enter to add an intermediate route point. I've found Garmin's manuals provide a good introduction to basic operation, but may not cover all the features. However, I've found the 76CS operation to be fairly intuitive.

Now for the major gripe: to enter text or numbers, Garmin has reverted to the character matrix format (found, for example, on the Etrex Vista), where you move the cursor about a grid of letters and numbers, press Enter to select that character, then move the cursor to the next character, etc. Finally, you move the cursor to the "OK" spot on the grid and press Enter. On the 76S there's no character grid, you just cursor left to clear a field, cursor up to advance the current letter or down to move back through the character set, then cursor right to select the next character, etc. I found this method fairly intuitive and much easier to use on the fly. Hopefully, Garmin will fix this in a future software update.

As with the GPSMAP76S, the sensors are a useful feature, particularly while walking. The compass can be used for getting a bearing while standing still, and the barometric altimeter provides useful information for those of us who just have to know, "how high (or low) are we?". If you don't need these features, the GPSMAP76C should work just as well at a lower price. Garmin's GPSMAP60C / 60CS have the same color screen and similar software, but only 56 MB of memory in a smaller unit. Nearly all Garmin GPS receivers have rugged, waterproof cases, but I prefer the 76-series size and flat shape. They even float!

If you're looking for a general-purpose, easy-to-read, easy-to-use mapping GPS receiver, you need look no further than the GPSMAP76CS (or GPSMAP76C without compass and altimeter). Garmin got it right with this one!

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A big improvement over its predecessor, the 76S, May 5, 2005

By 

T. Stroll (Oakland, Calif., USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Garmin GPSMAP 76CS 1.5-Inch Waterproof Marine GPS (Electronics)

The Garmin 76CS is a major improvement over the Garmin 76S, which I also own. (See my review of the 76S on Amazon.com.) Not that the 76S is bad; it's a fine unit. But the 76CS is better in significant ways.

Specifically:

1. The batteries last much longer, despite the more sophisticated color display. I haven't managed to get the battery power to drop below 75% yet. In addition, the 76CS allows you to specify whether you're using NiMH or NiCad batteries.

2. The color display is much easier to read than the grayscale on the 76S. The main reason I bought the 76CS is that I found the 76S's grayscale display difficult to read in national forests using the Mapsource topographical maps, because the background (green) shows up as a solid gray.

3. The display automatically changes its color scheme after dark, and the default nighttime display is dazzling. It's eerie to be riding my mountain bike after dark, push a button to light up the nighttime display, and feel like I'm reading the data panel of a modern jet.

4. The antenna is much more powerful. With the 76S, I would regularly receive no-satellite-reception messages when I went under tree canopies. This rarely happens with the 76CS.

So why four stars rather than five, given that I gave the 76S five stars when I reviewed it a couple of years ago? It's because I'm now better acquainted with the quirks of these units, and Garmin hasn't fixed all of them. Here are a few:

1. The compass is always demanding that you hold the unit level even when you're sure that you are. It is extremely finicky.

2. I can't tell whether elevation readings are coming from GPS triangulation or the air pressure barometer. When it says "elevation," what is it measuring against?

3. The follow-the-road navigation feature operates anomalously in this area. Recently, on a drive from Oakland to Sacramento, it kept urging me to exit on, e.g., a side street in Vallejo and a couple of freeway junctions that wouldn't take you to Sacramento. In the Oakland-Walnut Creek area, it seems to think that Calif. Hwy. 24 is Mt. Diablo Blvd. and that Calif. Hwy. 13, the Warren Fwy., is Warren Blvd. Hwy. 24 was built around 1960. And I wonder if the Warren Fwy. was known as Warren Blvd. 40 years ago.

4. The trip data page won't display maximum elevation. I believe you can still get maximum elevation, but if so, you have to go to another page.

Despite these reservations, I can highly recommend the Garmin GPSMAP 76CS. It is a wonderful GPS receiver.

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly good, but steep learning curve, January 10, 2005

By 

Captain Clam (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Garmin GPSMAP 76CS 1.5-Inch Waterproof Marine GPS (Electronics)

I have had this super gps for about 2 weeks. This is not for the faint at heart. The unit is PACKED full of items you may or may not ever use. The unit is definitely trying to be all things to all people.

This is not an exceedingly intuitive device, but after a couple of weeks I have most of it figured out. Plan on a fair amount of time, even to learn the basics. I wouldn't recommend a wilderness adventure on the first day.

That being said, it is a wonderful mapping gps. I am a biologist, and needed it be able to stand up to field abuse at sea and on land. It performs VERY well in setting up routes, waypoints and tracking. I also decided to get the City Select software, which then turns into an car navigating gps. Very slick, easy to use, and big enough to read.

The software add-ons are quite expensive, so bear this in mind in your purchase price. You can not do road navigation unless you have the City Select or equivalent. I purchased the "Auto-Nav" kit, with an auto holder and dc power cord that attaches to the cigarette lighter. This also includes the City Select software, and the package was a great deal, just a bit more then the CD alone.