Customer Reviews

Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx Handheld GPS Navigator

5 star:		(433)
4 star:		(148)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(29)

 

 

The first reviewer didn't really do his research before he purchased this or else he would know that it only comes with basemaps. The other fact he would know is that that's how all GPS vendors work. They want you to buy their maps separately and only their maps will work on their hardware.

Now, I previously owned a 60CS which I loved after trading in my Vista. With the newly upgraded 60CSx you get a couple of additional functions that make it much better than the 60CS. First, there's the SiRF III chipset. It is by far the best chipset out there right now. It's super sensitive and super fast. You can lock onto satellites even in your house in many cases! No longer will you loose reception in tricky situations. Most of the time you can even keep the 60CSx in your backpack and it will still track your movements.

The other highly requested function for many years is the expansion memory, now in the form of a microSD. Now you can load almost half of the U.S. into 512mb of microSD. Later, larger capacity microSD cards will be released that will allow you to loan the entire US! That's awesome!

Two things that you will loose by going to the 60CSx from the 60CS, the alarm clock, and the passive barometric tracking. Apparently, the new 60CSx no longer has a sleep mode so that these two things will not continue to work if you turn OFF the unit. The 60CS had a sleep mode so that the altimeter would still record your barometric after the unit was turned off and wake up to sound the alarm clock but not with the new 60CSx.

Most people don't use these functions anyway so I don't think you'll miss them. Also, the SiRF III and microSD more than make up for those two shortfalls.

Lots of people are expecting this GPS to be the perfect GPS. I really like it so far and I don't have any complaints. Most of the complaints you'll see are people comparing the features of this GPS to the 60CS. The issues most people are complaining about are really minor.

Icons: Ok the new icons are more cartoon like. None of them are hard to tell what the function is which is the point of an icon. It's an artistic style choice some people will like it and some will not.

No alarm: I have about 10 devices with an alarm clock on them I don't see where not including this feature is such a big deal.

No barometric trends while off: Garmin has stated this is a limitation of the new hardware. Useful if you're in the back country and can't get a weather radio broadcast. Otherwise a mostly unused feature.

Expectation of indoor reception: I can personally get reception in my house. This is not going to hold true for everyone. It's still a GPS and needs a somewhat unobstructed view of the sky. The new receiver is a HUGE improvement over the old one though and gets a lock much faster and holds it better in terrain that is tough for a GPS to work in.

Over-Expectation of accuracy: People keep forgetting that this is still a consumer GPS and is limited as to the accuracy it can get. Just because the GPS says it's got 3' accuracy doesn't mean it's correct. The 60CS and the 60CSx calculate their accuracy differently.Since the 60CS claims it is more accurate people fully trust the number the GPS is reporting and claim the 60CSx is less accurate. This isn't the case however in real world tests in clear skys both units have similar accuracy. However in challenging reception situations the 60CSx get better signal and is then "more accurate".

GPS "Walking": The 60CSx tends to walk around when stopped for a while causing the stopped time and distance traveled to be inaccurate. Garmin is aware of the problem and has stated it will be fixed with a firmware release.

Mini SD Card issues: This is the first offering by Garmin with a removable memory card. There are a few limitations however compared to other brands. First the cards are ONLY used to store maps. No waypoints, tracks, routes, etc. are stored on the cards. It would be nice to have these features but it doesn't seem that this is something that will (or can??) be changed with a firmware update. People also complain that there is no way to view information about the memory card (Space left, file listing, etc.) since there is no way to add data without having the GPS hooked into MapSource this is a non-issue. You can't write to it so why does it matter how much space is left? Oh and if you haven't seen a Mini SD card in person, wow they are really tiny about the size of a fingernail. People without good dexterity might have issues changing the card.

This is a really great GPS. If you have a 60CS already you need to carefully weigh your decision to upgrade since this unit will really only add increased reception(not accuracy) and the removable memory card. If you're upgrading from something other than a 60CS you'll love it, I sure do.

Before I begin my review, I want to give the reader some information about my background to put this review in proper context.

This is the first GPS unit I've ever owned. I'm an avid hiker and I also enjoy backpacking. I'm also an occasional geocacher. I purchased this GPS as a supplement to the traditional map & compass. I use it primarily to mark trail heads, track my location when hiking, and navigate the forest roads in the Nicolet & Ottawa National Forests.

ACQUIRING SATELLITES/LOCATING POSITION (5/5 stars): This unit has excellent sensitivity. It can acquire satellites and determine my position while inside my home. The performance was also excellent under a dense forest canopy. It also acquires a position quite quickly.

EASE OF USE (3/5 stars): I'm a gadget junkie and tech geek in general. I rarely need to read a manual to figure out how a piece of electronics works. I must admit that I had a little difficulty with this GPS. The learning-curve was a bit steeper than I anticipated, but after a couple of weekends of constant use, I managed to figure everything out. The user interface isn't intuitive, so it takes some time to learn how to navigate through the menus. I don't consider this a major negative for the unit. The user interface seems similar to many other GPS units, so experienced GPS users will probably experience few issues operating this one. First-time users should expect to spend a few hours in the field with the unit and manual before feeling comfortable with the controls.

FEATURES (4/5 stars): The unit offers a lot of customization options. As a hiker and backpacker, I find the altimeter and compass very helpful. The microSD card support is a great feature, and I own 2 of the specialized TOPO map cards for use with this unit (Great Lakes Region & East Coast Region). The microSD card support frees you from having to constantly connect the GPS to the computer to upload a new section of map into the unit. This is particularly important to me since I'm a Mac user and Garmin doesn't currently support Mac OS X (although I'm told that they will have a Mac OS X version of their map products on the market by year-end). The unit ships with a great set of icons that can be assigned to your waypoint markers. The icons allow you to easily identify different waypoint categories by the icon displayed on the map. For instance, it allows me to mark a trail head using the "hiking" icon, and then mark a campsite along that trail using a "camping" icon. The trip computer is a fantastic hiking/backpacking companion. It tracks the number of miles you have hiked, moving & stopped time, max & overall speeds, etc. The "tracking" feature is one of the most useful. It automatically creates a track log for your trip. It diplays the track as an overlay on the terrain map so you can see exactly where you are currently and where you came from. The track log is a life-saving feature and it is the one that I rely on most when I'm in the forest. The Sun and Moon page is a nice feature to use when you are overnighting in the forest and want to get an idea of when to begin your day or start setting up basecamp.

GEOCACHING (4/5 stars): The unit offers a special geocache menu that keeps track of the caches that you uploaded into the unit and have yet to find. Since I have a Mac, I'm not able to hook the unit up to my computer and upload the waypoints from geocaching.com. I manually enter the waypoints from the information provided on the web site. The manual provides *no* information on how to manually enter geocache waypoints -- I figured it out on my own. The manual also did a poor job of explaining how to mark a cache as "found" in your GPS so it automatically updates the cache status and enters the "find" date/time in the calendar. Once you figure out how to do everything, it does a good job of managing your geocaches.

DESIGN OF UNIT (5/5 stars): The unit looks rugged and seems to be designed to handle the rigors of outdoor use. The subdued color scheme makes it an ideal backwoods companion. The layout of the buttons is logical and they are easy to use.

MAP SOFTWARE (3/4 stars): I use the Garmin TOPO map software (preloaded on the microSD cards). I think the maps are average. I find that, in some areas of Nicolet National Forest, the map software provides a lot of detail and accurate forest road information, but in other sections it has barely any information at all. The inaccuracy of the map is probably the most irritating issue with the unit. I find that I still have to consult my DeLorme Gazetteer to get accurate road information in certain parts of the forest. My expectation of the unit when I purchased it was that it would take over the role as my primary navigator, and I'd only consult the Gazetteer in case of emergency. I was a little disappointed when I discovered that the Garmin map software wasn't an adequate replacement.

ROUTE-CALCULATION/CAR-NAVIGATION (1/5 stars): The route calculation function is the biggest failure of this unit. The routes that this unit recommends defies logic in many cases. I asked the unit to create a route to take me from my home to my favorite trail head in the forest. The route it recommended was acceptable until it had to figure county and forest roads into its trip plan. The unit seemed to become confused and, had I followed its directions, would have routed me directly into the trunk of a giant tamarack. The route appeared to be too complicated for the unit, so it just drew a straight line to the trail head from the nearest state highway -- ignoring instructions to follow roads only. The unit has failed to compute an accurate route nearly every time I asked it to do so. It doesn't even do a good job of trip planning from one large city to another using major roads. I should point out that this GPS wasn't designed for these functions (route-calculation/auto-navigation). It can perform them, but the unit is intended to be used in offroad and backwoods type environments. If you require a GPS for use in your car, then I recommend that you buy one designed specifically for that purpose. I don't consider the unit's poor performance in this area as a huge negative since it falls a little outside the unit's area of expertise.

AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT: The addition of the microSD card was a great feature, but it is almost criminal that the unit can't use free space on the card for additional storage. My biggest complaint with the unit is that the limits on the number of waypoints, tracks, and routes seems arbitrary and almost inexcusable given the fact that the unit has almost limitless storage available through the use of microSD cards. I'd gladly pay extra money for a unit that allowed me to save the track log for every trail I hike, along with the waypoint for the trail head, without any internal limit on the total number I can save. This is a serious weakness for the unit, and is the only thing that prevents me from giving it a perfect 5 star rating. As a hiker, I hike several trails that follow old logging roads, cross other trails, or go "off-trail" in some areas. I find it irritating that even though I have a GPS, I still have to rely on memory to some extent, to remember which path I need to take at critical intersections. I understand I can mark those intersections with additional waypoints but, again, the unit limits the number of waypoints you can store. It also limits the number of tracks you can save.

OVERALL (4/5 stars): I think this is the best GPS currently available for hiking/backpacking. It excels in outdoors/backwoods environments and has all the features necessary to ensure that you are aware of your current position, the type of terrain you will encounter ahead, and how to return to your start position quickly and with ease. I feel confidant hiking into areas of the forest that I'm not familiar with using this unit as my guide. Potential buyers should be aware of some of the limitations that I mentioned in my review: 1) The unit's route calculation, when using it as a GPS in your car, is awful. If you need a GPS for your car, then buy one designed for that purpose. 2) The Garmin maps are acceptable, but don't expect them to have every country backroad documented. 3) The internal storage limits could cause problems for some users.

Earlier in the summer I made the plunge and purchased a hand held GPS unit. I researched for a couple of weeks. Using the internet of course and also asking friends who are or were familiar with units as civilians, law enforcement as well as a couple of former soldiers. Garmin was the brand that most of the guys came up with. Various units were discuss and after considerable time weighing the advantages and disadvantages of various models I made my decision. I purchased a Garmin 60csx. Once I had the unit I dove into the manual to learn the nuances of the device. GPS units are pretty amazing technology. I even delved into the different satellites that are in orbit and how they work.

Here's some advice on buying a unit. First you need to ask yourself these questions.

1. What do you want the device for? Do you only need a car unit? Do you plan to do anything off-road (hiking, camping, mountain biking, trail running) etc... Probably the most important consideration.
2. What's your budget? That's the second big issue because buying the unit itself is just the beginning. More on that below.
3. How small of a unit do you need? More than a shirt pocket size? A significant issue as the antenna on or in the unit plays a very significant role to the accuracy.

For me I wanted something to use in the car and more importantly on the trail, in the woods. That lead me to look at accuracy issues with the cheaper models in wooded (under the canopy of trees) areas. The cheaper models just do not cut it when you go into the woods. The primary reason I chose the Garmin 60csx is because it is a WAAS compatible unit and it has the SiRF Star III chip set. Two critical systems that give you faster response from the GPS satellites and allow the signals to be captured by your unit under forest canopy. I can even pull signals inside my house and office if I'm close to a window. That's pretty impressive. I've gotten accuracy readings outdoors down to +/-9 ft. The 60csx is the same unit as the 60cx but it adds an electronic compass and a barometric altimeter (won't work in a pressurized airline cabin). Why not get all the bells and whistles when it adds just $20 to the unit? I generally leave the compass off to save battery power in the woods. I use my trusty analog compass I've had since the 70's. It doesn't need batteries and is proven reliable. I also won't go off the paths without a paper topo map. Navigational redundancy is a survival issue.

Here's the deal you don't want to find out after the fact. Buying a $300 unit is just the beginning. The built in maps are very very basic. If you want updated road maps with listings like hospitals, restaurants, gas stations, banks etc... otherwise referred to as POI (points of interest) you'll have to spend another $120 for Garmin's proprietary software called City Navigator 2008 (North America in my case). Only Garmin's software will work on their units. To install the software you have to register the software and it is "keyed" to your unit. Antipiracy is the name of that game. Luckily, in my research I found out that CN 2008 was to be released about a month after I bought my unit. Knowing that in front saved me from buying the soon to be outdated V8 of that software. The other issue is memory capacity. My unit came with a 128MB Micro SD memory card. Certainly not enough to hold all the maps I wanted. I purchased a 2GB card ($20) via a friend which saved me a few bucks. Another tip on software. If you plan to do any land navigation and want topography maps again you'll have to buy Garmin's software. For serious hikers and navigators, you'll want to avoid Garmin Topo 2008. While it covers the entire country the aspect ratio of the maps is only 1:100. If you're used to USGS maps you'll know that you really want 1:24 maps. That said you have to settle for Garmin's National Parks maps. Which is fine with me. I bought the National Parks Topo 24 Eastcoast. A couple of final points regarding maps. I linked you to the NT version of City Navigator 2008. There are two versions of this map. The map data is the same. The NT version has a greater compression rate allowing you to put more or all of the maps onto your memory chip. BUT, the NT software is only compatible on certain units, so if you can use it, buy it. When you get ready to load your maps onto your unit make sure you pick all the maps you want at one time. Each time you load maps onto the memory card you wipe out the previous maps that were loaded (except for the unit's base maps). That said. I have all of the continental US road maps from CN 2008 NT as well as AL, GA, NC and SC National Parks Topo maps loaded on the 2GB card with about 250MB to spare in memory. Not bad! I don't have to worry about changing memory cards etc....

I could go into greater detail about what I've learned but I'll recap a couple of things.

1. Research what you want. There's a lot to know about GPS before buying. Do your homework.
2. Factor in that you'll probably spend close to an additional $200 just for mapping software.
3. Spending doesn't stop there. DC power cord for long road trips. Dash mount, bike handlebar mounts, batteries (more on batteries later). So figure on probably another $50-$100 for all the goodies you'll want.
4. Get something to keep the unit in to protect it. I also recommend something to protect the screen from being scratched. Invisible Shield is supposed to be the hot set up. I had a packet of PDA screen savers laying around that I use on my PDA, iPod, Shot timer and cellphone screens that so far fits the bill.

What starts as a $300 purchase quickly turns into $500+. I'm not one to skimp on quality when it comes to good kit. ;)

I purchased my Garmin GPSmap 60CSx in June 2006 from Amazon, because they had the best price available ($100 less than any place else I could find). I also purchased and installed Garmin MapSource USA Topo software on my 60CSx. I recently returned from a 10 day canoe trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which is in northern Minnesota adjacent to the US-Canada border. I paddled and portaged over 100 miles, and used my Garmin GPSmap 60CSx throughout the trip. It performed flawlessly! Some particulars:

- I used the tracking feature to keep an exact record of where I went. I set the sampling frequency to "least often" so as to not fill up the unit's internal memory with track data. This unit begins overwriting the existing track data once memory is full, so I wanted to avoid this. Despite sample frequency being set to "least often" the unit still kept an incredibly detailed record of my track. What's more, at the end of the trip I had only used 45% on the unit's internal memory!

- I purchased a 1GB microSD card for my unit, so that I could load as many topo maps as possible. Interestingly, I found that Garmin's MapSource Topo software limits the number of maps you can load onto the unit's removable memory. As a result, I was up against the map limit number long before I was up against the 1 GB limit. I understand that Garmin may be working on a fix to correct this limitation. I'm sure this was no problem for Garmin until the recent arrival of 1 GB cards.

- My GPSmap 60CSx was water resistant as advertised. Mine got wet regularly as we paddled, and on a few days when it rained. I kept right on using it, with no ill effects at all.

- Advertised battery life is 20 hours on 2 AA batteries. I purchase a set of 8 Energizer 2500mA NiMH rechargable batteries for less than $10 at Wal Mart. I ensured that all 8 were fully charged before I left, so I had 2 fresh batteries in the unit and 6 spares. I returned home with one set of spare batteries completely unused! I found that a set of batteries lasted 3-4 days on the water, using the unit 8-10 hours each day. I guess Garmin's 20 hour battery life estimate assumes standard AA batteries. (Note: If you use rechargable NiMH batteries - and you should - be sure to go into the settings menu of your unit and set it for NiMH, because the factory default is Alkaline.)

- I recommend you purchase a Garmin carrying case to protect the screen from scratches while using it in a wilderness area.

- I found the SIRF chip in this unit to be very sensitive. It readily tracked several satellites - even under dense forest cover. When we were portaging I put my 60CSx inside a zipped up daypack, and it still maintained a solid track. Very impressive!

In summary, I found this unit to live up to all of Garmin's advertised capabilities, and in some cases (i.e., battery life) even exceed their advertised performance. I am very pleased with this purchase, and I highly recommend the 60CSx for hiking, camping, biking, canoeing, or boating.

This is without a doubt the best handheld GPS unit on the market today. The SIRF III chipset is far more sensitive that other receivers. I started with a Garmin eTrex Vista unit that was very good, but it lost its signal lock under almost any forest canopy, and in any deep canyon. That's why I upgraded to the 60 Csx. It gets far better reception in the woods, which is important for hiking and geocaching.

Be aware, though, that the unit does not come with maps! There is a built-in base map, but its usefullness is limited. You will need to buy Garmin maps to use the unit. There are two types of maps; street maps and topo maps. For hiking and geocaching, you will want to use topo maps. I recommend the 1:100K set, which covers the entire US. For National Park hiking, get the 1:24K National Parks set. The 1:24K maps show hiking trails, but the 1:100K sets do not. These are primarily topographical maps, not trail maps.

Keep in mind that only Garmin's map products can be downloaded to the 60 Csx. You can't download other digital maps (such as those from topozone.com or National Geographic)to the unit. That's true of all Garmin units and, as far as I know, all other recreational GPS manufacturers take the same approach--their units take only their maps. That means you are locking yourself into a brand when you purchase a unit.

That's not a problem if you do your homework. So, before you buy, go to the Garmin site and check out their maps to determine whether they have the detail you expect. Then price the sets you want, and add them to the cost of the GPS unit. *That's* the total cost of your GPS. If you don't want to get locked in to proprietary map sets, then don't buy the GPS unit!

As to the street maps, I don't recommend them. The 60 Csx is a great open country navigator, but it's not a very good automobile navigator. For one thing, it doesn't provide voice directions. For another thing, I think the screen is too small. Garmin street maps ave very pricey, and I understand that most (if not all) are 'locked' to a specific GPS unit (that's not true of the topo maps). So, if you upgrade your hardware, you may need to purchase the same set of maps again! If you want automobile navigation, I'd recommend getting a dedicated unit with its own built-in maps.

In short, the Garmin 60 Csx is the best unit available for hiking, off-road biking, and geocaching. You can expect about six meter accuracy under most conditions, which is very good for a recreational GPS unit. Anyone who claims better accuracy than that is pulling your leg--that much error is inherent in the GPS system.

So, if your need is for hiking or geocaching (like me) or off-road biking (like other reviewers), you will be very pleased with the Garmin 60 Csx, so long as you understand what you are buying when you make your purchase. As far as I can tell, the negative reviewers simply failed to do that. Happy hiking and caching!

I cut my GPS teeth on an eTrex Vista (a great little handheld in its own right) for a couple of years before stepping up to the 60CSx. After five months of use, I have only positive things to say about my latest purchase. I was aware of some owners' early concerns about "wandering" and the seeming inability to enable WAAS, but figured Garmin would eventually address such firmware issues, and so decided to take the plunge. The first thing I did (the first thing any purchaser should do) was to download all of the available updates from Garmin's website, and my 60CSx performed flawlessly from the get-go. So yes, I can enable WAAS, but I don't bother to use it because for me the slight increase in accuracy isn't enough to justify the additional battery drain. Consistently getting within ten feet or less of a waypoint is good enough for me. I'm not doing cadastral surveys, after all.

I replaced the supplied 64mb micro SD with a 1 gb card and have installed selected maps from both City Navigator and US Topo 24K Western National Parks (both relatively pricey extras). I recently used the former to navigate a familiar route all the way from western Colorado to Cincinnati and back, and the directions it generated differed from the route I've long been accustomed to in only one minor way: it chose a different bridge (the MLK) across the Mississippi River at St. Louis than I usually use. That switch obliged me to exit the interstate and wait at one traffic light for a minute or so, but also saved me a couple of miles, so I guess the net effect was zero. On the return trip, I was unable to make a necessary lane change due to heavy rush hour traffic and was forced onto an exit from the Interstate at Louisville. The 60CSx and City Navigator automatically recalculated and got me back on course in a jiffy via a route through the downtown area that would otherwise have been anything but intuitive. The I-70 route through the Colorado Rockies features numerous tunnels, and only in the longest of them did I lose my satellite signal. In those few instances, the unit promptly reacquired the signal upon exiting the tunnels.

I am a retired National Park Service ranger and now volunteer at Colorado National Monument, where I spend a lot of time in the backcountry identifying and plotting the location of cultural sites. The 60CSx and US Topo 24K are incredibly useful for that. I particularly like the unit's ability to average satellite fixes for increased accuracy over whatever interval I choose. I'm regularly able to mark waypoints to within 3 meters, even in forested areas and in the depths of the area's many canyons. The MapSource software that came with the 60CSx lets me print topo maps of the Monument with those waypoints clearly delineated and labeled.

In the early fall, I carried my 60CSx on a recreational climb to the summit of 14,048-foot Handies Peak in Colorado's San Juan Range. Once on top, I photographed the display to document the precise location and elevation of the summit for my records. Since then, I've learned that it's also possible to transfer a bitmap image of any 60CSx display screen directly to my computer using the xImage application available as a free download on Garmin's website. That's a neat way to build a file of memorable waypoints and to share them graphically with others.

I've found the Garmin 60CSx to be a most capable unit. Teamed with an accesssory 12V cable and City Navigator software, it works well as a vehicle navigator at relatively low cost. Used by itself, with or without US Topo 24K, it's a great hiking companion. It has a great color display, commendable acquisition and refresh speeds, myriad useful functions, a long battery life (months, if you don't leave it on continuously to mark tracks), decent ergonomics and superb accuracy. Finally, the additional storage afforded by removable memory cards is a definite plus with this sophisticated unit. The only change I'd urge Garmin to consider would be to add a temperature sensor.

If you can afford it, and even if you can't, get a Garmin 60CSx.

Shortly after I bought this (before it arrived) I began to suffer buyer's remorse; I started thinking this was just an expensive toy and a waste of money. But after receiving it [and the North American detailed street maps chip (another $160)] I don't regret a single penny spent.

It's great for mapping (showing a route, down to the foot, you've taken) so you can backtrack and not get lost while hiking. And, with the North American street maps microSD Data card, I travel to new destinations stress-free now. With the detailed street map chip, it gives driving directions as well as any automotive gps with the exception that the 60CSx doesn't give voiced instructions and, of course, the screen is smaller. And it'll show all the restaurants (or gas stations, atms, etc) near my location and sorts them according to distance. This comes in handy when you're in an unfamiliar area and need a Starbucks STAT. I know, this is starting to be a review of the Maps microSD Data chip/card, but I think anyone buying this unit should definitely invest in the extra chip, too. Doing so makes the unit many times more useful.

Regarding battery usage, it has accomodations for both alkaline and lithium batteries (supposedly lithium batteries have more energy than alkalines and can cause problems with some electronic devices). And I find that the 20 hour battery life is accurate as long as you don't use the backlight too much. When I first got this, I was playing with it all the time, using the back light and got about 10 hours on Duracell Ultra alkaline batteries.

It also has other cool features like the ability to tell you the exact location (current or any time in the future) of the sun or moon. How cool would it be to know where the shade will be when you get out of that Phoenix movie theatre and have your car already parked there, in a spot that was blazing hot two hours earlier? Knowing the exact time the sun will set or rise can come in handy, too.

When I first got it, I didn't care for the economy of buttons on the device. But after using it almost daily for two weeks now I appreciate that I can effectively operate the unit with one hand because of the smart design/layout of the buttons.

I'd also invest twenty bucks in a protective case. The case is nicely designed with very good functionality allowing you to clearly see the screen and operate the buttons through a thick, tough, transparent barrier.

I recently upgraded to the GPSMAP 60CSx from the 60CS. I've had a chance to run the "x" through its paces and am very happy. The reception is excellent-- manifest in very fast time to initial position and good tracking under tree cover, amongst tall buildings, inside some buildings!, and from within a backpack or pocket.

I use the unit (as I did its predecessor) for auto-mapping when I travel and also for outdoor fun. In the spirit of full disclosure, I own and use the Garmin TOPO and City Navigator North America software (about $100 each).

Auto-Mapping:
I never travel to a new city without the 60CSx loaded with the appropriate City Navigator data. Finding hotels, appointments, dining, airports is now an absolute breeze. Unlike the StreetPilot units, the 60CSx doesn't provide voice feedback and the interface takes a little practice--but these are small concessions when you consider the handheld flexibility of the 60csx. The automatic route calculation works well and provides very good guidance at the point of turns, etc. The CS could hold data for 2-3 destination cities-- but I can load destination data for everything west of the Mississippi onto one 512mb chip in the CSx. Pre-load 3 chips and you'll have the full US. This increased storage capacity and flexibility was the feature that motivated my upgrade.

Outdoor Fun:
With the help of the Topo software and some USGS quadrangles, I've had great success plotting waypoints and creating routes on backpacking and hiking trails. I typically do all of the plotting on the PC and upload the data to the GPS--it is a great comfort to have the route and waypoints in-hand as you explore new areas. On a recent cold weather bacpacking trip, the CSx kept my position locked under dense foliage while the unit was in my breast pocket-- under similar conditions the CS reception would have been spotty (but still useful). It is amazingly fun to return from a hike and upload your track (electronic breadcrumbs) to the PC and then view the data in GoogleEarth.

I think the CSx has slightly poorer battery life than the CS. Hours of battery life varies widely with conditions--my current pair of Energizers have sustained the unit through about 10 hours of cold weather hiking (hard on batteries) and another 3-4 hours of auto-navigation. The battery level navigator is down to a single bar and I'm going to replace them before the next trip.

I heartily recommend this unit for the all-around user--it's not often you get a toy that is so much fun while still being useful.

I just received my map 60cs-x in January from Amazon. Anyway, I really like my "old" Map60cs and its 56 mb of internal memory, but that is now my daughter's unit. The Map 60cs-x comes with 64 mb of trans-flash memory which is "semi"-removable. Garmin intends to sell trans-flash cards w/ pre loaded maps, but they are as yet un-available. However, 512 mb Scan-Disk trans-flash cards are available for about 45 bucks. That aughta hold just about every map in existance. I just purchased one, put all 40 mb of maps i had in my Map 60cs, and, as you can immagine, hardly put a dent in the available memory of that gihugeic memory card. I'm sure a 1 gb card is not far off in Scan-Disk's future.

Scan-Disk says the trans flash card is "semi" removable because its tiny size, about the size of your pinky nail, is rather delicate. However, once you lock one in, i doubt you'll ever need to remove it.

Other improvements: the Map 60cs-x seems to lock sattelites better than my Map 60cs and the backlight seems brighter, but that my be my elaited sense of reality.

My only criticizm of either unit is that the stated battery life of either is grossly exagerated. Also, i wish, in some conditions, that i could make the screen brighter. Oh, and Garmin refuses make their products MAC compatible. But Magellin dosn't work with MACs either (nativelly) so, whatchagonnado? A visit to MACgpsPro dot com gives hope, but not full functionallity. The only solution i found to this MAJOR flaw from either manufacturer is Virtual PC. Yuck!

Either unit is tough and rugged and probably the best choice for a hand-held. I also have Garmin's auto mount and handlebar mount, which work pretty good as well. I don't do product reviews very often, but I like this product so much that i have to say: GET ONE! (either one...) You won't be dissapointed.

If it wern't for my two and 1/2 criticizms, I'd give either unit a "5".

-jg