Customer Reviews

Garmin GPSMAP 60C Water Resistant Hiking GPS

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is one fun GPS. This is my 3rd Garmin GPS, and I've used many others. Except for the slightly larger size, it is significantly better in every way to the eTrex series, which are still fine GPS units.

The boot time is fast, and the aquisition time is fast. You can program just about every thing you could imagine on the GPSMAP 60C, yet in spite of the functionality, this is the easiest to use GPS Garmin has ever made. Several things that really make it easy to use are (a) simple, clear menus, (b) all buttons (except power) are on the front, and have large, clear, high-contrast text labels (no tiny molded icons to squint at). In map mode, the pan and zoom buttons are always available - you don't have to go into a pan mode, and map redraw is much faster than on the eTrex series, which is nice. (c) display is big and clear - in the dark or in the sun, (d) very effective use of color in menus, maps, and status screens. You can even select among different color screens. The Quad helix antenna seems to work very well - at least as well as my old GPS12, and noticably better than my eTrex Vista, which had trouble in the trees. The USB interface makes downloading maps very fast, and 56MB holds more maps than you'll hike in a summer. If Garmin ever comes out with higher-resolution maps, the 56MB will be really nice.

I was able to figure everything out without the manual, but then read the manual cover-to-cover last night. It is well written, well organized, and has good illustrations. The manual is just the right size - small enough to be friendly, but has all the detail you need to get the most out of the unit in easy-to-read fonts.

On the downside, I found the buttons always getting accidently pressed when I had the unit in my daypack - I haven't found a keyboard lock-out mode for when I'm hiking and want the unit on for tracking (cell phones and ham radios often have this lockout feature). I don't use the belt clip, but the unit didn't come with the little plug that goes over the belt clip hole, yet the picture in the manual showed one. I noticed the demo unit at the local store also did not have this button.

The two biggest enhancements Garmin could make at this point are (a) higher resolution topo maps for Mapsource, and (b) a way to have the Mapsource topo and road databases in the unit at the same time.

I'm writing this to save other new users from the time consuming research and expensive lessons I've learned about the Garmin 60C, and Garmin GPS in general.

THE GOOD:
The Garmin 60C is a beautiful GPS. It is compact, fits nicely in the hand, has a clear color screen, has great battery life, is fast to acquire satellites, has a good antenna which works even in my truck, has clear button layout, has easy to navigate screens, and is intuitive despite its many many options. I love the basic machine.

THE BAD:
It is difficult and frustrating to expand its use beyond how it arrives in the box.

I *thought* GPS units were like friendly little computers that would connect to other devices, upload and download data, and otherwise be configurable however the user desired. They are not.

For example, contrary to what others have said, the included basemap is practically useless. It mostly tells you where the major freeways are. When I'm in the woods, I have very little use for knowing where I-5 is.

So, my first plan was to upload some detailed maps to it. After research, I really liked the TOPO series of maps. So I bought the TOPO for my state, and thought I'd upload whatever part of the state I wanted to the GPS. Uh-uh. Doesn't work that way. The ONLY map that will upload to the Garmin GPS is the Garmin series of maps. For those of you who know that already are probably chuckling at me. But I didn't know, and it made sense that you should be able to upload *any* geo-referenced map to your machine that you want. Why not? Garmin already got good money from me for the hardware. The software should be a choice, not a lock-in requirement. Okay, so another chunk of change to Garmin for their map-tax so I can upload maps to the 60C.

And, as if that's not enough of a discouragement, you can't simply go buy, for example, the City Select map software and upload it to your machine. You have to call or visit Garmin to register your device and unlock your GPS. Let me restate that: If you go buy a brand new top-of-the-line Garmin GPS, and brand new full-price Garmin map software, you are not allowed to load the Garmin software on the Garmin GPS until you call or visit Garmin to get *permission* to use your items together. And every time you buy a new GPS, you have to call or visit Garmin again to unlock your new device. Want to upgrade your map the the newest version? Call Garmin again. Does that seem fair?

Next, I wanted to connect the GPS to my laptop, to track in real-time my position on the laptop screen with a nice, big, color view of the map area. When I bought the 60C one of the selling points was the cool, simple, small USB connection. "New and Improved" I thought, over the slow serial connection. Those of you who know are probably chuckling again. The problem is the USB connection is a closed, secret, proprietary, locked connection by Garmin, that *only* allows the GPS unit to communicate with Garmin software. So, you can't use the software of your choice on your laptop and have the Garmin plot where you are. You have to use the alternate serial connection on the GPS device, which is bulkier, cumbersome, and requires the extra purchase of a serial to USB converter.

Why is the Garmin so locked down? I mean, it's a basic consumer device! It's not some fancy military or airline pilot device. I understand that devices for very specific markets are usually expensive and locked. But this is just a commodity device. Like phones, palm pilots, laptops, ipods, and cameras, I should be able to upload and download whatever I want to the device once I've bought it.

CONCLUSION:
I love the 60C. I hate being locked in to Garmin for every use of the 60C. Bad corporate policy. Five stars for the 60C, zero for the Garmin system.

I took this unit with me to the desert during a standard deployment. It performed perfectly even during sand storms and the other ambient conditions that affect satellite signals. I found the unit to be extremely well made and resistant to damage from the usual factors involved in combat operations in a desert environment. I only received a minor scratch on the screen, but considering the circumstances of that day it did pretty good. I now use it in patrol car as I work the roads. It has helped immeasurably to find addresses on calls that haven't seen daylight in years. Great piece of gear. Would be a great tool for a driver traveling alone and to give authorities specific information concerning their location. GPS has almost become an essential piece of our lives, and we are better off for them.

I have had my unit about six weeks. I have used it hiking several times and it has been great. I used in the car for navigation and it has worked great. Everything I expected and more. The reception is great. It is easy to use if you just take a little time to familiarize yourself with it and read the manual. Battery life is great as long as you don't go into "navigate" mode. That, and the back light, suck the juice but without naviation on and no backlight I went on a 10 hour hike with tracking on and I still had 2 bars left in the battery meter. I use both the Garmin Mapsource TOPO (hiking and remote roads) and City Select and they are both great. You can get very detailed by using the detail options and zooming in or out to suit your needs. Fantastic unit.

I love my Garmin GPC60C. I struggled with my ETrex for a long time and I'm finally glad I got a decent mapping GPS. I picked this over the Magellan Meridian.

Pros: Lightweight, excellent color, easy to see outdoors in daylight, VERY VERY fast, picks up satellites quickly. Mine shipped with a USB cable, so thats a plus. Software only supported Windows, so my Mac sits idle with this one. Has external satellite input, serial input with power, waterproof.

Cons: Hey Garmin! Ever hear of expandability? Thats the only feature missing! Great GPS, but you blew it because it only has 56MB of data. Now granted, thats a LOT of memory, but if you're planning a cross-country trip, I'd like a little more please! I'm sure there was enough room in there to include a SD card slot -- Magellan does!

Other than the 56MB limitation, its a rock solid GPS. I highly recommend this GPS to anybody looking for a good mapping GPS.

Garmin GPSMap 60C with Auto Navigation Kit (CitySelect 6.0 Europe)

Good:
- Display well readable in almost all lighting conditions.
- Fast map redraw.
- Good satellite reception.
- Long battery life, even with backlight. Worked more than 11 hours with backlight at 25% on 2100 mAh NiMh.
- Runs on two standard AA batteries, including rechargables.
- Well structured menues, quick and easy operating.
- Fast map data transfer using USB.
- Quickly produces very good follow-road routes.
- Follow-roads routing can be adjusted for different vehicle types and pedestrian.
- Graphic turn instructions.
- Routable basemap.
- Can automatically recalculate when leaving the route, i.e. after missing a turn.
- Maps are detailed and up to date. Even correctly shows the new ways on the parking lots of a recently reconstructed nearby mall.
- Portable dashboard mount (beanbag) works.

Bad:
- Backside is curved, thus unit will wiggle when put down.
- Battery cover lock on backside may scratch surfaces when unit put down.
- Single-handed operation is difficult.
- USB jack is very tight. Be careful when removing plug.
- No tactile button action feedback (except for power button).
- Inserting unit into mount kit is unhandy.
- Car Mount kit does not automatically provide external power or antenna connection.
- External power does not recharge batteries.
- Intermittent problems with USB connection.
- No detour function, will attempt to route you back into a traffic jam.
- Audio alarms too quiet, can easily be overheared in the car.
- Turn-by-turn routes lose quality with route length.
- Automatic route recalculation after leaving the route occurs a bit too late.
- Route color is sometimes hardly distinguishable from road color.
- Detail maps for longer tours don't fit into memory, memory not expandable.
- Basemap has less detail than found on other Garmin units.
- Autozoom will zoom out too much (better turn off).
- Still a few bugs in the firmware (3.0), beta firmware (3.01) not reliable (lock-ups).

Conclusion:
Excellent unit. Most of the drawbacks are tolerable. I wished Garmin would add a detour function and optical alarms (to make up for the quiet audio alarms).

Garmin has a very hard-to-beat product with the GPSMAP 60C. I've owned 13 different GPS units from Garmin and Magellen and this one is the best I've had. This handheld, waterproof unit does all of the things found in the much more expensive units such as autorouting, providing the user with audible turn-by-turn directions. You can also customize the display to suit your taste of color, etc. The color screen is absoultely superior and its high resolution makes it very easy to see in any condition. Easy interface with a PC allows you to upload a varity of topographical, city, and marine map products for use anywhere on the planet. I've traveled over 2,000 miles with my GPSMAP 60C with an average accuaracy of 7 feet. Reception is excellent and fast. It's rugged which means you can take it out in the weather without fear of damaging the unit- I take it kayaking regularly. There are so many features with this unit that it can suit just about anyone's requirements for a recreational handheld GPS. You will NOT be disappointed with this gem. This is leading-edge GPS at it's best, all in the palm of your hand. Stop thinking about it and get this one!

This unit is perfect for Geocaching. I own it and prefer it to other units that I have tried. Other reviews will tell you about the great display, fast satellite acquisition, and battery life - these are all strong assets for the unit.

However, there are additional features that I feel need to be pointed out. The GPSMap 60C comes packaged with a USB cable AND free software (trip and waypoint manager). BE WARNED, these features are ONLY PC compatible. That's right, the unit refuses to share its information with Macs - perhaps third party software can remedy this problem, but I was unsuccessful.

Since I also have a PC, you should know that the USB cable and software is useful for more than just downloading maps. With the USB cable, you can update the firmware on your unit to the most current version available directly for download FREE from Garmin's website. The updated firmware will fix a plethora of problems - but will mainly quicken satellite acquisition AND improve the WAAS signal acquisition (greater accuracy down to 3 meters).

The trips and waypoints manager is very handy for active geocachers. Typing in coordinates and names of waypoints gets tedious fast! With the waypoint manager, you can enter all of your waypoints on your PC and then download them to your GSPMAP 60C. Transfer takes less than 1 second! (Computer connectivity is not a feature of MOST of the Magellan units that I considered).

Another GPS-friendly feature is the ability to specify certain waypoints as geocaches. This is more than just choosing a different waypoint symbol (there are plenty of those too). When using the unit's navigation menu, after you have found the cache, you have the ability to select "Found" off of the navigation page. Doing so will change the geocache icon into a 'geocache found' icon (an opened treasure chest) on your map. The unit will then ask you if you would like to start navigating towards the next-nearest cache that you have entered. Lastly, when you choose to search for the next cache (from the "Find" menu - which has its own button on the unit), already found caches would not clutter up your list of options.

The color screen isn't just a sales trick. You can create waypoints and tracks of DIFFERRENT colors! This is especially important when displaying multiple tracks at the same time, multiply this if the tracks overlap at all.

While the unit is rugged, feel free to additionally protect the front display by putting on a PDA screen protector (such as those made by Fellowes).

The last feature worth mentioning is the number of buttons on the unit. Useful for not just geocachers, these buttons are easy shortcuts for many of your common tasks so that you don't have to navigate menu through submenu and page by page. The power button, if pressed quickly and not held down, will adjust the level of backlighting in a snap.

Accessory antennas and car-power adapters are available, but I haven't yet encountered the need for them.

This is my first GPS, which I am using for Kayak navigation, and road trips (not the primary use, but why not?).

The product is pretty intuitive, but the included map detail is poor, and outdated for roads. Why not include better data for this price? The BlueCharts which I bought from Garmin are excellent and very detailed.

The only problems that I have found so far are:

1. I often lose satellite coverage.
2. The unit is not calibrated properly to the map, so it shows me paddling on dry land when I am in the center of a channel (about 50 feet off to the Southwest, always).
3. Highway maps show things like exits that don't exist, and exits that have been renamed with the old name. I think that a road atlas would serve someone better.
4. Public boat launches are not noted.

For me, I love being able to find out how far and fast I went in a boat + have a backup instrument navigation system in case of heavy fog.

Second Garmin I have owned, by far the best of the units I've sampled over the last few years. Good display, battery life seems to live up to the manufacturers promise (and runs fine on rechargeables), routing s/w very easy to use, and driving with it on the dash (you will need the mount or you won't be able to see it, and it isn't flat-backed) worked well. Automatic routing is great, and quick (few seconds to create a route). Reception with the fancy aerial seems better than patch antenna machines.
Download of maps (50mb worth) took a minute or two via USB connection. Auto kit (cig lighter charger, beanbag mount (these work very well) and US map CDs) is a bargain. Some people have commented that the unit is big, but it fits OK in a pocket, and has a little belt clip that seems to work well. I don't think it's too heavy personally either.

I find the main menu slightly perplexing (I prefer a list to a 2d grid of icons), and had some trouble getting automatic routes to transfer to the PC

On the downside, I think the install of the included s/w and mapsource data if you buy it on to a PC is poor, and the explanations of what's going on look like they done by an engineer rather than a regular human being. I also don't see why creating a route makes the unit insist on turning on the GPS or going to 'demo mode'. Last downer: you can't upgrade the memory in the unit. I assume this is some kind of garmin marketing angle, as the Quest has tons more RAM, but 56mb holds quite a lot (Manhattan, the Bronx, Long Island, some of NJ, Boston, DC, San Fran and Vegas fitted OK on mine).

Net I think the 60c is the best allrounder on the market, and unit and auto kit can be had for the same price as the quest (mini-Quest review: more RAM, small and cute, much less rugged, older interface, badly designed mount (feels like you'll break something when you want to take it out of the mount), internal rechargeables so you can't fit your own AA's (big downer, I think) though batt life is meant to be better).