Garmin GPSMAP 60Cx/60CSx/76Cx/76CSx info & discussion

[Stumpy75]

Is the above list a list of what has the SiRF III chip or will work with the NT software? Or is that the same thing?

[GizmoGuy411]

This post was just re-posted, as I did a major edit to it.

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Stumpy75 wrote:

Is the above list a list of what has the Surf III chip or will work with the NT software? Or is that the same thing?

See.. I told everyone to not read that! LOL.

I scrapped the list after I made an editing error and lost part of the info, which then made it too complicated to continue.

I first went to Garmin's CN NA NT page and created a list of every PND (Personal Navigation Device fka GPSr or GPS unit) model that was compatible with the NT mapping software. The list included all the "x", "H", and newer mapping models, as we expected. I was looking at the "disk-compatible" product list.

Then I went to the nüMaps Lifetime™ North America page and compared the compatible PND models with the above list. Here was where there was a surprise.

It looked like the only handheld PND models that were compatible with the nüMaps Lifetime were the Colorados, Oregons and the GPSMAP 60CSx. The 76CSx was not mentioned, which makes no sense as we have assumed it was essentially just a floating 60CSx.

Most of the nüvi models were listed, but not all, and several StreetView models were also listed.

All in all, the list of nüMaps Lifetime compatible models were a smaller subset of the models that were CN NA NT "disk-compatible". Notably missing were the Astro, Edge, eTrex series, iQue series, GPSMAP 76CS/CSx along with others in the GPSMAP series, and Rino series.

So is there an error on their website, or is it actually possible that only SOME of the CN NA NT compatible PND models are also compatible with the nüMaps Lifetime subscription program?

According to forum posts on other sites, it looks like the nüMaps Lifetime compatibility list was a lot smaller when they first introduced the program a few months ago, and has grown periodically since.

Reported communications with Garmin have resulted in conflicting answers too. Either their phone staff was not properly informed, or the policies have changed or both. One reply said that only units that were preloaded with NT software maps were eligible for nüMaps Lifetime. This was also implied in some text on Garmin's website. Another reply said that any unit capable of using NT, and if it had the memory capacity would be eligible. While this would be the best news for PND owners, this reply conflicts with the current list on Garmin's site.

Yet other sites implied the program was only for the nüvi and zūmo lines. This is clearly wrong. Of course their use of word "nüvi" in the program name does not help in that matter either.

After visiting the Garmin site a second time I found a difference in the models listed for "disk-compatible" versus, "download-compatible", and "card-compatible" for the CN NA NT mapping software. As it turns out, it looks like there is a pretty good match between those models listed under "download-compatible" for NT and the models listed for nüMaps Lifetime.

So after I made the edit error, I thought about the missing GPSr models, I decided that there may still be errors on the Garmin site, and if so I was wasting my time trying to create the list, so I wrote this post instead!

Now I'm really glad that I have recommended NT to those people buying their first mapping software. It now looks like the non-NT maps are going to have limited future support.

[Last edited by GizmoGuy411 on Mon 2009-Apr-27/07:35 1; edited 6 times in total]

[cheechgang]

Yikes!

[Stumpy75]

Now can you see why I was confused? The Garmin site used to be easy to understand, but that has really changed in the past year...

[GizmoGuy411]

cheechgang wrote:

Yikes!

Oh yeah!

Stumpy75 wrote:

Now can you see why I was confused? The Garmin site used to be easy to understand, but that has really changed in the past year...

Oh yeah!

Now with the multiple map upgrade offerings, I'm sure they are going to get lots of phone calls and emails from people trying to figure out which route is the best for them, and even which ways are even POSSIBLE for them! A chart would be a novel concept, wouldn't it?

I vaguely remember reading something about the nüMaps Guarantee and the nüMaps Lifetime some time ago and just ignored it because the name implied to me that it was intended only for the nüvi series PND, and not mine. I hardly think I am the only one that thought that! Their ads should read, "And not just for nüvis!"

[GizmoGuy411]

In the last few days, the content of the lead post of this topic thread was heavily edited and the entire lead post was just now replaced.

To provide tables, the entire post was changed from BBCode to HTML. Unfortunately, due to the limitations of our host software the font size becomes smaller than I would like, when HTML is used.

The entire post was also reorganized, and additional material was added.

I have some other ideas to change it further at a later time, when time permits.

I'll award an "attboy" or "attgirl" to the first person who finds errors before "TheBearclaws" who usually finds my mistakes!

[TeamAldridge]

I guess I really am the odd one out having the Oregon. I thought more would use the Oregon/Colorado. Apparently I thought wrong!

[cheechgang]

Great job Gizmo. Maybe you should contract out your services to Garmin...

[2trux]

Last week, while traveling down to GW7 and back, my 60csx started acting up. At seemingly random times (recalculating?) while driving the screen would fade out and the GPS would shut down. Turning it back on, would fix the problem for a little while. I tried changing batteries, resetting the memory card, with no change.

After getting home, I did some searching online. Apparently some other user's have experienced the same problem after upgrading to v3.90 of the software. I had upgraded mine from 3.60 -> 3.90 in the 30 days.

This week, I downgraded it to v3.70. We'll be testing it next week!

[GizmoGuy411]

Stumpy75!

Have you scratched your itch yet?

Inquiring minds want to know!

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And violating my own aversion to posting off-topic, I wanted to mention that I got a nice reply from AccuWeather about their out of date FAQ information regarding their Storm Table definition of the "MESO" parameter. After several emails, they finally admitted the current info is wrong and that they are in the process of re-writing the entire FAQ. It will be interesting to see how their info will compare to WeatherTap's.

[Stumpy75]

Nope, not yet!

[GizmoGuy411]

New OS as of May 26th, 2009. (Somehow we missed this update here!)

Changes made from version 3.90 to 4.00:
- Fixed several errors in NMEA statements introduced in 3.90.
- Fixed WAAS information not showing 'D' in satellite bars. Error was introduced in 3.90.
- Other minor bug fixes.

[GizmoGuy411]

The lead post has been updated to include information on how to get MapSource for free legally, the inclusion of info on the FindStatGen macro (creates a great HTML stats for your geocaching.com profile) for GSAK, and several other minor changes and corrections.

[GizmoGuy411]

I just revised this paragraph for item 4a of the lead post and added the Amason link to the end of it:

GizmoGuy411 wrote:

Garmin's "nüMaps Lifetime™ North America" is a lifetime map software update subscription program, providing new may data as often as every 3 months for the lifetime of the one PND unit by one owner. It is available only for those with NT mapping software such as CN NA NT. Owners of non NT software, must purchase the full NT version before they can subscribe to this service. As of this post, similar programs also exist for Europe and for a combined NA/EU program. Check out Amazon, for a good price on the CN NA NT subscription.

[GizmoGuy411]

For those with subscriptions, or who want to buy the latest version, City Navigator North America NT 2010.20 is available.