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

[rnw422]

Hello all, One question. My family and I are new to Geocaching and are interested in purchasing a handheld unit. We were looking at a Garmin 60cs. Would this be a good starter unit for us and what, if anything else, would we need to get? Thanks.

[GizmoGuy411]

The 60Cs or 60CSx are not really starter units. However if you can afford one, it would be an excellent choice to be your permanent GPS unit, thus skipping the need for a starter unit.

One down fall of buying one however is that you may not appreciate it as much, not owning a lower end unit first!

To use it geocaching, you do not really need anything else. Optionally a dash mount and car cord would be handy. Read the first message in this topic thread to find some suggestions and sources. For instance, you can get a car adaptor with a USB jack, and use the USB cable that comes with the unit, rather than buying an actual car cord.

If you want to take better advantage of the 60CS/60CSx features to use it for more than just Geocaching, then you eventually will want to buy a larger MicroSD memory card (blank) and the "City Navigator North America NT DVD" mapping software. With 2 gig memory chip, you can install ALL the data for North America, with room to spare for other items on your card.

Just be sure of four things when buying the software!
1) Do not buy it from an auction source (ie: eBay) or Garmin may not support it!
2) Make sure it is the LATEST version, which is 2009 as of this message post.
3) Make sure it is the "NT" edition. The "NT" edition has data that is more compressed than the non NT edition, thus giving you more free space on your memory card. (EDIT: Another important reason to get NT is that you can purchase a one time upgrade subscription for it!)
4) Be sure to buy the DVD software and NOT the preloaded memory card. It is a more flexible and safer choice.

And when buying a blank memory card, make sure it is a MicroSD, and NOT a MicroSDHC card as these units do not work with the "HC" card. (Note that 2 gig MicroSD cards are the compatibility limit of these units. Anything more than 2 gigs, and you are in "HC" territory!)

[rnw422]

Thanks for the information. Where do you purchase the software for the unit? Can this be purchased in Toledo somewhere or is it cheeper online and at what sites? Sorry for the questions but not sure about all this. Again, thank you.

[GizmoGuy411]

rnw422 wrote:

Thanks for the information. Where do you purchase the software for the unit? Can this be purchased in Toledo somewhere or is it cheeper online and at what sites? Sorry for the questions but not sure about all this. Again, thank you.

You're welcome.

I just purchased this (LEGALLY) last month:

Link: www.gpscity.com/item-g...usa9nt.htm
1 Item(s) Ordered:
1. Garmin City Navigator North America NT DVD 2009
P/N: 010-10816-00 SKU: CNUSA9NT
QTY: 1
PRICE EACH: $85.95
ITEM TOTAL: $85.95

Item Total = $85.95
Shipping = $10.77
Insurance = $0.00
Discount = -$0.00
---------------------------
Subtotal = $96.72
Nevada Sales Tax = $0.00
---------------------------
Total Amount = $96.72

You will likely pay more locally. I may have been able to find a better price than above elsewhere online, however this was one of the few sites that explictly mentioned that it was the 2009 version. VERY IMPORTANT!

The problem is that the product number does not change, year to year, so you end up getting the 2008 version if you are not careful. If you order 2008 you can then aoply a free upgrade to 2009, but I wanted to avoid doing that.

As noted in the lead post, be wary of buying Garmin hardware or software via online auctions, or from non authorized dealers, as people have reported that Garmin may not support products purchased from these sources.

If you do buy a 60CS or 60CSx, besure to let us know here so we can add you to our list at the top of tihs thread!

[bandb14139]

Hi,
We have just switched to a 60Cx to be used exclusively for geocaching, it was a lateral move since we have been using BeeLine on our automotive GPS with Sirf III. The 60Cx is much more user friendly when geocaching, longer battery life, replaceable batteries, buttons to enter info and change screens and the list goes on.
This site seems to provide the answers related to geocaching that the manual does not cover. So here is our first request. Can the proximity alarm/message be changed? Presently we get a beep and message about 30 feet from a cache. We have tried to change the distance using MapSource / properties and have turned off the proximity alarms in the menu/setup/system screen, neither approach worked. We would like an alert about 4 feet from the cache if possible.

[GizmoGuy411]

bandb14139 wrote:

Hi, .... So here is our first request. Can the proximity alarm/message be changed? Presently we get a beep and message about 30 feet from a cache....

I'm fairly certain there is no setting for that. Actually, the alarms appear to be determined by "time to destination" rather than "distance to destination."

As an experiment, set a destination, and drive to it a different speeds. You will see the distance increases the faster you are traveling.

So if your alarm is going off 30 feet from the cache now, and you want it to go off 4 feet from the cache, try walking 7 times slower! Just joking of course, as that is probably not practical.

There is probably also a practical limit, as to when it will go off, and the formula may not be as simple as I descibed either.

Now you have me wanting to test it out. I could set the end of my block as destination and travel to it at various speeds and see the results. Hummm. On second thought, maybe a longer deserted road would be better. For the best results, I think you would want to do repeated tests in the same location, and as close together in time as possible (to get approximately the same sat signals). Then average the results for each speed tested.

[rnw422]

Hello again,

Well, we took the plunge and purchased the 60CSX as our first unit. Got a GREAT deal on the unit so we went right to the unit that we can use for a long time. Will probably get this thing running here in the next few days but was curious if someone experienced with this particular unit will be at the Maumee Meet and Eat if I had some questions? Ya gotta eat right???? Thanks.

rnw422, Smacky "J", and Lydiabug5

[GizmoGuy411]

rnw422 wrote:

...curious if someone experienced with this particular unit will be at the Maumee Meet and Eat if I had some questions? ...

Several someones of us that own 60CS or 60CSx's should be there! Just hold it up in the air and I'm sure we will quickly respond.

[sm_geo]

Got the 60CSx, too. I really like it! I will always have a place in my heart for the old ETrex Legend, though. I still need to figure out some things, but it's really nice up grade from what I was using.

[OnDHunt]

I just followed the directions in Gizmo's post from 11/3/08 to purchase maps and mine was a little less expensive.

Map $79.95
Tax 0
Shipping $7.37
Total Cost $87.32

Thanks for the advice!

[thunter16148]

mine was free as well as the topo....just gotta ask around

[cheechgang]

New software available

GPS SW Version 3.00s

Software Version 3.90 (change states purpose is to implement maps greater than 2GB)

[SmackyJ]

I have a question. Does the Garmin 60CS usually take a while to accure satellites, compared to the Garmin 60CSx that picks satellites up instantly?

[GizmoGuy411]

SmackyJ wrote:

I have a question. Does the Garmin 60CS usually take a while to accure satellites, compared to the Garmin 60CSx that picks satellites up instantly?

As far as I know, both models use the same GPS chip set. So you would expect them to have similar satellite acquisition times.

However there still could well be a difference between these models, it is more likely that there are other factors to consider.


0) Those two models are inherently different as they use different GPS Chipsets. The "x" models use the newer Sirf III GPS chipsets. (see the lead post for more info).
1) Are both models running the same GPS Chip software versions?
2) Are both models running the same internal OS software.
3) Were both turned off and back on at the same locations?
Units turned on at greater distances from where they were turned off, take longer to acquire satellites.
4) Were both units turned on at the same time in the same place when you noticed the acquisition difference.


So to really know if one has faster acquisition than the other you would need to test them in the most identical conditions as possible. Oh yeah... and don't forget a fresh set of batteries for each when testing.

If you can actually run a few tests as above, you will probably be able to answer you own question a lot better than any of us here. Oh course then you will have to report back here with your findings!

[2trux]

I *think* Garmin changed chipsets when the "x" models were introduced.

For example, a 60Cx with the SiRF III chipset locked onto the satellites much faster than the 60C. Many folks getting an "x" model were surprised to get a satellite lock while inside their houses.

GizmoGuy411 wrote:

As far as I know, both models use the same GPS chip set. So you would expect them to have similar satellite acquisition times.