Great GPS unit

After having this unit for about a year and using it for everything including hiking, hunting, skiing, and driving I cannot say enough good things about it. Though I have never submerged it for prolonged periods of time, I have slipped and fell into a river with it, soaked it on rain filled hikes, and even gotten it both wet and frozen on the same day skiing with it and the thing still works like new. I love the topo map feature (though it costs another $100). The topo map detail is not very high but it looks to be both the same scale and detail as USGS 1:100K Series maps. The thing that really sold me on this unit vs. Magellan was looking at actual maps of both units online. The Magellan maps did not even come close to matching the paper topo maps I have here at home. The Garmin maps were right on the money (abet at 1:100K scale). I will note though, they don't provide much detail but they suffice for my needs. Another thing that sold me on the Garmin maps (and hence this unit) is that many (not all) of my favorite hikes already show the trails, including river/creek, mountain, waterfall, etc. names. I know that you are never supposed to rely on only an electronic device for keeping your direction in t he wilderness or while hiking. It is recommended to take paper maps with you wherever you go to keep from getting lost if your GPS fails. In all candor though, I usually go on two or three day hikes and with this unit I have forgone carrying a paper map and compass any more. When hunting or bushwhacking off trail, I will still take the old compass and paper map with me, but for in and out hikes along the same trail system I just bring the GPS any more. It actually weighs quite a bit more than any paper map and compass, but I find I don’t have to go out and buy a new topo map (or two, or three, or…) every time I go on a hike, and that unlike a paper map the GPS does not get soggy wet, folded out of shape and generally need replaced ever second or third use. If you are looking for a unit to use hiking/hunting this is a great unit. I also recommend going online yourself and looking at some trails or areas that you are familiar with. The Garmin vs. Magellan topo maps are worlds of difference apart in my opinion and you should be able to see the difference.

So far it might sound like I mostly use my GPS for outdoors activities but in fact the thing I enjoy and use it for the most is driving. I only have the topo software and frankly though the topo maps show most roadways, there are frequent times that the road data is outdated. It looks like they used ancient roadway data in the topo map software, and though it shows most roads and even most goat trail 4X4 trails it misses any new updates to these roads, new streets, etc. As far as I can tell about anything added in the last 10 - 20 years does not show up. It's kinda funny driving down the freeway and looking at the map of where you are at and the freeway does not even exist in this software. I imagine that this is easily fixed if you actually went out and bought the Garmin streets software. As I understand it this software gives names of streets, much more detail and even let's you search and find directions to addresses and such. The problem I have is that you cannot put both the streets and topo maps on top of each other in the unit. You can only load one or the other, as such and with my needs I chose the topo software. Speaking of loading maps, one of my few other gripes is that the unit is only compatible with windows machines and if you have a Mac, or Apple operating system you cannot do anything with the unit. Fortunately, I still have an ancient windows machine here at home, but I would really like it if the software and unit was Mac compatible.

Another area it had proven valuable is while driving I have found my speedometer in my old car to vary by as much as 10 mph. As such I bring my 60CS with me wherever I go anymore. I have a windshield mount and cigarette lighter power cable and really enjoy the EXTREMELY accurate speedometer as well as trip data this unit provides (and you can track a million things here from trip time to distance covered, average speed, time moving, time of sunset, etc… the list goes on and on). I also like to use it late at night while driving down unfamiliar roads. The software is not perfect, but I have found if you zoom it in pretty tight you can look at the road ahead and find out if you have a bend coming up in the road, or a straight away, or whatever. This is pretty handy if you get stuck behind some slow moving vehicle on a strange windy road in the middle of the night, as you can look at the map and see if after the next bend, the road will straighten out or not, and plan things like speeding up to pass before it is to late.

The things that usually get mentioned about GPS units are how good and accurate the reception is and things like the display and antenna. So far I have been very impressed with the Garmin on all these fronts. The display is bright and easy to read in full sun to full shade. I only use the backlight (and it is great) when driving at night. It is pretty cool having the color screen up on the window glowing softly as you drive around. The backlight eats batteries though so you will definitely want the power cable to do this. The reception pickup is pretty quick (and seems quicker to me if you leave it on the “satellite” screen until it shows reception with 3 satellites), and overall accuracy is good enough for my needs (note: I don’t geocache so anything within 10 yards is fine by me). Finally, I have found if I put it on the console beside me in the car the reception can go down and even occasionally get lost, but as long as it is up in the window, I get great reception and data, even if I am in the mountains or driving under trees. The same goes for hiking with the unit. As long as I have it out or somewhere high on my pack with the antenna showing it maintains ok reception, though there are times when it looses where it, especially in tight canyons or the very bottom of valleys. When it looses reception it does show you an annoying message stating that it has lost reception at which point you then have to hit enter for it to refind your current location (while it is in this lost state – it quits tracking data). If I had one suggestion for Garmin it would be to have the unit tell you that it lost reception awhile ago, but continue tracking where you are at to the best of it’s knowledge and a do a “best guess” where you came from for mapping/trip data vs., making you hit enter to get it to start tracking things again. When you start nitpicking at this level though you are probably more than well enough off and I must say I am more than happy with this purchase. I honestly thought I would only use it occasionally when in the backcountry. As it is I use it daily for driving, and for everything from showing me where I am at in the woods to the amount of vertical I skied in a day. If you are looking for a system to do the same you would be hard pressed to find a better one.