Exactly! I could never figure out if there was a purpose to blocking out the screen while activating those buttons. Either I'm missing something obvious or the engineer that designed that unit came from "Flunkies Inc".

I didn't even consider the 76 Cx for that reason.

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Alex

Alex's BMW Motorcycle & Global Touring Page
SmugMug Site
Alps Motorcycle Tours - Priced Right


- If motorcyclists claim to be individuals, why then do so many of them ride in packs?

I've been using various Garmin GPS units for years and the quality/reliability is excellent.
I currently use a 276C in the Landy and a 60CS when hiking (not hitch hiking !).
When new, the 60CS experts said the firmware had a number of bugs.
I downloaded the latest firmware from the Garmin website (free) and no problems since.
The 60CSx (and other 60x models) have 3 main advantages over the non-x model:
1/ More sensitive SiRF type GPS receiver which is claimed to give quicker satellite lock-on.
2/ Improved retention of satellite signals when under dense foliage or in the 'urban canyon' of tall buildings all around...
3/ Can take readily available memory cards - a very strong point if on a long trip.

My 60CS has the compass option (S denotes) - it is very useful when hiking as it can be switched on to give you directions to waypoints when stationary - switch it off afterwards though, as it uses extra battery power.
My understanding is that all these 'S' type compass units require it to be held horizontally in order for the compass to work accurately - not very convenient when vehicle mounted..!

As with all things electronic these days - even Garmin seem to be launching new models before the firmware has been fully debugged - general users such as myself would probably not notice, but the enthusiasts are finding bugs and discussing it...
I am sure a 60 x model would be a better buy at this stage and just look out for any latest firmware downloads...

A good web forum for this stuff is
http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showforum=11

Good luck...

James Stephenson
Land Rover Defender 130 camper - 'Mr Custard'
www.JamesUK.net

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Best regards,
James Stephenson
Land Rover Defender 130 camper
www.JamesUK.net

I just returned from my Africa trip with my newly purchased 60 csx.

Although I love the autorouting of TomTom more, though the 60csx offers greater versatility when you are in the boonies or off the bike. Hence, for serious biking, the 60csx is as good as it gets. For riding arround in the civilized world though, the TomTom.

In the end though, I hardly ever used the GPS. I only really brought it out of my luggage when my speedometer broke. On the main roads in Africa I didn't need it and found the GPS more as clutter than useful. It was purely expensive novelty than just took up space and added to more clutter. The only place I really wanted the full GPS option was when trying to navigate urbanised areas. But as I didnt have a detailed map with aoutorouting options, the GPS was utterly useless for this purpose. As the main roads in Africa are so few and far appart and so obviously distinctive, getting lost requires some talent in fact. Also, as the World Map lacks so much detail, it is useless off the main road anyways, making your sat position the only truely useful piece of info (if you have a map), which translates into any weather proof GPS being adequate.

There are ofcourse better maps available for Africa than World Map, but none that I would rely on completely... I'd allways bring Michelin paper Maps (I tried several other brands that were supposed to be more detailed but found them to give insignificantly more info, and often inaccurate). For the bush you need GPS coordinates, any weather tight GPS, the Michelin map and people to ask for directions along the way. I don't think the extra money the 60csx costs will offer you anything more than novelty when travelling in Africa.

In other places of the world, such as Europe, this will ofcourse be a different story. In my opinion, what dictates how much money you should spend on a GPS is the availability of reliable detailed maps. If there are none for where you will be going, buy a cheap one.

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errr more detail .. for 'adventure roads' in Garmin maping GPSes...

Tracks 4 Africa

and

Tracks 4 Australia

have much more detail than Gramins world map .. in places. And they are 'free' ... They don't suport auto routing ... nor do they 'do' cities..

In full agreement about buying a gps - check what maps are avalible and there suitablity for what you want to do.

__________________
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Regards Frank Warner
motorcycles BMW R80 G/S 1981, BMW K11LT 1993, BMW K75 G/S

Hey guy's I'm new to forum and absolutely love both my bikes.I just wish i'd had my new garmin last week as my bro from Texas came in and we rode ourselves silly.My question is this , has anyone used one of these things on remote controlled aircraft and boats for max speed and altitude readings? i ordered the Garmin really because of that trip and elevation computer.I fly large scale gasoline powered R/C planes ,and that should open up a whole new vista for me.i've tried various downlink stratagies but they mostly fail due i guess to the Rf noise and the low transmit power."ya dont want to interfere with the R/C reciever.So i can at least finally know this info after flight or boat run.let me know what you think .later

Frank,

where can I source those maps?

bob

Just returned from a 10,000 km 2.5 week trip using Tracks4Australia. Excellent. A couple of tracks were off by up to 0.2 km. New constructed road was upto 3km from the 'old' road .. Still better than the Natmap and Hemma maps (but then they don't have the resolution ) ....

OK you probably have already googled it ...

OZ
www.gpsoz.com.au/tracks4australia/
groups.yahoo.com/group/tracks4australia/

About 55Mb


Africa
www.tracks4africa.com/

About 15Mb

As you can tell by the file size - OZies are doing a good job .. The African one covers southern Africa well, Morocco good, and most of the middle not at all. The maps depend on people contributing their tracks to add to and improve the map. Grant wants to set up a GPS track log too - that is ok but for Africa and Australia I'd rather see people contribute to these maps. You can look at them with out the Garmin stuff - GPSmapEditor will do that ...
err try www.cgpsmapper.com/ No .. I'll have to look it up...later

On the 60Cx - it is a tough little unit. Fell at about 85km/h in deep red sand ..
case showes impacts with sand .. unit still works but has two cracks across the screen making it hard to read. Exchange unit for $aud300

__________________
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Regards Frank Warner
motorcycles BMW R80 G/S 1981, BMW K11LT 1993, BMW K75 G/S

'Ere you go

http://www.geopainting.com/en/index.html

GPSMapEditor (views them too)

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On the OCR I ran both the 60Cx and a PDA - inter connected. On the PDA I ran oziexploerCE with both Hemma maps and Natmap 1:250k topo maps. Using Oziexploer and the GPS places the map on the PDA with you in the centre, north up and auto scrolls to the next map .. will also auto go to a map with more detail if you set it up that way. The PDA was not good in the sun (useless) but provided another 2 sets of maps for different information when confused err more confused than normal.

__________________
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Regards Frank Warner
motorcycles BMW R80 G/S 1981, BMW K11LT 1993, BMW K75 G/S