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Smart Phone VS Garmin et al as a GPS tool Smart Phone VS Garmin et al as a GPS tool
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Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia




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  #1  
Old 8 Feb 2013
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I've read this thread (or at least most of it) with interest.

I've been a tomtom user for many years and have a chinese motorbike tomtom satnav on my bike which works fine. I quite like the interface and simplicity.

The Zumo seems to be the satnav of choice for bikers though, I've never used one but I don't know what functions of it over the tomtom I am missing? Bear in mind though I've always stuck to tarmac before. I think it can track your ride and stuff?

Anyhow I have just been cleaning out my wardrobe and found a Garmin 60CSX. I've played around with it, loaded Basecamp on my PC and loaded a map (Of Iceland) and see I can get OSM maps for it. However I'm pretty naive and wondering if the fad with these is over now that phones and tomtom/zumo's are around.

Basically is the 60CSX something I should learn about, play with and become familiar with and will it become a good part of my travels or am I just playing with outdated or unsuitable technology?

Thanks - Daniel
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Old 8 Feb 2013
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Originally Posted by Modman View Post
I've read this thread (or at least most of it) with interest.

I've been a tomtom user for many years and have a chinese motorbike tomtom satnav on my bike which works fine. I quite like the interface and simplicity.

The Zumo seems to be the satnav of choice for bikers though, I've never used one but I don't know what functions of it over the tomtom I am missing? Bear in mind though I've always stuck to tarmac before. I think it can track your ride and stuff?

Anyhow I have just been cleaning out my wardrobe and found a Garmin 60CSX. I've played around with it, loaded Basecamp on my PC and loaded a map (Of Iceland) and see I can get OSM maps for it. However I'm pretty naive and wondering if the fad with these is over now that phones and tomtom/zumo's are around.

Basically is the 60CSX something I should learn about, play with and become familiar with and will it become a good part of my travels or am I just playing with outdated or unsuitable technology?

Thanks - Daniel
I don't have one of those 60csx but there does seem to be a steady market for second hand ones on the likes of ebay.
I believe the replacement model is the 62 and you can find feedback about various models of garmin in the rest of this forum:-
Navigation - Maps, Compass, GPS - Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB
Just look back in there for views about the 60csx - I believe there is a strong following of this model so if you don't want it I have no doubt you can sell it.

By the way, I also have a (very old) Tomtom and I like the simplicity of it.
I bought a second hand Garmin Nuvi 205W just because I wanted to experiment with free maps such as OSM.
Again, read reviews for the capabilities of the various Garmins; the company have a huge range of models and, from what I can tell, most/all do tracking but not all accept routes - I have been known to be wrong though
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Last edited by Walkabout; 9 Feb 2013 at 21:31.
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Old 9 Feb 2013
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Thanks for that info Dave. I will have a look at everything. My Cheap Chinese satnav keeps hanging, grrr so I am going to eed to buy something in a few months.
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Old 9 Feb 2013
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Originally Posted by Modman View Post
My Cheap Chinese satnav keeps hanging, grrr
In that case, I would definitely give the 60csx a go: now that I have got over the wonder of touch sensitive screens I think there is something to be said for a GPS that uses buttons - positive control while wearing gloves for instance.

Anyway, you have the thing, so why not use it? As I mentioned, they seem to be rated quite highly by others. The only other thing that comes to mind is their "computing power"; maybe the older technology will be slow or not able to load up "big" maps?
I think they are water resistant and you should be able to get a mounting bracket to fix it to a bike.

Somewhere in here, not so long ago, is a thread about a different, cheap, GPS made in China (although that is not to say that Garmin et al do not also have factories in the republic ;-)
Maybe you have the same make??
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Old 11 Feb 2013
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Thanks for that Dave. I have been playing around with it most of Sunday (Indoors mind you) and have some maps loaded and now just learning the different terminology.
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Old 3 Mar 2013
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Nokia Lumia ...gloves...
Nokia Lumia 920's capacitive display works with gloves | The Verge
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Old 7 Apr 2013
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downside of using smartphone as gps device is that in the event the smartphone is stolen or damaged, you will no longer have a gps device as well. As we can buy gps device for US$100 or so, it makes sense to have a gps device in addition to the smart phone. The gps device is also much more durable and less sensitive to the elements than a smartphone.
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