GPS Garmin GPSmap 60cs

I have one and dont have a bad word to say about it. Got mine so I could see the screen easier. Mated to City Navigator 6 software, its a perfect travelling and turn by turn navigator. Up the high country recently and every road I went on was in the GPS except Monument track, cest la vie.

A bit pricey and the 76CS has more memory but it fits heaps of Maps in there and I reckon its the beez kneez.

I case my rest.

Howdy, if you are interested, you could find a pretty good deal for a 2nd hand unit at link Garmin 60CS

Hi Steve & Paula,

I've had the Garmin GPS Map 60CS for about 18 months now and it is great. Mine gets used between the yacht, motorbike (bush), 4wd and hiking.

I have the Garmin Bluecharts for use in the yacht and have found them to be extremely detailed and accurate.

For land based activities I use both the Garmin Metroguide as well as the free maps from Tracks4australia. With the Garmin Mapsource product I have been quite surprised at what Metroguide does cover. Most people are buying the City Navigator maps but as I live in a regional area I went with the Metroguide. It will still give turn by turn instructions when navigating and also features details of items of interest right down to the phone number of a restaurant or a footy oval. I have been told that there will be topographical maps available by the end of the year which is what I am hanging out for but I wouldn't hold my breath.

With the tracks4australia maps I have not come across one road or track, with extensive travel through western Qld and NT, that has not been marked and named on the maps. It even has all of the fire trails marked through our local state forests.

see tracks4australia

I am very happy with the Map60CS features giving me the ability to store my tracks and waypoints on the GPS and then transfer them to my home PC to be reloaded later on. I also do all of my homework before I leave home and plot my routes accurately on the PC and name them. Then when I know I am going to a particular are I just upload all of the ones for that area into the GPS and head off. This is great in the yacht because I connect the GPS to the Autopilot and set it to navigate one of my presaved routes and then I am free to run forward and trim sails or go below and cook a meal and the GPS does all of the work.

They are a great little unit with the only colour screen that I have ever seen that can be seen clearly in full sunlight. Most people go for the MAP 76 for the larger memory but I have all of the Bluecharts from Sydney to the Whitsundays loaded as well as the complete Metroguide for Australia loaded and I think the memory is only just over half full. I also prefer the buttons at the bottom of the unit as the 76 has them all at the top and your hand is in the way half of the time.

Heaps of other litlle features that get a lot of use like tide predictions, hunt, fish, sun, moon tables, altimeter,barometer, compass, easy to customise displays and waterproof. I have brackets mounted in the cockpit of the boat and on the dashboard of the Landcruiser. It sits out in the sun, the salt spray and the rain on the yacht and is still going strong. Too much else to mention.
Give me a yell if you need to know anything else.

Cheers,
Brett

We have both an eMap and 60C. We brought the 60C because we brought an extra car and didn't want to keep swapping the eMap between cars.

Overall - we think the 60C is a good replacement for the eMap - and I think you'll find it to be a good investment

Specific points (some good - some less good)
- The USB capability is brilliant. It really speeds up download/upload times. And in these times when GPS can store more waypoints and tracks - it is absolutely essential.
- I don't like the way it clips into the vehicle mount. I always afraid I'm going to break something. I'll get used to it.
- But - the vehicle mount has more movement options than the eMap mount.
- The power cable plug is more robust and firm fitting than the eMap. The plug can easily slip out on the eMap
- The polarity markings for the battery compartment is not so obvious. I would have liked "+" and "-" symbols included instead of just an outline of a battery inscribed into the compartment.
- Maybe it's just me - but there seem to be more button pushes needed to start a "GOTO" on a WAYPOINT than with the EMAP
- The display is easier to read than the EMAP

I have had an 60cs for the past 12 months or so and am more than happy with it except for the on/off switch. When the unit is left in its holder in the car on a hot day, the rubber switch becomes soft and it is just about impossible to turn the unit on or off. Only happens on hot days and as soon as it cools ie. when the aircon has been running for a few minutes it works fine.

Thanks for your replies everyone. I've ordered the GPSMAp 60cs from GPSOZ, an advertiser on this site. I'm happy with the deal and their service was prompt - it's on its way!