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| GARMIN GPS Map 64 MB 60Cx Without Barometric Altimeter & Compass | 
 enlarge | Brand: Garmin
Category: CE
Buy New: Too low to display
New (69) Used (1) Refurbished (3)
Avg. Customer Rating:  63 reviews
Sales Rank: 1406
Media: Electronics
Memorabilia: No
Tracks: 20
Batteries Included: No
Native Resolution: 160x240
Display Size: 2.6
Includes MP3 Player: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4
Dimensions (in): 1.5 x 2.2 x 2.6
Array:
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: 010-00421-00
Model: 010-00421-00
UPC: 753759049096
EAN: 0753759049096
ASIN: B000CSWHCY
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 Most versatile of Garmin's Handheld GPS models August 25, 2007
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
Among the plethora of handheld GPS models on the market, the 60CX probably offers the most all-around useful features.
What I like about the 60CX:
1. Very fast satellite acquisition thanks to the SirfStar-III chipset. Sitting indoors at my kitchen table and typing this review, my 60CX is tracking 8 satellites , including the WAAS satellite, and is showing the "location error" as only 22 feet. The 60CX also works remarkably well under tree canopy, inside my car, and in urban areas surrounded by tall buildings - all situations that would defeat most previous generations of handheld GPS's. The display processor has plenty of power, allowing speedy updates of the map even at tight zoom scales where the map is showing the maximum amount of detail and is changing rapidly if you are travelling at freeway speeds.
2. The Quad Helix antenna allows the unit to track satellites no matter what orientation the unit is placed in, horizontal, vertical, or face down: it still works. This allows the unit to be used on a belt clip, automobile or bicycle mount, or in a backpack pocket and you won't lose satellite lock. The patch antenna of units like the Garmin E-Trex or Lowrance IFinder models only works at full efficiency if the unit is placed horizontally on it's back, with the antenna facing upwards. For comparison, the E-Trex Legend I used to own would not track satellites if placed in a shirt pocket facing inwards, or if it got turned upside down on the dash of my car.
3. Connectivity and software. The 60CX comes with MapSource software, which allows upload/download of Waypoints, Track Logs, Routes, and Maps via the included USB cable. If you buy any of Garmin's optional cartography products like City Navigator or TOPO 2008, these maps all work together seamlessly in the same MapSource session. You can create or edit your routes and waypoints graphically against the map background on your PC screen, then upload the data to the GPS. Track logs recorded live by the GPS can be downloaded to MapSource, easily edited to remove "outliers" ("bad" track points caused by poor satellite PDOP), then uploaded back to the GPS. MapSource is pretty intuitive, user-friendly, and easy to learn.
While the 60CX is connected to a PC by the USB cable, it is being powered by your PC, saving the batteries in your GPS.
In addition to the USB connection, the 60CX has an RS-232 serial connection to allow it to communicate navigation commands to other devices, like marine autopilots, or chartplotting software like SeaClear or Fugawi Navigator, using the NMEA-183 Protocol. The serial connector is a 4-pin DIN socket that also allows the unit to be supplied with DC power from a vehicle or boat 12 volt electrical system. Garmin sells a cable with a 4-pin plug on one end, and the other end bare wires to connect to your accessories. This makes the 60CX a usable alternative to much more expensive dedicated Marine Chartplotters on your boat - it should connect to any marine autopilot that is NMEA-183 compatible. When you are not using your boat, the 60CX can be used in your car, as it does auto routing (if you own the optional City Navigator mapping product).
4. GPS Features. The 60CX is so packed with features, it's hard to think of anything else it could do that isn't already built in. It even has a display to calculate Glide Slope if you were using it in a sailplane. That said, keep in mind that the 60CX is a general purpose handheld unit, and while it has tons of features, dedicated Marine Chartplotters or Aviation GPS models will offer more capability for use specifically on boats or in aircraft, starting with a much larger display screen.
5. Build quality. The 60CX feels like it is sturdily built. The lower part of the housing is coated with knobby soft rubber right where most people would tend to hold it in hand, although increasing the area of the coating further up the sides would be nice. The latching mechanism on the battery compartment door uses metal instead of plastic for both the "male" and "female" components, which is good, but the effort required to turn the latch on my unit is higher than I would like, leaving me to wonder if the latch pin will eventually fail from metal fatigue. The micro-SD card lives under the batteries and is so tiny that changing it requires nimble fingers, at least more nimble than my "fat-sausage" fingers. If you've got an 8-year old kid handy, let him/her change your SD card. Or use a tweezers. The included belt clip seems to be well built, but I would recommend also attaching the GPS to one of your belt loops (assuming you're not wearing a skirt or dress) with the supplied wrist lanyard (or a longer cord for more reach). I have had the belt clip come off when getting into or out of a car, which would have caused the GPS to free-fall onto my concrete garage floor if I had not also used the lanyard.
The display is reasonably readable in direct sunlight, and very good indoors with the backlight on. The display is hardest to read when the ambient light is less than "full sun", but still too bright to use the backlight, for example outdoors on a heavily cloudy day, or in twilight like that first 1/2 hour after sunset. Although the above sounds like I rate the display as "poor", it is MUCH better than the display on the E-Trex Legend I used to own. I guess what I am trying to say is that I have seen sharper color displays on high-end PDA's, so the 60CX display might be a little disappointing to people who own such devices.
The most noteworthy features are:
(a) Ability to record your Active Track Log as a GPX file on the Micro-SD card, up to the memory limit of the card. A new GPX file is created each day (at 00:00 if the unit is powered on as midnight passes). These GPX files can be loaded into MapSource and edited as a tracklog, allowing multiple GPX files to be combined if you want. This feature means that the 10,000 point limit on the "active track log" could theoretically be worked around to record a much larger series of track logs at FULL precision. Lowrance IFinder models can also record track logs (trails) to micro-SD card, but Lowrance's track logs do not include Elevation or the time/date stamp on each track point like Garmin track logs do.
(b) Automatic generation of Routes for your road trips. This feature looks and works pretty much the same as on a Street Pilot or Nuvi, except the screen on the 60CX is smaller, and you don't have Voice commands telling you when to turn. This feature requires you to purchase extra-cost optional mapping like City Navigator, that includes all the "attributes" of the roads, like where and how they intersect, speed restrictions, one-way restrictions, etc. In auto-route mode, the 60CX does warn you of upcoming turns with big text messages and arrows, and it will automatically calculate alternative routing if you miss a turn. If you don't own City Navigator, the 60CX will let you manually create and store routes, or back-track a previously recorded tracklog, and the turn warnings will still operate.
(c) Route Profiling. If you have TOPO 2008 cartography (see my review on that product), the 60CX can generate and display the Profile of the roads along your route. This is nice for planning any kind of hiking, biking, or road trip.
(d) Topo Mapping (land) or BlueCharts (marine). These are extra-cost optional mapping products that allow your 60CX to display maps or charts that look a lot like USGS Quad Maps, or NOAA Marine Navigation Charts. Many other Garmin GPS's can also do this, it's just that the 60CX does it in a handheld package with lots of versatility to use it in your car, boat, RV, bicycle, or airplane, or even just walking around on your own two feet. The built-in basemap in the 60CX is pretty rough and includes only major highways, also the outlines of coastlines, rivers and lakes are mostly horribly inaccurate - the 60CX can't realistically be used as a marine chartplotter unless you buy an appropriate optional mapping product like TOPO 2008, BlueChart (for your region), or Inland Lakes. Check out Garmin's website for more details on what you actually get with their mapping products.
The rest of the 60CX's feature set is pretty much the typical features that you get on all Garmin or Lowrance IFinder handhelds, i.e. Waypoints, Routes, Tracks, Calendar, Sun and Moon set/rise times, etc. The 60CX also has some extra features specific to Geocaching, Marine Tide Stations, and Hunting and Fishing recommendations. For an exhaustive list of everything this GPS can do, go to Garmin's website and download the PDF of the complete owner's manual.
WHAT I DON'T LIKE ABOUT THE 60CX:
1. The map display shows land areas as a medium tan color, and I have not been able to find a way to lighten this color or change it to plain white. This tan color is too dark and offers insufficient contrast to overlaid features like city streets that are a brown or red color that is only a little darker.
Battery life is less than some other handheld GPS's, but this isn't really a complaint since the 60CX has a very powerful display processor. I also own a Lowrance IFinder GO, and while it has nearly double the battery life of the 60CX, it is a monochrome display and the processor is so underpowered that it is positively agonizing to plan a route using map pointing. The 60CX is light-years better than the IFinder GO, and if the price of all that power is only 16 hours of battery run time, it's worth it when you are actually using the unit for real-time chart plotting or route planning.
OVERALL SUMMARY: In my opinion, the 60CX is probably the best all-around handheld GPS from Garmin, offering the most comprehensive and versatile suite of features. Although it is not as capable for automobile routing as a dedicated Auto Navigation GPS like the Street Pilot, or as powerful for Marine Navigation as a full-fledged chartplotter, it can substitute for these devices if you can live with the small display screen and lack of some features specific to Marine or Auto Navigation. For hiking or bicycling trips, it is an excellent GPS that offers far more capability than the smaller wrist-mount GPS's (although at the cost of a little more weight and bulk). The ability of the Quad Helix antenna to allow satellite lock with the unit in a pocket or mounted vertically makes it preferable to any GPS with a patch antenna for hiking or backpacking, and probably better for mounting in a car or boat where you would probably mount it vertically. NOTE: for use on a yacht making a blue-water passage, I would recommend the 60CX as an emergency backup to your boat's regular chartplotter.
I rate the 60CX as Highly Recommended and I give it 5 stars with no reservations.
 What sensitivity! August 23, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I can get satellite lock in deep forests and in my house and places where my old Etrex Vista could not. The displays are crystle clear and easy to see in all conditions. The user interface is good compared to other GPS units I have owned but could be designed more intuitively. The device makes calculations fast. I bought North American City mapsource and they work well together. I intend to use the device for hiking and the topographic map intended to be loaded into the 60cx does not have sufficient resolution. I carry 1 to 24,000 resolution maps from Maptech set in 3d mode. I load the appropriate waypoints from this maping software into the 60CX.
If I were buying now I would certainly look at the Garmin Etrex Vista cxh. It has the same resolution display as the 60Cx, has the same chipset, weighs less, and goes longer on a battery. It's a hundred dollars cheaper.
favorite GPS thus far August 5, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I've owned 3 other Garmins through the years, and have used just about every other brand out there (Magellan, Trimble, etc). Garmin has always had the easiest and most user-friendly interface. No need to read the manual on this model for most folks. The functionality is great, and I haven't found any negatives thus far on this model.
Garmin GPSMap 60Cx July 23, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Very nice, the best gps...Battery durability, signal sensility, screen visualization, refresh rate, capability and traceability.
GPS 60 CX July 13, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Gave this product as a gift and he raved about it! Said it was easy to handle.
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