GPS: GPS receiver testing – Garmin GPSMap 60CSx

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by Kim

It's cheaper to buy it in Denmark and I already have a Nüvi 300 with China City Navigator Eng v. 5.51 and that map is not very useful when it comes to hiking. I will update the map after the Olympics to get the latest roads but I don't expect that the amount of details outside the bigger cities have been improved - certainly not for hiking.

Agreed. You're probably right.

[Kim]

It's been a while since I checked the price, but I can probably save between 150 and 200 UDS by buying it in Denmark and I don't think I'm willing to pay so much more to get another copy of China City Navigator.

[Bryan]

The GPSMap 60CSx saves tracks to internal memory and, if the option is selected, to the SD card. If you manually save a track, data reduction is performed on the track data and you lose altitude information and time stamps. Therefore, I never save tracks. They save themselves to the SD card automatically. However, be aware that the tracks on the SD card are not accessible by the GPS receiver. Only the 20 tracks in memory can be displayed or navigated. The tracks on the SD card are GPX files that can be copied to your computer.

I have been preparing mapping data in Google Earth and transferring it to the GPS receiver. This data consists of tracks and waypoints.

When copying tracks from the computer to the receiver, only 20 tracks will be accepted. Make sure you delete the tracks from the receiver (the internal memory tracks, not the SD card tracks) first if necessary as the total number of tracks including those copied and those already present must be 20 or less. Tracks copied to the receiver can only have 500 points per track. Additional points are truncated. According to the documentation, 1000 waypoints can be copied. I haven't reached that limit yet so I can't say for sure.

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by Kim

It's been a while since I checked the price, but I can probably save between 150 and 200 UDS by buying it in Denmark and I don't think I'm willing to pay so much more to get another copy of China City Navigator.

Have you been using your GPS receiver? How has it been working for you so far?

[Kim]

Have you been using your GPS receiver? How has it been working for you so far?

Yes, I've tested it in both Hebei, Ningxia and Gansu and it's absolutely perfect

I'm really impressed by the time I get from just two normal AA batteries.

I'm not sure I have the right setting yet regarding the saved track, but I will test it some more to avoid getting to much unnecessary data.

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by Kim

I'm not sure I have the right setting yet regarding the saved track, but I will test it some more to avoid getting to much unnecessary data.

Glad you like your 60CSx! I have found that the "least often" setting provides plenty of data for saving tracks whether in planes, trains, cars, or on foot. The main advantage of not getting too much data is that the receiver only displays a given number of points so by using the lowest frequency, your tracks remain on the display for a longer period of time so you can see where you were, for example, 36 hours ago rather than only 24.

I really like my 60CSx also. The only complaints I have are that I wish it could be smaller and lighter, and I wish it had a greater capacity for tracks. 20 displayed tracks is a terrible limitation. I also find that on occasion it takes it a very long time to acquire enough satellites.

[chinoook]

I am also absolutely pleased by my Garmin Vista Cx. It is small, lightweight ;-) and aquires sattelites sometimes slow. The other limitations are the same. The developers should be punished for not have integrated the card in track and waypoint management. The slightly worse sattelite detection will be solved by buying a Vista HCx what I will do once my device is broken.

One (major) complaint: Sometimes and without any understanable reason the walked distance makes huge leaps. E.g. I went about 6km and the device showed from one second to the next 19km.


-chinoook

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by chinoook

The developers should be punished for not have integrated the card in track and waypoint management.

Agreed. The 60CSx can store saved tracks on the card but it can't access them. It's mainly the track management that gives users of other brands a good reason to ridicule Garmins. The newer Colorado and Oregon models are not much better about this.

Originally Posted by chinoook

The slightly worse sattelite detection will be solved by buying a Vista HCx what I will do once my device is broken.

They seem pretty robust to me so you might have to break it "accidentally".

Originally Posted by chinoook

One (major) complaint: Sometimes and without any understanable reason the walked distance makes huge leaps. E.g. I went about 6km and the device showed from one second to the next 19km.

If you're using WAAS, try turning it off to see if that cures or reduces the problem.

[chinoook]

Originally Posted by greatwallforum

If you're using WAAS, try turning it off to see if that cures or reduces the problem.

No, it was turned off.
Two more big complaints: On my last years trip many tracks got corrupted. I could rescue some of them by editing manually but many are lost.
From time to time the device shuts down with charged batteries. I can not find any reason but it it just inacceptable.

The new Garmin Generations ("Colorado") are useless crop.


-chinoook

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by chinoook

On my last years trip many tracks got corrupted. I could rescue some of them by editing manually but many are lost.

That's a shame! If you want to send some corrupted track files to me I will be glad to see if any of the software I have might fix them or I can figure out a way.

Originally Posted by chinoook

From time to time the device shuts down with charged batteries. I can not find any reason but it it just inacceptable.

Well, maybe it is time for that new receiver.

Originally Posted by chinoook

The new Garmin Generations ("Colorado") are useless crop.

That's what I like about you, chinoook. You get right to the point. No beating around the bush!