NF: Handheld GPS Units??????

[TroutnMuskieHunter]

Hey Folks....I'm in the market for another handheld GPS unit....it's time to get out of the stone age and retire my trusty old Magellan 315...It's going to be a coin toss between the Garmin and Lowrance...

 

Anyone know what the difference is between the Garmin 60CX and 76CX other then the memory card size, floatable if dropped in the water and waterproof housing that the 76CX offers????.....and does the Garmin have a 12V adapter like the Lowrance H20??

 

The main uses for the GPS would be for treking though the bush with the ATV finding more trout lakes, and navigating on larger lakes...

 

I've had a couple of Lowrance fish finders and never had problems with them...the Lowrance iFinder H20C comes with a 12V power adapter and is $274...the Garmin 60CX or 76CX are both $319...

 

What to do...what to do???

 

Thanks,

Steve

[cthewrld]

I use the Garmin 76 CSx. I have been using it for around 1.5 years and am very pleased with it. I use it on land while hiking, on the boat while fishing, and in the car while driving. The unit is waterproof and it does float. It is great for creating tracks as well as for marking waypoints. When I use it in the car it is amazing at picking up points of interest. As an example, if you are in a strange city and want to find the closest beer store ..... just enter beer store and it will direct you to the closest one! All in all, a great unit.

[cantermore]

Hey Steve; the 60Cx is not waterproof although Garmin claims it is, I have a 500 Meg card in it with all the Bluecharts for the great lakes & the road maps around the great lakes... also has the 12 VDC adapter as an option, good unit but drops like a rock if it goes in the water.. I would never buy another handheld unless it floats but I did get mine back

 

Johnny

[Tomcat]

Good morning Steve:

 

You may benefit from perusing through the posts on http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=4 I recently purchased a GPS unit for my vehicle. I found many of the posts on GPSPassion very informative. I purchased a Garmin GPS76 seven years ago to facilitate marking fish and structure. I've been very satisfied with that unit.

[trapshooter]

I've been very happy with my Lowrance handheld unit. It's getting older now and I would consider replacing it with the H2Oc. I like how I can take my chip from my handheld and put it in my Lowrance graph/gps in my boat and have all the same waypoints.

[Guest lundboy]

The new Lowrance XOG™ Road-Trail-Water Crossover Navigator for $270 is waterproof, has voice road directions and takes Navionics Gold & Hotmaps lake cards.

 

Pretty cool unit.

 

http://www.lowrance.com/Products/Outdoors/XOG/

[maybe]

We've been running a Garmin eTrex Vista Cx for the last year and a bit. Wanted something compact and expandable, mainly for the boat, but also able to go hiking and navigate Toronto. Garmin appeared to be the most common/standard manufacturer for this type, so I never bothered looking at the others. As a newbie, it was important that there were people nearby I could go to with dumb questions. Garmin also seemed to be the most compatible with 3rd party sites/software...flexibility is good.

 

It turned out to be a fantastic little all-purpose unit. Powerful when I need it (multi-stage geocaches with dual projections, anyone?), but dumbs down well for everyday life with my non-geek husband. At 2" shorter than the 60Cx and 76Cx, it fits anywhere - even my little purse. No more wondering where I parked at big convention centers. With $30 worth of Metroguide Canada software, it shows me gas stations (and restaurants, and godknowswhatelse), and every highway, street and tiny backroad in Ontario with tons of space left over. (I upgraded the memory card with a spare I had lying around.)

 

There's a great little OEM non-marking dash mount for these things, which I use in my Saturn and anything else I happen to drive. In the boat, we have RAM Mount systems on both the floor and windshield, so the GPS and Humminbirds can migrate around easily. RAM makes nifty ATV mounts, too.

 

I don't care that it won't float, long as it's waterproof. We transport anything small and valuable (cameras, keys, GPS, glasses, cell phones, MP3 player, etc etc) to/from the boat inside zipped boat bags. As soon as the GPS comes out of the bag, the lanyard is tied off to a windshield support. Whether or not it's in the RAM, it stays tied to the boat until I'm ready to zip it back in the bag for the drive home.

 

The only thing I don't like about our Cx is the receiver strength. It's not that particular model having a problem, it's just that its generation simply hadn't evolved enough to get signal through massive skyscrapers. 99% of Toronto works just fine, but you're going to conk out for a very few blocks right down near the tower. You'll get some slight "wander" if you're standing still under heavy bush canopy, too.

 

Garmin's fixed those problems with the new generation HCx. I got to play with one at the boat show last month....wow. These units can get a solid, wander-free lock on your location right through the roof of the Direct Energy Centre. No more conking out in skyscrapers, and no more wander under tree cover. Radioworld is selling them for $269. (Anyone got tips for getting spouses to ok a hardware upgrade after 1 year? haha)

 

I'm not familiar enough with the GPSMAP series to know how the 60Cx and 76Cx fit in...but I suspect they're running the same weak old receiver as my Vista Cx. If that's the case, I wouldn't waste the $$ on them, now that I've seen what the new HCx can do. You might want to call Garmin 1-866-429-9296 and ask their input. Their customer service is excellent.

 

When I compared the HCx with the 60Cx and 76Cx, I noticed that the 60Cx and 76Cx don't have compass or altimeter. I've never needed the altimeter, but being able to get a bearing while standing still can be a real advantage. Sometimes it's just not safe or practical to move 50' so your GPS can figure out which way's north. If you're going to try geocaching, the compass is a huge help.

 

Good luck!

[Tomcat]

According to a Nov 07 review of GPS receivers, the SiRFStarIII chipset is the top of the heap. With that knowledge, one just has to select a GPS unit that has the SiRFStarIII chipset. Easier said than done. Indeed, Garmin refused to tell me which chipset was in the Nuvi 750 I was contemplating buying. Fortunately, I was able to learn a lot about the Nuvi 750 from the GPSPassion web site before my purchase. The Garmin web site states that both the 60Cx and the 76Cx have a SiRF chipset - but which one is not clear.

[TroutnMuskieHunter]

Thanks for all the replies....I'm as confused as I was to start ...I'll continue to do some more research..

[bigreddog]

Both the Garmin 60cx and 76cx are spec'ed with the SiRFStar III chipset.

 

I think the reason why Garmin no longer gives these details on their website is that they are deliberately trying to downplay this fact -- they are now trying to introduce a new generation of GPS units that are not SiRF based (i.e. the same models with the "H" designation and the Colorado)

 

Another possibly important difference is the type of screen used. According to the Garmin site, the 76Cx screen is "transflective", vs the 60Cx, which suggests that the 76Cx is better in sunlight without backlight.

 

Another good review / comparison: http://gpsinformation.us/gps60c/g76Creview.html

[Deano]

Garmin GPSmap 60CSX, been using for 2 years now, great unit, gets reception even in my basement, has a compass, autorouting(with appropriate maps) upgradeable software, and all the bells and whistles. Totally satisfied and wouldn't even trade it for garmin new line-up. I also own a Magellan pioneer since 98, and this Garmin has been everything and more than what I thought a GPS needs to be.

[douG]

I'm with Deano on this one, but I picked the waterproof floater, Garmin GPSMAP 76 CSX. Extremely sensitive receiver, very low battery drain (15 hours easy on a pair of AAs), amazing mapping and routing features, and intuitive interface.

[danc]

Another vote for the Garmin 60/76 series. I don't know what more you'd want from a hand held.