Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Garmin 60CSx

The REI sales flier will have the Garmin 60CSx on sale May 21-31 for $200. This leads me to wonder if Garmin will be coming out with a new model. Anyone know if Garmin has such plans?

Doug~RR

My unit is over 3 years old. The model is probably 4 year old. In the electronics world, that is essentially obsolete.

The iPhone is making a seperate hand-held GPS almost obsolete except in the remotest parts of the planet. I will be taking my 60CSx sheeping hunting this fall in the Chugach Range.

Garmin has come out with a lot of new models since then (Colorado, Oregon, and Dakota, off the top of my head), but I haven't heard of any of their consumer handhelds which perform with the 60CSx. Seriously considering getting one myself.

Features don't equal performance.

The prices on the 60 series are plummeting because the "states" models are the newest thing. They have touch screens. Mine has buttons that do the same things. I have a 60CS (no "x"), and I love it. It never loses signal. My maps are on a CD, not on cards, but I see no reason to upgrade, I hardly ever need to change the maps. If you traveled a lot to other states, the "x" series would be a big advantage. If you're needing a GPS you won't be sorry about buying a Garmin 60 series.

RedRabbit, I was wondering the exact same thing.

I've used a 60csx for 2 years both hunting and using shape files for work. Best unit I've ever used. Will get a full signal while sitting in my office. $200 is a good price but remember you also have to get the $100 map disk or map card. I can put the entire state of Ark topo on my card with plenty of room to spare, and it's a small card. I'm sure there are much larger cards out there and you can always have more than one.
ANother plus is it used 2AA batteries so you can take as many as you need with you and not have to worry about recharging a battery. Surely some day they will have fairly cheap GPS/PLB units out there. they may already and I'm just not aware.

To that point (having to buy maps), here is another source of maps:

gpsfiledepot.com

I haven't had the chance to really mess with it but my 60cx also picks up quickly while in my house, something other GPS units haven't been able to do. My understanding is that the main limitation compared to newer units is the number of map files (2,025) that the 60 series can handle, not the physical memory.

I love mine! $200 is a great value.

Cabelas has a bundle deal also, $220 for the 60CSx , cables, software, etc this weekend only, in-store shopping only. Good deal!

What are you using to put shapefiles on the unit? I've used MN DNR's program, but was relatively unhappy with how the polygons were displayed.

pointer- what was wrong with their display? It's been a while since I've uploaded polygons from ArcGIS using DNR Garmin but IIRC they uploaded as tracks OK. With my Delorme I don't have to go that route though because I can load shape files directly from their mapping software to the GPS without a secondary interface (DNR Garmin).

pointer, use your Trimble.

I love mine.
It's two years old and I think I paid nearly double that.

I just use the maps from gpsfiledepot.com. I used them last season elk, mule deer, and antelope hunting and found all the topo, road, and trail info to be right on and sometimes more accurate then USGS maps. For Montana they even have the hunt units and an overlay of the mile blocks (whatever their called) which comes in handy when hunting on BLM.

I bought and tried one of their touch screen GPS's and returned it after trying it for a few days. I have a Ipod touch so I'm use to touch screens but the one on the garmin isn't very good I think. The maps were pretty when you could see them but it was less usable then the 60Csx by far. More a toy then a tool. If they updated 60CSx screen so it could take advantage of the newer higher resolution maps I think that would be nice as long as you could see it in sunlight. They should leave the controls alone though.

We'll see. If they do update it I'd be really tempted to get one to try.

They didn't look like polygons, just a series of tracks/lines. Not that I didn't realize where I was at, just sort of a nit pick of mine. If/when I update my GPS I'll probably be going with a Delorme. From everything I've been able to read (and a lot of your posts on the subject) the PNs have everything that I want.

But, yellow scares cows...

I'm following this thread because I'm wondering whether or not to pull the trigger on the REI deal. I'm really interested in learning more about detailed topo maps. Taking an elk trip into SE Idaho this year and want those maps.

Does this mean I need to upgrade the card ($100)?

Also, do I buy or download the maps from some of the fileshare sites mentioned here?

Sorry for the GPS 101-type questions, but I haven't been a heavy user to date (have a cheap Magellan).

If you mean the memory card, a 4 GB card is about $10.

I guess I meant the maps (they're $100).

Spent a good part of the afternoon looking at the Delorme PN-40. Nice machine and the unlimited $29.95 offer for maps is attractive.

fremont- before deciding on a unit, what do you need, or want, it to do?