I'm currently looking to purchase a GPS unit, I don't really have too many requirements. I'd like expandable memory, both on/off road features, and good geocaching modes. Also, accuracy is the most important feature for the entire unit.

I've been looking at the Garmin 60CSx, however just when I was about to purchase it, I noticed a bunch of negitive reviews. Complaining about huge drifting problems and a lack of WAAS correction. After checking into the WAAS issues, it looks like currently the government is moving a satellite around and adding another. My current area (Upstate NY) is right on the edge of the coverage map. However, I'm not positive and would like some extra verification before I spend $380 on a GPS unit.

Anyways, Does anyone currently own that unit, or would they have another similar unit to recommend which might be more reliable than the 60CSx?

I have the slightly older Garmin 60CS (no Card slot - 54 MB internal). I use it extensively both on and off-road. I've had excellent performance. I've had accuracy in central NH to as little as 3 feet (above treeline, stationary).

I know it's not spot-on what you need, but I've never regretted buying this unit.

-Zeke

I was going to purchase the CS unit when it first came out, but funds became tight and now that the CSx is out, I figured it would be just as good. These most recent reviews on Amazon are definitely delaying any purchase.

It looks like the latest Garmin firmware is still Beta.

I'm sure Garmin will sort it out eventually, but I'd hold off in the mean time.

-Zeke

Another thread on this topic.

I havn't heard anything bad about the magellan explorist series.. using normal SD seems much more sane than the microSD that the garmin uses.. although if the garmin is using the SiRF 3 now.. it could be interesting.

The local geocaching fanatics around here swear by the 60csx -- it's the first Garmin that has expandable memory *and* works indoors. Of course, my ancient Magellan has had both features for aeons, but the chipset in the Garmin reputedly gets a sat lock faster now.

The newer Magellans are crap -- just as slow as the older (Meridian Platinum, Gold) ones, and without any compelling new features.

Cheers

I have a 76CSx w/ 512 MB transflash (microSD) loaded with Topo, City Navagator and Bluecharts for most of the northeast. Works great both on and off road (and on the water). The new Sirf chipset is incredible at picking up signals in dense forrest, and will give reasonable location accuracy in those conditions. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

FYI. The 60CSx has the same guts as the 76CSx in a different form factor.

-Jeff

There was one on sale in the latest Crutchfiled catalog, featured on the back cover, that I was interested in looking into. Tiny little thing. I forget its name. Anyone got info on that one?

Edit: I think it's called the Nuvi, and it looks pretty cool.

You might also want to wait until Erlend (Archeon) has a chance to respond. He runs the TomTom board, and has quite a bit of knowledge about other competitive GPS systems.

thanks for the info.. ugh.. microSD is so lame.. it's too bad none of them support bluetooth either.

No worries. Worth a shot.

Well, I bit the bullet and purchased a new one from Amazon.com (only like $340 shipped overnight). So far it's been working great, and I have gotten WAAS correction signals, but only up really high and with a completely clear sky, and I'm pretty positive it's only because of the weak east coast coverage.

I've already found 10 or so caches around my house, and so far the unit is pretty awesome, I only used my Nextel before and it was horrible, this thing usually guides me directly to the cache, unless it's quite old and the original waypoint isn't right on the money. Now I need to just get some maps, the included highway set is really lame.