I purchased this 60Cx, my first GPS, 6 weeks ago. My principal use is to determine location when hiking. The performance of the 60Cx is excellent, the hi-gain antenna and sensitivity give multiple satellites under almost all conditions. This is true deep in tree-shaded canyons and inside my house. The device works best when the antenna is vertical or nearly vertical. I get good reception when the GPS is clipped on my belt. This critical characteristic gets 5 stars. Battery life with continuous operation, no screen back lighting, is a little disappointing at 12 hours using NiMh re-chargeables. Not a big deal, just bring plenty of spares.

Interface, or how easy is it to use: Not very! The small cursor control, a wheel with 4 arrows on it, is hard to use. Trying to move the cursor frequently results with the desired plus the unwanted adjacent movement. For example, using the up arrow frequently gives up plus left or right. I do have man size fingers and have to use my fingernail or a stylus to prevent this problem. Accessing menus, navigating and entering data ignores conventional wisdom, in favor of an awkward Garmin version. This aspect gets 2 stars.

Miscellaneous: The packaging, excluding the small cursor wheel, is excellent. Rubberized controls and gaskets on the battery door are probably adequate to protect the device from splashes of water and rain. The belt clip is magnificent. The GPS hangs pendulum style securely in its holder, which attaches to belt or pack. It is removed easily using the release button and is reinstalled with a reassuring click. The on board map that comes with the unit is a joke. Most users will want to purchase an additional map so figure an additional $80-$100 onto the purchase price. I purchased the 24K Topo Oregon / Washington map on micro SD and find it awesome. In conclusion, I would not recommend this GPS unconditionally to a friend. The difficult interface and expense of adding maps must be individually evaluated. Four stars for this aspect.

This is the second 60CX I have purchased, not because the first one was bad, but bought as a gift for my spouse and geocaching companion. With the introduction of the Garmin Colorado, this receiver has dropped significantly in price this year. The color screen is very visible in most lighting conditions. (direct sun is a issue). As with all GPS receivers, I recommend a mapping package to enhance the basemap (I use Garmin TOPO 2008). There are enough buttons on the face to make operation of the receiver easy to use. if there is one deficiency, it is Garmin's documentation is very minimal and some functions I had to learn by trial and error. However, there are several non-garmin websites that provide good tutorials on the features of this receiver. The geocaching feature allow you to load 1000 geocaches. However, all show up with a treasure chest icon. If you want to see actual geocaching container types, there is a add-in to load these as waypoints. This add-in also get you around the 1000 cache limit. Overall, if you are looking for a color receiver with great features for geocaching, this is the unit.

I've had the Garmin GPSMap 60Cx for a year now. Because I had no use for an electronic compass and a barometric pressure sensor I stayed away from the 60CSx unit, saving a few bucks. The 60Cx is only lacking those features; otherwise they are the same GPS with the same great reception. The high sensitivity has enabled me to get a great signal in the house, in the car, dense urban areas, in desert terrain, deep canyons, and heavily-wooded areas. A definite must is a larger memory card (I went for 1GB) and a mapping software package from Garmin (I went for Topo maps). That's my only nitpick about the GPS -- the included basemap on the unit is basically just city locations and major highways. It would be nice if Garmin at least included a discount coupon towards the purchase of their proprietary mapping software.

I bought this GPS for my husband who wanted it for hunting and fishing, but also for finding remote jobsites (he is a road mechanic for a bridge building company). After buying optional City Navigator NT and Inland Lakes I was able to download unlocked maps using our computers DVD drawer to his new GPSMAP 60CX. We have not had the opportunity to go fishing yet and I must say that I am a little disappointed that the Inland Lakes software does not include detailed maps of some of our local lakes, but the ones it does include are fantastic. The City Navigator allows him to plug in coordinates or destinations of jobsites he has never been to and find them easily just as if he bought a GPS for use in an automobile. The only difference is that it beeps to let the driver know of upcoming turns and he must look at the unit for instructions instead of them being spoken. The unit is easy to use. It is portable and semidisaster-proof as my husband is prone to destroying handheld items like cell phones-he has not damaged this unit yet! And with the optional software and equipment (we also purchased a RAM mount and a cigarette lighter adapter) that we clearly knew we would need to purchase by reading all the reviews, it does all of the things he wanted it to do. We are very happy with our purchase.

The Garmin 60cx is one terrific handheld GPS with incredible reception and an easy-to-use interface. The only downside is that Garmin could do a better job with its maps. But here are the details...

Satellite reception - The 60cx has unbelievably good reception. In fact, in the last year I've never lost tracking even when hiking in tight canyons or under forest canopy. And where I got 3-4 satellites before I'm now getting 6 or more; that translates into tighter locating. This is the reason I chose to go with Garmin over Magellan and others.

Battery life - With new alkaline batteries I'm getting about two days' use. Note: for some reason new lithium batteries, which give me a bit more time, sometimes cause the unit to automatically shut down. If you drain them slightly in another device they work fine. Very odd.

Storage - The 64MB card that comes with the device is not adequate for my uses. Fortunately, you can replace the card - in my case with a 1GB miniSD card. Some people complain about the size of the included card, but I'm accustomed to the ridiculously small cards that come with digital cameras these days.

Maps - I'm slightly disappointed in Garmin's maps, hence the four stars. I have the City Navigator, U.S. Topo map and suite of national park maps. Generally, I've had no problem in city/highway navigation. But hiking using the topo and national park maps I've run into unexpected map gaps.

Screen - Little difficulty reading the large color screen even in sunlight. I went for the 60cx over the eTrek line because of the larger view and better receiver.

Handling - The device is a little big with the antenna at the top. When hooked to my belt, unless positioned carefully, it can jab me in the side when I bend over. But it's an acceptable tradeoff for the reception quality and large viewing screen. Having the buttons at the bottom of the device can be a little awkward - it would be easier to hold the device and page through with the buttons higher up (as on the 76 models) All in all, though, very easy to use.

Build quality - It seems very solid. I've dropped from belt high more times than I can count, drenched it in water at the bottom of a canoe, left it sitting in the desert sun for hours and propped it up in the snow with no ill effects.

Comparisions - If you're trying to decide between the 60CSx and the 76Cx, here are the key differences: With the CSx, the only difference is the electronic compass and altimeter. After perusing the message boards a while, it appears functionality of the barometric altimeter is not exceptional. The electronic compass, however, enables you to get a bearing when you're standing still, while the Cx version captures your direction only when you are moving. The digital compass would be useful, but it also puts more drain on your batteries, and when hiking I'm always carrying an analog compass as a backup anyway. The 76 is a marine model that floats and has a 128MB card included instead of the 64MB card in the 60. It has a rounded top and the buttons are above the screen - more ergonimic.

The reason I bought this unit in the first place was because I hike--deep woods and high mountain hiking. This system is a life saver. I love the 10,000-point automatic track log; 20 saved tracks (500 points each) lets you retrace your path in both directions. Also features 1,000 user waypoints with name and graphic symbol; 50 reversible routes

Trip computer provides odometer, stopped time, moving average, overall average, total time, max speed, and more, much more.

The battery life on double A's is about 20 hours--and this is really neat; built-in celestial tables for sun and moon calculations and the best times to fish and hunt. (Come on, this is great!)

After alot of research into all of the GPS units out there, I decided on this handheld unit. My choice was based on my need to cover both automotive and marine needs. I've been using GPS since the late-80's on a sailboat that converted from Loran. I'm quite accustomed to navigation, and the terminology and concept of GPS. Others who are new to navigation may be confused by the terminology. Since I race sailboats (and I drive), Bearing/Heading/Velocity Made Good, etc., all made sense to me. This unit is one of the few that is useful for my land and marine requirements. The internal memory and expandable MicroSD slot allow for conversion to either mapset.

The base map that comes with this unit is limited. Aside from showing major highways, it isn't much useful beyond that. I took it on a road trip in the first few days after my purchase, and the base map it came with was very limited. Aside from telling you what state and major highways you're on, it won't tell you much more than that. But I was surprised that it new the approaching highway exit name, even with just the base map. Shortly after my purchase, I invested in the City Navigator software, and wow!, what a difference. Suddenly it is smart enough to plot my route to specific addresses, although it doesn't pick the best route...it just picks a route that works (would've had me going on some small roads unnecessarily).

I've also begun geocaching with this unit because it is set up nicely for that purpose. This unit allows you to enter waypoints easily, and it comes with various icons to depict most waypoint types.

This unit is bulkier than some of the automotive units on the market. But I've found that many of those "card deck" size units don't work well for marine use. They are limited mostly to automotive needs. But it's amazing that they can pack so many features into this small device.

I decided on the GPS Map60Cx rather than the Map60CSx. The Cx simply doesn't have an electronic compass or altimeter function. Interestingly, the unit does plot heading and bearing (both directional and degrees), but you have to enter a waypoint so it knows where you want to go. You just can't stand still and get a compass heading. Also, the unit will tell you your altitude above sealevel, so I'm not clear on what the CSx altimeter could improve on. Since I don't fly or climb mountains, I didn't see the need for an altimeter. I also don't mind taking a step or two to determine my compass heading. These two functions seemed irrelevant for my needs.

I had difficulty getting my PC to recognize the GPS unit. But after exchanging a couple of emails with Garmin, my problem was solved (it seemed to be a missing Registry command which Garmin Tech Support helped me work through. I thought that was nice considering the problem appeared to be my PC, not the driver or unit itself. I have to say that Garmin Tech Support was very good with me. My only comment would be that live tech support is only available during daytime hours which might make it difficult to handle if you work all day (and who doesn't?). But even so, I corresponded with Garmin through email and they responded quickly and accurately. I'm pleased.

I intend to purchase the Bluechart map software (marine use), but even with the base map, the unit recognized the Freighter Channel, Range Lights, and International Border found in Lake St. Clair (Michigan).

One note when trying to decide whether to purchase the maps on MicroSD card versus DVD software, I understand the MicroSD card can't be viewed on the PC, while the DVD software is viewable on the PC and you select which "areas" you want to download to the GPS unit. The download speed is relatively slow, but not rediculous. I loaded up the 64 meg card in about 10 minutes. I've read that a 2 gig card may take an hour or more. I've also read that if you intend to load a 2 gig card, you're better off with a card reader rather than the USB interface.

I can't think of a single "Con" for this unit except that the maps are too expensive, considering you can get the same detail on a $3.00 paper map (but then you couldn't enter an address I suppose). Still, the maps aren't cheap. It isn't as pretty as the automotve GPS's on the market, but then, you can't trek through the woods or sail a race course on the automotive units either. The screen size also isn't as big as the automotive units, but this size is perfectly functional too.

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.

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.

I had a Lorence H2O GPS prior to the purchase of the Garmin GPSMAP 60cs. I have nothing negative to say about that unit and will keep it as an additional or second unit. It is a fine unit for the money. The Garmin 60CX is a big step up if you care to spend the extra cash and you get a lot for that extra. Turn-by-turn, color, twice the battery life, and that sweet SurFer board (or however its called) that performs in areas where I used to have an error rate in the hundreds and now in the tens. My first unit needed to be by the car window to get a lock. This Garmin doesn't seem to care where it sits in the car. The City Navigator software is a bit pricy to get functional street detail, but given the turn-by-turn function of the unit, I also have no problems buying it so the unit reaches full potential. If you want a solid unit, there are others out there that do fine. If you want the best you can get in a hand held, check this one out.