Okay call me a hypocrite
I know that a while back I wrote that the best GPS for finding geocaches was the one you own. When we first started geocaching I bought a Garmin Vista. It got us close enough to find over 1900 geocaches. Calculating that out per cache it ends up that the Vista cost about 13 cents per cache. Now here is why you can call me a hypocrite. I caved in and bought a new GPS. I have wanted a Garmin 60CS since it was introduced. Because it is now a discontinued model due to the new 60CSX I was able to get a great deal on one at Amazon. It ended up costing about $290, shipping included, after a $50 mail in rebate. Barb will now be using the Vista. An upgrade for her too from a Yellow Garmin E-Trex.
The true reason for buying the 60CS was not for finding geocaches as much as for getting to the general vicinity by road. It has auto-routing to get you from point to point. Of course I pretty much always had auto-routing because Barb has become an expert navigator using Delorme topo paper maps. Now she might be able to take in more of the sights instead of figuring what roads to take. It also has a directory of businesses that makes it easy to find gas stations and food while out in the boonies. The auto-routing and services info requires City Navigator that cost another $115, but hey with the price of gas it might just pay for itself over time if I take a few less wrong turns. I was able to load all the map info for Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island using 44MB of the 56MB of the internal memory so I don't really think I needed to pay double for the 60CSX that allows you expand the memory using smart cards.
The new GPS will also come in handy for hiding caches. It has averaging that allows you to collect 100's of waypoint coordinates and automatically calculate the average. This is a usefull tool when hiding a geocache and trying to get the best possible coordinates for the future finders.
I was hoping that the 60CS might have a little better antenna. I am not sure that is the case. It seemed to break lock as often as the Vista did in heavy tree cover. I must admit the cheap Yellow E-Trex was better than the Vista in tree cover. I guess I need to be patient and do some more comparisons before coming to a final conclusion on this topic.
After using the Vista for over 3 years I was very used to the buttons and how to get to the screens I wanted. It will take some time before I am familiar with all the new buttons and functions. And I must say there a lot more functions!
All in all I happy with the new toy. What can I say. I am a geeky electronics junky!
But -
The best GPS to use is the one have!
Mike and Barb
The true reason for buying the 60CS was not for finding geocaches as much as for getting to the general vicinity by road. It has auto-routing to get you from point to point. Of course I pretty much always had auto-routing because Barb has become an expert navigator using Delorme topo paper maps. Now she might be able to take in more of the sights instead of figuring what roads to take. It also has a directory of businesses that makes it easy to find gas stations and food while out in the boonies. The auto-routing and services info requires City Navigator that cost another $115, but hey with the price of gas it might just pay for itself over time if I take a few less wrong turns. I was able to load all the map info for Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island using 44MB of the 56MB of the internal memory so I don't really think I needed to pay double for the 60CSX that allows you expand the memory using smart cards.
The new GPS will also come in handy for hiding caches. It has averaging that allows you to collect 100's of waypoint coordinates and automatically calculate the average. This is a usefull tool when hiding a geocache and trying to get the best possible coordinates for the future finders.
I was hoping that the 60CS might have a little better antenna. I am not sure that is the case. It seemed to break lock as often as the Vista did in heavy tree cover. I must admit the cheap Yellow E-Trex was better than the Vista in tree cover. I guess I need to be patient and do some more comparisons before coming to a final conclusion on this topic.
After using the Vista for over 3 years I was very used to the buttons and how to get to the screens I wanted. It will take some time before I am familiar with all the new buttons and functions. And I must say there a lot more functions!
All in all I happy with the new toy. What can I say. I am a geeky electronics junky!
But -
The best GPS to use is the one have!
Mike and Barb
1 Comments:
Cool reading about your experiences using Garmin's Vista... it' a great vote of confidence that you upgraded rather than moving to another brand. I don't Geocache but I'd trust your review of it enough to covet one myself now for other outdoorsy adventures... thanks for posting about it!
-Alyson from thisnext.com/blog.
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