Customer Reviews
lovein it! 
2008-04-05
This is my first handheld gps and i love it! the amount of information this unit can give you is amazing! i really recommend this gps!
a great GPS 2008-03-27
The Garmin GPSMap 60Cx GPS is so great I bought my (adult) daughter one so she can have fun geocaching too.
It's essential that you understand the limitations of this device before buying. 
2008-03-23
There's no doubt that GPS technology has come a long way during the last decade. I bought this to replace my old Garmin etrex -- the 60Cx is vastly better at tracking under trees, in mountain valleys, and has a much faster processor. I use it primarily for hiking, and it is virtually impossible to become lost. Even under trees, in a valley, with the unit inside my backpack, it never lost satellite track and was never off by more than about 50 feet, comparing the hike in with the hike back.
So what's the problem? Surprisingly, the achilles heel of this mapping GPS is that there simply are no good maps for hiking/backpacking. Garmin sells a topo map set, which is completely unacceptable for any kind of in-the-field use. It lacks any kind of detail (for one thing, vertical countour lines are 150 feet, and it includes very few trails or national forest roads), and although it is nice to upload your journey to a map once you get back home and see where you went, the map itself is next to useless while hiking. Garmin makes a high-resolution topographic map set, but it covers ONLY the national parks (not even the national forests). I live in Oregon, with thousands of miles of trails, and only 1 place -- Crater Lake -- is available in high resoultion topo from Garmin. National Geographic makes a nice high-resolution map set, but it is expensive and the maps can only be loaded to a Magellan GPS, not any of the Garmins. Ditto with a GPS/topo map set from DeLorme. There is a company that has made high-resolution maps of 2 states -- Washington and Colorado -- but they require the Garmin Mapsource CD, and then they cost another hundred bucks per state on top of that.
The lack of good, high-resoultion topo maps is completely baffling, and -- at least for hiking -- makes the mapping function of this GPS completely superfluous. If I had it to do over, I think I would buy one of the newer but less expensive GPS units, like maybe a newer extrex. The extra money that you pay for the mapping capability with this unit is wasted, IMO, at least until good topo maps become available (if they every do).
Great for Iraq 
2008-03-09
This is an awsome product. What I like most about the product is that it will gather a signal inside. The signal may not be strong but it works. BUT it definately works while in a vehicle. This is especially useful for the HMMWV. I recomment this product for anyone who will be deployed. I also like the mapping feature. I only wish I could install military grade maps.
Impressions after a Year 2008-03-02
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.
Terrible Product 
2008-07-12
I purchased this unit for a motorcycle trip last fall. The first time I tried to use it, it would not navigate roads for the route I downloaded. After hours on line and on the phone with Garmin, they decided the unit was faulty and requested I return my unit in exchange for another. Because it took weeks to get the new unit, I went back to my trusty paper map for my trip. I tried using it a second time this summer for another motorcycle trip, and after unlocking my new unit, going through all the required steps, etc., it would not accept downloads of maps. UNBELIEVABLE! Back to the paper map again.
Now, Garmin is telling me they won't accept a return of the unit because they "...do not sell our units to the public..." and asked me to spend countless more hours sending them screen shots, exact error messages, unlock keys, serial numbers of the original and replacement unit...etc, etc. Have you ever of heard of anything more ridiculous than a manufacturer that won't accept a return of a faulty product because they don't sell to the public?
I'm going to return this unit to Amazon and probably get only 50% of my money back, and go buy one from another manufacturer that hopefully actually works.
amazing reciever 2008-06-16
This unit is an amazing GPS reciever, it will aquire sattelites even sitting indoors. This will replace my last garmin which was a very good entry level device, but would lose signal occasionally when under the canopy of trees while 4-wheeling. I would recomend this GPS handheld to anyone who hikes, offroads, hunts, geocaches, or just plain travels.
Cache on! 2008-06-14
You can't tell this isn't a brand new unit. It even has the warranty. It keeps a lock even in deep woods. The maps are a big help but wouldn't be necessary if people would give parking co-ordinates! My only complaint about this unit is that the SP card falls out when I change batteries.
Why i bought a second receiver. 2008-06-12
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.
review 2008-05-25
My husband bought this to take with him to afghanistan. However, the downloadable map for afghanistan is only available from one website...and the website is a piece of s**t.
