Reader Reviews

Rating: 5 / 5

This is the fourth GPSr that I've owned in the past five years, and by far the best. I've used it since it's introduction over a year ago while hiking, planning hike routes, and for vehicle navigation when not on the trail. I'm presently using a 2GB micro compact flash card in the unit and have auto navigation for all of North America, 100K Topo for the US east of Nebraska, and 24K Topo for the Eastern National Park areas (actual maps extend well beyond the boundaries of most of the parks).

I've found that the built in compass and altimeter are excellent for trail use. From past experience with this type of Garmin unit (previously owned a 60CS) I know it can take some really hard knocks and still function perfectly.

There is a learning period as with any type of equipment, but once accustomed to having it most hikers I know feel naked without it. Weight 8.5 oz (240g) with batteries and case.

Reply to Doug...
I was unable to reply back for some reason so am including my answer here.

I have 1.75 GB loaded on the card and there's no slowdown because of that. The only slight slowdown is in screen refreshing after a turn on auto routing and that is due to the use of the NT (compressed) version of City Navigator v8. I got that version so that I'd never have to reload again before going to another location. All of the US, Canada, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico on about 983MB. I had the 60CS previously and overall the new unit refreshes faster, just something in the software causing a slight slowdown after making a turn in zoom mode and then going to the next screen.

Happy trekking,
John (Quoddy)

Edited by Quoddy on 02/01/2007 07:25:51 MST.

Rating: 1 / 5

I bought it as I was traveling to Croatia and wanted a rugged, waterproof GPS.

I discovered after buying it that the maps were very expensive ($300). And Garmin does all it can to prevent open source mapping applications from accessing the internals of their devices. So I used it without a map.

It would at least help me get back to my hotel every night.

The warranty on the unit is only 1 year. This is absurdly short for a premium priced product.

The keypad failed on my unit shortly after the warranty expired. After a 25 minute wait on the phone for customer service (that's service?) the woman on the phone informed me that the cost to swap my unit for a functional gps would be $150!!!!!

That is WAY more than half the amount I payed for the the unit in the first place.

I took meticulous care of this GPS. For example, the plastic is still attached to the LCD screen to prevent scratches! Yet it failed.

I have never owned a Garmin product before and am now very dubious about their quality control.

And I am extremely unhappy with their customer service. I plan on spending a great deal of time and effort getting out the word on their customer service.

Patrick