Garmin GPS 60
Product Description
Backwoods, boundary waters, blue highways the GPS 60 is your trusted guide to the great outdoors. The GPS 60 and its counterpart, the GPSMAP 60, are packed with several of the features found in the 60-series colour navigators, but sport an affordable, high-resolution monochrome display for outdoor enthusiasts on a budget. Get Rugged Navigation: The robust, waterproof GPS 60 is the perfect, low-cost navigator for wherever your spirit of adventure takes you: – Large, sunlight-readable, four-level grayscale display with bright LED backlight makes it easy to find your way, day or night – Up to 28 hours of battery life for more hours of outdoor enjoyment – WAAS-enabled for even more precise location and navigation – Both serial and USB connections for fast and versatile connection to your computer – Get Fun-filled Features GPS 60 has one megabyte (MB) of internal memory for storing points of interest, and it comes factory preloaded with a worldwide city point database. Just find the place you want to go to, and the GPS 60 creates a straight-line route to your destination. The GPS 60 also offers special geocaching features, indoor and outdoor games, an alarm clock, sunrise/sunset and moon phase tables, optimal hunting and fishing times plus much more. GPS 60: Making it easy to navigate the great outdoors on a budget.
- Large, sunlight-readable, four-level grayscale display with bright LED backlight makes it easy to find your way, day or night
- Up to 28 hours of battery life for more hours of outdoor enjoyment
- WAAS-enabled for even more precise location and navigation
- Both serial and USB connections for fast and versatile connection to your computer
Used my GPS 60 for the first time “in anger” while out on a 19km trog across the Black Mountain. The unit is intuitive in operation and I used it in conjunction with a “Silva” compass and a 1:50,000 map from the “Landranger” series. I was impressed with the accuracy of grid referencing and tracking data. The ability to change what data was viewed allowed for a significant amount of flexibility. The GPS 60 is quite bulky, but that is what I wanted and it is robust as well – although only time will tell how resistant the screen is to scratching. The bright orange/yellow colour ensures that it will not be lost in the grass! One hand operation is simple and the list of options in terms of screens/scales/units etc is virtually limitless (I prefer to work in mils and kms). The Mapsource software is, in my opinion, poor hence the 4 stars. However, the GPS 60 unit itself does everything that I want. The screen is large and clear with all the usual options re brightness & contrast and the helix antenna guaranteed good signal pick up. I will probably buy the memory-map software to go with this unit. I would also advise carrying a couple of spare sets of batteries just in case! (The unit uses 2 x AA). The GPS 60 rated 5 stars in my opinion. However, the relatively poor software defaults it down to 4. Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase.
Rating: 4 / 5
I’ve used a GPS60 for about a year for walking and mountainbiking. It’s great, and has all the features you’d expect in a non-map GPS, plus good battery life, intuitive user interface and a great display. So far it’s been totally reliable and has stood up well to general wear and tear (though I tend to keep it in a small cloth bag that came with some sunglasses, which probably helps). The bike bracket is fine for ‘light’ mountainbiking, but not Glentress or Coed-y-brenin!
However it’s a lot bigger than most similar products, which makes it harder to handle and stow, especially if you are walking. It’s also not very discreet, if you care about these things.
It’s really a sailing product, and if you just want a straightforward GPS then you’re better off with an etrex or geko. If you want something with all the bells and whistles or prefer the bigger clearer screen then it’s the business.
In summary – check one out in a shop before ordering over the internet. If the size doesn’t bother you, you should be very happy with it.
Rating: 4 / 5
I purchased the GPS 60 as a replacement for an old GPS m/c. I have used it for about 3 months to help locate archaeological sites in GB and Ireland.
When it works it works well. It has an excellent battery life. Unfortunately it regularly reports weak satellite signals or loss of position.
This occurs even in open country with a clear view all round the horizon. Nothing I can do prevents this. I find the easiest way to correct this is to switch it on and off again. It then find the satellites again very quickly.
After nearly 50 years experience of navigation on land I cannot recommend this device for use in situations where the user is put at risk by this characteristic.
Rating: 3 / 5
I have been using this, my first foray into GPS, for while now, mainly for geocaching. I find it holds a good enough signal about 95% of the time, even under trees, and usually gets me to within 20 ft of the target. Being larger than some models it has a very visible screen. You can easily get a handlebar mount from most online cycle retailers too. Seems very frugal when I use 2 x AA 2700 mah rechargeable batteries
Rating: 5 / 5
I recently used this GPS as an added tool for navigating my way through the Haute Pyrenees. Its a tough reliable navigation aid and it never failed me when I needed it. My only criticisms are the User guide: It lacks a lot of information that could trip up someone who is new to using a GPS device. Though this missing info can be found on the Internet. Also it comes with a clip on belt attachment, which I have stopped using as its not secure (GPS slips out too easily) and you will end up leaving your GPS on top of a mountain somewhere.
Rating: 4 / 5