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Review: Garmin GPS60

March 25th, 2007

During the Outdoor Show i had a play with a few GPS devices, with the entry level Garmin eTrek & GPS60 appearing the best combination of value and features. I ended up spending the extra money and bought the GPS60 because i found it much more versatile & it had an extended battery life (28hrs). The USB cable is standard with the box, along with the Trip and Waypoint manager, belt clip and hand strap, i also got a Garmin neoprene case & how to use GPS book free as a bundle offer at the show.

I found this more versatile due to more easy to use buttons and a customisable display which can show upto 8 Data Fields from a selection of over 30 trip details. Although it isn’t one of the all singing all dancing GPS units it does exactly what i want, which is to record the track & give us bearing and map location if we ever needed it, and to be rugged enough to sustain the odd drop & be atleast splash proof. Mainly because i would rather use a map to navigate than the GPS itself.

Well down to the proper test, we used it on ‘Patterdale to Fairfield, Helvellyn & Swirral Edge‘ walk, and it did exactly what we wanted. Compared to Nige’s Magellan eXplorist the interface was very fast and just as easy to use, when we got used to it.

The belt clip which comes in the box works out really well clipped to the shoulder strap of a rucksack and i found if you used the hand strap to secure it the was enough maneuverability to use the GPS safe in the knowledge it wont fall down a cliff.

As expected the Garmin interfaces easily with Memory Map, with all the expected features, also there are are plenty of accessories available for attaching to bikes etc which make this unit quite versatile.

All in all i really like this GPS, and prefer it to Nige’s, but its horses for courses, and in the words of some bloke at the Outdoor Show, ‘I’ts like trying to suggest a car, what suits me wont suit everyone else’. If you want entry level GPS for around £150 i can recommend this unit.

Entry Filed under: General, Reviews