Beginers report GPSMAP60C

richie

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Allihies again.. but off to Asia soon....
Well for those of you who are interested in the 60C I can give a small report now that I have done around 700KM with it. Firstly I'll start with an honest assesment of the reason I wanted a GPS, and that is coz it’s a nice electronic toy which allows me to see where I am and where I'm going. Then after the ride look at all the statistics and tracking log to see the trip on the screen.

The 60C is a smart piece of kit which does not come with mapsource so you have to have that as well. Which actualy makes it as expensive as an SPIII. The unit has 56 meg of memory and a colour screen and is very cool to look at. The "lack" of memory for me is not a problem as I never go on long multi day trips with my bike and therefore have always enough memory for what I want to do. With City Navigator 6 I can get the whole of England from around about the midlands to the south coast if I choose carefully.

The screen is excellent and I have used it in sunny weather and pissing rain. It is always easy for me to read. Even with water on both sides of my visor (thanks to schubert) The unit really does calculate very quickly and if you ignore its directions it will rework a new route in just a few seconds. From memory as quick as the 2610 that I used. In fact as far as I can see it does seem to do about as much as that unit but without the voice or the extra memory. Having now used both I know I have the right unit for my needs.

Wearing summer gloves I can do most of the normal options whilst riding (find, zoom etc) but I'm pretty sure I won't be able to with my winter gloves. I have it mounted on the crossbar where it will stay as its easy to reach. The only thing I can't see fully being the petrol warning light and neutral. I can see them but not fully.
IMG_1836_jpg.jpg

Indeed I am very happy with this toy, or I would say 100% happy till after 6 hours in the rain and about 16 hours worth of use the screen just disapeared. Restarted OK and from then on turned off another 8 times in the last 100KM even with new batteries. So I have now used some silicon grease to make sure the waterproof seals are doing their job properly and put a small bit of packing with the batteries so they don't move around. I have read other people with the same problem with other battery powered models. And believe that with a power cable it is remedied. I will of course let you know if I solve this annoying problem. I think it will be OK.

Anybody with any other questions feel free to ask and If I can I will send the answer.
 
Richie, I've re-posted your text as the pic was making reading it a nightmare. Hope you don't mind. :)

Well for those of you who are interested in the 60C I can give a small report now that I have done around 700KM with it. Firstly I'll start with an honest assesment of the reason I wanted a GPS, and that is coz it’s a nice electronic toy which allows me to see where I am and where I'm going. Then after the ride look at all the statistics and tracking log to see the trip on the screen.

The 60C is a smart piece of kit which does not come with mapsource so you have to have that as well. Which actualy makes it as expensive as an SPIII. The unit has 56 meg of memory and a colour screen and is very cool to look at. The "lack" of memory for me is not a problem as I never go on long multi day trips with my bike and therefore have always enough memory for what I want to do. With City Navigator 6 I can get the whole of England from around about the midlands to the south coast if I choose carefully.

The screen is excellent and I have used it in sunny weather and pissing rain. It is always easy for me to read. Even with water on both sides of my visor (thanks to schubert) The unit really does calculate very quickly and if you ignore its directions it will rework a new route in just a few seconds. From memory as quick as the 2610 that I used. In fact as far as I can see it does seem to do about as much as that unit but without the voice or the extra memory. Having now used both I know I have the right unit for my needs.


Wearing summer gloves I can do most of the normal options whilst riding (find, zoom etc) but I'm pretty sure I won't be able to with my winter gloves. I have it mounted on the crossbar where it will stay as its easy to reach. The only thing I can't see fully being the petrol warning light and neutral. I can see them but not fully.

Indeed I am very happy with this toy, or I would say 100% happy till after 6 hours in the rain and about 16 hours worth of use the screen just disapeared. Restarted OK and from then on turned off another 8 times in the last 100KM even with new batteries. So I have now used some silicon grease to make sure the waterproof seals are doing their job properly and put a small bit of packing with the batteries so they don't move around. I have read other people with the same problem with other battery powered models. And believe that with a power cable it is remedied. I will of course let you know if I solve this annoying problem. I think it will be OK.

Anybody with any other questions feel free to ask and If I can I will send the answer.
 
vibe problem

I purchased my garminV with the bicycle clamp (smaller, neater than ram) which came with a little figure of eight spring thing which you insert between the first and second pair of batteries. I've never had the battery cutout that you and others describe.
Don't know if you can get it seperately, should only cost pence
 
Hi Richie
Sounds positive except for the powering off problem. What kind of mount is that you are using ? Is it really secure because it looks like the GPS just 'snaps' into the cradle. Is there a securing screw to hold it all in place as well ?

Cheers
Gecko

PS My brother will take my GPS V so it looks like I may be joining you on a 60c ....or maybe I'll pay the little extra and go for the CS . The CS's altimeter and electronic compass sound fun......
 
Hi Gecko,

Its just a bicycle mount and I also tie the wrist strap around the bars in case. So far with now 800KM no problem. The unit cut out again this morning a few times so I am miore than peed off about it.

Apart from that it works really well. I'll have to contact Sportextreme and garmin and see what they have to say. Goes without saying that in the car, walking etc. No problem. So maybe I need to put some extra packing around the bars with inner tube to help reduce vibes...
 
The unit now seems to be OK cross fingers. I have packed a bit of tin foil at the battery ends to make them a tighter fit and its worked fine on the blast home. A bit mickey mouse but seems to have done the trick. Anyone recommend me a product I can put in the battery compartment to keep it moisture free?
 
I have taken a power feed off the auxilary power socket and run it up to the left side of the dash. There is a 0.5amp in line fuse and then the final connection to the GPS is via a small audio jack plug and socket and a shortened Garmin power/data cable. It works a treat . It sounds like you need something similar.

Also one of my colleagues is on their way to Japan as I write and I have asked her to look at the duty free shops for a 60c or CS . If it's cheaper than Sportextreme I could have it by next week. If not I will probably order one next week when I know how she got on. As long as she can find one with European base maps I could save myslef a bit of money.....:P

Also a few of us are thinking of heading down to the Ardennes on Saturday. A couple of the Uk boys are over and we are thinking about trying to hook up with them and go for a day out. Take a look at this route - 445km of twisty route following the Ardennes rivers. Do you fancy a day out too ?
 

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I think I am out of passes for a while now Gecko but thanks for the offer.

Your audio jack systems means you can remove the plug and lead from the bike I presume. Looks good. I have now done 200KM with the bike and no longer (for the moment) suffer cut outs. I can honestly say that the little GPS is really frigging good.

I just hope that the solution is a lasting one. By the way when you upload the maps from your PC it deletes the POI maps in its way. Also Garmin units are waterproof but the battery compartments are not. I read this on their site. How good is the seal on the four pin plug you are using?

I have had no reply from garmin to my problem which seems a poor show. But they do say it could take 4/5 days to reply.

Cheers
 
Yes I can just unclip the cable and take it off the bike when I park or I'm not using the GPS. I have never had any problems with the Garmin plug and I have ridden in some very heavy rain with the GPS working fine. I've also left it on when off orading and it stays put and hasn't missed a beat. I think I'd try and use the RAM mount with a different bracket if I get the 60c . It allows the positioning of the unit to be pretty much anywhere so that it can be positioned without obscuring any of the cockpit dials and lights.

I'm not sure what you mean about the POI maps - I can't say I have ever had this problem. It may just be something in the settings . Does this mean if you use SEARCH / POINTS OF INTEREST that they are just not there or have you lost some saved ones ?
Cheers
Gecko
 
Marc,

What I mean is that when you purchase a 60C it has points of interest only map stored on it. When you load Bruxelles area from your city software it removes that part of the POI map. No big deal as I am informed that the City software has more points of interest anyway.

As far as my bracket is concerned I can see all the lights on the light cluster but not as clearly as before. If I slid it across two cm to the right it would only cover the ABS lights. Which you don't have anyway. But I prefered the left side as of course you'd use the left hand whilst riding to use the buttons.
 
Richie

I don't think it overwrites the basemap POI, it just prioritises the better maps - i.e. CS. When you do a search you can select which map set to search.

As the basemaps are installed at the factory I would hope that the CS maps will always be more accurate / up to date so it shouldn't be a problem.

With regards to your power problem I use a power lead the same as Gecko although I installed an accessory socket on my dash as opposed to the more discrete one that he uses.

By taping the suppressor part of the lead to the RAM cradle I just unplug the power lead, undo the wingnut on the RAM arm and remove GPS, cradle, arm and power lead as one - easy peasy :D

I would have done the same with the 60C as powering off due to battery vibration is a grade A PITA and always happens at a junction you haven't come across before.

Adam :)
 
Updated report to the GPS is that it seems to be OK now for the battery connections if I use my bit of foil to pack them in with. I have now also used it into a rising sun and this so far seems to be the worst scenario for reading the screen. It is still readable but seems like someone has faded the colours. So in all lighting conditions the screen is readable. But into the rising sun is the worst.

Today I'll finally power it up to the 12V of the bike so I can try it with the backlight function.

As far as the map software City Navigator is concerned if you use the route function. From one waypoint to another its worth zooming in to see what soultions it gives as sometimes you could do better. However if you just ask the unit to find a waypoint it follows a somtimes better route.
 
Richie I worked out why my unit was shutting down occasionaly - it's that wiring set up you were so impressed with. When I get a chance I must revisit that one.
 
OK Guys I'm still happy with the 60 the backlight function and night colours are very nice...
but the handlebar mount gave up the ghost yesterday after 12 days use. So 14£ badly spent looks like I'll have to make my own or cough up 50£ for the touratech jobbie..
 

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....I'm still waiting for mine to arrive, the GPS that is....I've ordered the cradle etc from my local dealer but he was pretty amazed when I told him the price I ordered my 60 for....he can't even buy them for that (and I believe him). I wonder how long sportextreme.com can stay in business ?
 
Richie,

Could you, please, explain exactly how you've positioned the foil in the battery compartment? My new Legend C started cutting out yesterday... I can understand it a bit, but Garmins are a quality bit of kit so they should not cut out... You see I've got the RAM holder and it's mounted on a short arm, to the mirror... of a Kwack Z1000... which is very vibey... :( Open it up a bit and I lose GPS :(

So, if you can tell me (or take a pic) of how you've fixed the foil, I'd be very grateful n keen on trying it out... :)

:beerjug:
 


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