Gecko
Registered user
Having happily been using a GPS V for about 2 years I decided to take the plunge and move up to something new. My budget didn’t allow me to go into the realms of ‘voice instructions’ and ‘touch screens’ so the 26xx range from Garmin was out of the question. The SPIII was a possibility but it’s such a big lump of kit I ruled it out of the running and took a long hard look at the 60c and 60cs units. I opted for the 60c mainly because the 60cs wasn't in stock anywhere when I ordered and the extra toys on the CS were just that....toys , not essentials. I paid € 516.00 delivered from www.sportextreme.com . Delivery was within 4 working days by UPS.
Garmin GPS V v GPSMAP 60c
MEMORY is the big gain with the 60c over the GPSV. The GPSV only has 19mb – I say ‘only’ because the 60c has nearly 3 times the memory at 56mb, but having said this I never really found the GPSV memory to be a problem. 19mb was usually enough for my needs and only for very long trips did I need to be very selective about which maps to upload. The 60c’s 56mb is a luxury and now I can upload maps into the unit without a second thought. So in this respect the 60c is better,
COLOUR SCREEN is standard on the 60c and it is impressive. I’m still getting used to it but initial impressions are that it is very good in most lighting conditions and has ample back lighting for low light conditions. Users can change the colours of the screen to please themselves. There are a variety of colour schemes available. The GPSV monotone screen was also very good. You don’t need to have colour and I used the GPSV without any problems in this respect. The GPSV screen is clear and simple to read and back lighting was also very good. I think in bright sunlight the GPS V is better so far.
SCREEN OPTIONS sees the 60c lose out to the GPSV because with the GPSV you can use it vertically or horizontally. I used it horizontally on the bike and in the car and it was very convenient. The 60c is about the same size as a large mobile phone and you have to have this in a mount somewhere you can see it. Whereas the GPSV sat unobtrusively on my handle bar cross piece the 60c is much less discreet. In the car it’s even worse – I have the mount on top of the dashboard and the 60c sits up there very obviously. The 60c is also very subject to vibration in the car mount and I find it vibrates with every little bump in the road making it hard to read. the GPS V sat rock solid in it's cradle with no movement. The 60c is OK but the option of setting up the screen was better with the GPSV. Also the data fields you can opt for with the GPSV and 60c are not quite the same. They fit better in an horizontal screen so now I find myself wanting the extra data fields that I had on the GPSV but not having them showing because to do so would reduce the viewable size of the on screen mapping.
PERFORMANCE is much quicker with the 60c. If you miss a turn it is very quick to recalculate and advise an alternative. The GPSV would see you much further down the road before it figured out an alternative.
UPLOAD speed with the GPS V needed some forethought. With a slow serial connection, reinstalling maps for the journey ahead sometimes needed an hour and slowed down the PC . The USB connection with the 60c is super quick and more maps (56mb instead of 19mb) can be loaded in just a few minutes.
NAVIGATING with the GPSV was simple. The on screen data fields gave you a clear view of distance and time to next turn as well as distance and time to final destination. These can be changed on both the 60c and the GPSV depending what the user wants. Both machines change the screen view to a ‘magnified’ pop-up view when approaching a turn.
The simplicity of the GPSV screen was easy to read and perhaps it is because I am still getting used to the 60c but I don’t find the pop up screen as clear and obvious on the 60c as the GPSV. I am sure I will get used to it but initially I find it initially confusing and I need to concentrate a fraction longer than the GPSV.
The data is all there but the presentation with colours and different layouts and font sizes means a moment longer is needed to absorb what the unit is telling me.
The GPSV only has a single audible noise to alert the user of something happening. The 60c has a range of user programmable sounds which is fun but also makes it a bit more confusing. It doesn’t matter on the bike because you won’t hear them anyway unless you are driving quite slowly without earplugs but in the car there is all kinds of twittering and beeping coming from the 60c which I’m not yet used to. The audible sounds can be deactivated by the user on both GPSV and 60c units.
SIZE and WEIGHT of both units is very similar although with the batteries in the GPSV is heavier simply because it takes 4 AA batteries whilst the 60c only takes 2.
CONCLUSION is that the GPSV has got a lot of mileage in for someone who doesn’t travel huge distances regularly. For the odd weekend away the GPSV is more than up to the task . It’s speed and memory should not deter someone who is thinking about starting out with their first GPS unit. There are new and second hand GPSV units around for very affordable prices and you will get the full Mapsource software with them. If you buy a 60c you either need to already own another Garmin GPS unit so that you can share the software or know someone that will allow you to do this by ‘unlocking’ the additional codes on the garmin.com website. Don’t buy the 60c as a first time unit unless you budget for the mapsource software as well as you need it to navigate effectively.
I like the speed of the 60c and the quick USB connection . the extra memory is of course a big plus but to be honest if you could load a GPSV as fast as you can load a 60c the extra memory would be a less important differentiator.
I'm heading off to Germany with the 60c this weekend so this will be the first full user test on unfamiliar roads. I have a planned route of about 400km on Friday to get me to my campsite then a weekend touring and back on Sunday. Watch this space for updates .
Garmin GPS V v GPSMAP 60c
MEMORY is the big gain with the 60c over the GPSV. The GPSV only has 19mb – I say ‘only’ because the 60c has nearly 3 times the memory at 56mb, but having said this I never really found the GPSV memory to be a problem. 19mb was usually enough for my needs and only for very long trips did I need to be very selective about which maps to upload. The 60c’s 56mb is a luxury and now I can upload maps into the unit without a second thought. So in this respect the 60c is better,
COLOUR SCREEN is standard on the 60c and it is impressive. I’m still getting used to it but initial impressions are that it is very good in most lighting conditions and has ample back lighting for low light conditions. Users can change the colours of the screen to please themselves. There are a variety of colour schemes available. The GPSV monotone screen was also very good. You don’t need to have colour and I used the GPSV without any problems in this respect. The GPSV screen is clear and simple to read and back lighting was also very good. I think in bright sunlight the GPS V is better so far.
SCREEN OPTIONS sees the 60c lose out to the GPSV because with the GPSV you can use it vertically or horizontally. I used it horizontally on the bike and in the car and it was very convenient. The 60c is about the same size as a large mobile phone and you have to have this in a mount somewhere you can see it. Whereas the GPSV sat unobtrusively on my handle bar cross piece the 60c is much less discreet. In the car it’s even worse – I have the mount on top of the dashboard and the 60c sits up there very obviously. The 60c is also very subject to vibration in the car mount and I find it vibrates with every little bump in the road making it hard to read. the GPS V sat rock solid in it's cradle with no movement. The 60c is OK but the option of setting up the screen was better with the GPSV. Also the data fields you can opt for with the GPSV and 60c are not quite the same. They fit better in an horizontal screen so now I find myself wanting the extra data fields that I had on the GPSV but not having them showing because to do so would reduce the viewable size of the on screen mapping.
PERFORMANCE is much quicker with the 60c. If you miss a turn it is very quick to recalculate and advise an alternative. The GPSV would see you much further down the road before it figured out an alternative.
UPLOAD speed with the GPS V needed some forethought. With a slow serial connection, reinstalling maps for the journey ahead sometimes needed an hour and slowed down the PC . The USB connection with the 60c is super quick and more maps (56mb instead of 19mb) can be loaded in just a few minutes.
NAVIGATING with the GPSV was simple. The on screen data fields gave you a clear view of distance and time to next turn as well as distance and time to final destination. These can be changed on both the 60c and the GPSV depending what the user wants. Both machines change the screen view to a ‘magnified’ pop-up view when approaching a turn.
The simplicity of the GPSV screen was easy to read and perhaps it is because I am still getting used to the 60c but I don’t find the pop up screen as clear and obvious on the 60c as the GPSV. I am sure I will get used to it but initially I find it initially confusing and I need to concentrate a fraction longer than the GPSV.
The data is all there but the presentation with colours and different layouts and font sizes means a moment longer is needed to absorb what the unit is telling me.
The GPSV only has a single audible noise to alert the user of something happening. The 60c has a range of user programmable sounds which is fun but also makes it a bit more confusing. It doesn’t matter on the bike because you won’t hear them anyway unless you are driving quite slowly without earplugs but in the car there is all kinds of twittering and beeping coming from the 60c which I’m not yet used to. The audible sounds can be deactivated by the user on both GPSV and 60c units.
SIZE and WEIGHT of both units is very similar although with the batteries in the GPSV is heavier simply because it takes 4 AA batteries whilst the 60c only takes 2.
CONCLUSION is that the GPSV has got a lot of mileage in for someone who doesn’t travel huge distances regularly. For the odd weekend away the GPSV is more than up to the task . It’s speed and memory should not deter someone who is thinking about starting out with their first GPS unit. There are new and second hand GPSV units around for very affordable prices and you will get the full Mapsource software with them. If you buy a 60c you either need to already own another Garmin GPS unit so that you can share the software or know someone that will allow you to do this by ‘unlocking’ the additional codes on the garmin.com website. Don’t buy the 60c as a first time unit unless you budget for the mapsource software as well as you need it to navigate effectively.
I like the speed of the 60c and the quick USB connection . the extra memory is of course a big plus but to be honest if you could load a GPSV as fast as you can load a 60c the extra memory would be a less important differentiator.
I'm heading off to Germany with the 60c this weekend so this will be the first full user test on unfamiliar roads. I have a planned route of about 400km on Friday to get me to my campsite then a weekend touring and back on Sunday. Watch this space for updates .
) and the 19 Mb is sufficient to load the required mapping as long as I use V5 and not the latest V6 City Select.
I had to pop the batteries out to restart it. I hope this is just a minor bug in demo mode. Too late now anyway , my GPS V is winging it's way to my brother in the UK. 
I like the speed of the thing most. Only one problem , I hit heavy traffic so wanted to reroute "off highways" but it took me ages to find out how to do it. I figured it out in the end but as I was sitting in the rain on the side of the road I was cursing it good and proper for a while 
