Garmin GPS 76CSX Handheld GPS with Barometric Altimeter and Electronic Compass
by Garmin
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin GPS 76CSX Handheld GPS with Barometric Altimeter and Electronic Compass
Customer Review: The Next Generation...
Summary: 5 Stars
Do not let the suggestion that this device is intended for marine use deter you from considering it for highway and recreational use on land. In fact, the waterproof and floating qualities of this device simply enhance its already impressive capabitities for hikers, bikers and motorized recreationists. It uses all varieties of MapSource software, providing the ability to use highway, topographic and marine maps.
The removable memory allows the user to increase memory or to create memory cards with chosen mapsets preloaded. I installed a 2 GB card and have every available MapSource map east of the Mississippi loaded, including parts of the Canada, Mexican isthmus, and Carribean World Maps! No longer do I have to sit and select maps corresponding to my next trip, load them to the device. Nor do I have to load map segments on my long trips during my trip (which required I bring my PC). It's in there! It's nearly as good as the DVD method found on today's built in vehicle systems in terms of map storage.
It's far better than vehicle systems in terms of features, portability, flexibility, and so on. There are no in-motion restrictions; all data can be uploaded and download with a computer; if the road is on a map, this GPS will take you there - no "road not verified mumbo-jumbo).
This marks the third Garmin GPS I have purchased. It has several capabilities that take it beyond the GPS V that I own, and puts the GPS12 (though a very fine device for it's time) to shame. This unit has expandable memory, double the storage for waypoints, and over three times the track log memory. Tracks uploaded can be twice as large as the GPS V and three times as many total points.
The satellite reception is astonishing - it often receives enough satellites to give me coverage even sitting at my desk in my home office!
The addition of electronic compass and altimeter improve the usability and accuracy of an already impressive device. You will not regret owning one! If you already have a lesser Garmin mapping GPSr, take a look at this!
Customer Review: Recommended
Summary: 4 Stars
I have had the Garmin76CSX for four months now and have used it for both cross country hiking and automobile trips. It works very well. I have never lost signal walking through the woods, and I can use it in my car without an external antennae. It will lock onto satellites while I am in my house. I wouldn't go hiking or on a car trip now without it. I even take it on business trips.
It is not cheap, in addition to the Garmin 76CSX, you will need to purchase a MicrosSD card (I bought a 1GB card) for storing extra map information (the built in "base map" is almost useless); the MapSource Topographical CDROM for hiking; and the MapSource City Navigator CDROM, Garmin Automotive mount, and Garmin Cigarete power cable for use in the car.
The Garmin 76 does not have all the features of the GPSs designed only for in car use, but I have used it on several trips and it met all my needs. It gave accurate directions even in one-way street situations, and has been very useful finding restaurants and other points of interest near locations I have visited.
You can download topo and city street maps at the same time. If you have both types of maps downloaded, the Garmin will only show the city street maps unless you hide the city street maps, in which case it will show the topo maps. Finding the menu to hide the city street maps is not obvious, I had to call tech support to find out how to do it. With a map displayed, you have to press the menu button; select Setup Map; press the Enter button; at the top of the screen select the "i" (Information) icon; press the Enter button; finally select the Hide US NorthAmerica City Streets and press the Enter button.
The reason I didn't give it five stars was because of the following two items:
The mapsource software doesn't run on the Apple Macintosh.
The topo maps are based on very old data (over 10 years old in some areas), and don't show as much detail as I would like to see. But they are still very useful and worth buying.
Customer Review: Everything the occasional boater and frequent driver needs
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the third Garmin GPSMAP 76 product I've owned. I started with the GPS Map 76 with 8MB RAM a few years ago. I found having a GPS was a great convenience but also a lot of fun. You never get lost and with downloaded details like points of interest you can easily find things like a specific restaurant or hotel in a city you've never been to. As an pleasure boater, this GPS has the Navaids preloaded so navigating from point to point on a big river is a breeze. Plus it floats so if you drop it overboard there's no issue.
However 8MB memory is not a lot so I upgraded a couple years later to the 76S to allow for more detailed maps to be loaded. With 24MB RAM there's enough memory to store details for about a 120 mile radius. When I needed to go somewhere new I'd down load that area instead. The 76S met my needs but I still thought a little more memory would be nice.
With the 76CSX you can have as much memory as you can fit into a micro SD card. I've got one with 1GB and have the detailed info for pretty much the entire East Coast and neighboring states downloaded. Adding the color screen is a plus so now Navaids are red and green, not just labeled such. And a great improvement is the autorouting capability where you just plug in your start and end points and it routes you there automatically with turn by turn directions just like on most websites. Get too far off course and it does it over again to get you where you want from where you are at that point. One attribute I really like is the screen colors automatically change when the sun goes down so during the day it's a light screened format and at night it automatically changes to a dark screen format... very cool. Plus - it still floats!
I love this new GPS and it's portability, large memory, preloaded marine Navaids, and autorouting cabilibilities make it a must-have for someone that likes to do a lot of things and where a dashboard mounted device won't work.
Customer Review: Very satisfied.
Summary: 5 Stars
I was a happy owner of a Garmin E-Map for a number of years before it finally went to "swim with the fishes," when I was fly fishing. So I had to replace it. The 76CSx is a major step forward and should satisfy anyone who is accustomed to using handheld GPS devices. The screen is bright and legible; a minor disadvantage is that when displaying data fields on the map page, they seem larger than necessary, using up space that would otherwise be available for a larger map; however, the fact that they are user-customizable is a big improvement. If turn-by-turn directions are important to you, you will need the add-on mapping products; however, I ignore turn-by-turn directions at least as often as I use them, so the directions approximated on the base map provide a better indication of travel time, etc., than the straight-line direction supported by the E-map--just use your brain when it tries to direct you across a field. In addition, waypoints stored on my PC and my old MapSource CDs (both 3.00 from 1999!) loaded very seamlessly on the GPSMap 76CSx, which was a pleasant surprise (again, not supporting turn-by-turn directions, but providing good, if dated, base map detail). Overall, this unit offers good performance and a much higher degree of customizability than the navigation systems built into cars; there are, of course, trade-offs, like a smaller screen and a less intuitive interface. But regular users will quickly find its strengths and adjust to its limitations. I highly recommend this unit to any relatively serious user of hand-held GPS for driving, boating, our outodoor recreation.Customer Review: Good GPS, Lousy Software
Summary: 4 Stars
The Garmin 76CSx is a very good handheld GPS unit. It is much more sensitive than a cheaper Garmin unit that I have. It's rather large - about the size of your hand, but has a nicely lit color display. Menus are easy enough to navigate, and everything seems solid. It floats in water (I tried it to be sure), and that makes it great for outdoor adventures in the rain or down the river.
My only complaint with the unit is the very poor software that it comes with. It comes with "Waypoint Navigator," which has very limited city maps allowing you to do simple trip planning. You do the planning on your computer, and then download the path info using the USB port - not as convenient as car-based GPS units, but still ok. The problem is that the software has very limited detail, with many roads missing - not much more than highways really. My recommendation is to look at add on Garmin Mapsource software like the North American City Navigator or the Topographical Maps. The way they work is you pay for the CD/DVD and with them you get a code to unlock any recent updates from the Garmin website. This ensures that you get the very latest map data (as of your purchase date). If you want future updates, you have to pay Garmin to get another unlocking code.
Overall a very good outdoor GPS unit! Highly recommended.
Written by Arthur Bradley, author of "Process of Elimination" - a sexually charged thriller that pits a martial arts expert against a world-class sniper out to shape the next presidential electrion.
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