I have the blue Garmin Etrex. I've been taking it Jeepin' for a few years. Despite a rough enviroment still works great. I'm using a Garmin mount when used in a vehicle. I attached the Garmin mount to a generic radar detector mount that has the suction cups for the windshield. I've used it a few times while on foot. A friend had an upscale Magellan hand held. It was more sensitive in tree cover than my Etrex. He also paid significantly more.

 

Well i've decided not to cheap out and bit the bullet and bought the Garmin GPSMAP 76CSx. Hopefully it will do what I want and the 100$ rebate Garmin is offering right now didn't hurt the deal either. Atleast with the money i save i can buy a MapSource CD to have alittle more detailed maps.

Should be here Tuesday or Wednesday and i'll let everyone know what I think of it.

 

Excellent choice
You will want the detailed maps. Without them, you will not be able to use the auto-routing feature of the unit. Does it come with a storage card? If so how big? Might want to look into a larger one of those at some point.

~Rob

 

Yeah, it comes with a 128mb card. Not sure how big of a card you can buy they only claim 256mb. We'll have to see how much the 128mb card will hold.

 

Good choice...
BTW, I haven't checked this week but Garmin appeared to be getting ready to release a new revision of MapSource "City Navigator". Cit Nav version 7.0 is(was) virtually impossible to get as just about everyone is backordered etc.
My guess is they are clearing out the distribution pipeline before announcing the next release(Ver 8.0??).
I have the Etrex Vista Cx and I REALLY would like to have some decent maps loaded in my unit... The default road maps really stink.

BTW, If the 76CSx also uses the Micro SD mem cards, I understand some users are using 1Gb MicroSD mem cards and they are able to load almost all their CD maps on their GPS. Sandisk is "supposedly" coming out with a 2Gb MicroSD card.. That'll hold streets AND Topo's with room left over...


K.

 

I believe it does use the Micro SD Mem Cards. I think the first set of software I am going buy might be the west topo Mapsource. I'm not sure off the top of my head.

A 2gb card would be awesome so I wouldn't have to worry about running out of memory to make a long road trip. We'll see how it works out.

 

Got it Today All I can say is wow.

This thing gets alot better reception then I thought it would. In the little time I have had it it is awesome. Only downside I see is the basemap it comes with is alittle light in the detail area but I expected that.

Off to play some more.

 

I have a 2Gb Mini-SD in my Cingular 2125 cell phone. I'm using Mapopolis, and can download more maps then I can afford to travel.