ms960

Hello all,

I'm new to GPS but have had the bug for awhile. I had a small windfall from work and my research led me to buy the Garmin 60CSx. From what I've read, it sounds like a great receiver. I should have it by the end of the week, hopefully.

My question, and point of confusion, comes with the maps. Unfortunately (to me), Garmin's web site seems to assume a given level of knowledge. So, here are my questions:

1) What version of the maps would you recommend (2008, 2009)? What maps would you recommend? I think, in order to get road maps, I need the City Navigator NT maps. Since I don't already have any maps, I need to buy one that doesn't say "update," correct?

2) The 60CSx had an SD slot, so I know I can buy either the DVD version or the SD microchip version of the maps. What do I lose out on if I buy the map on a microchip? I read somewhere that someone said that if you buy the maps on the SD chip, you can't add routes, waypoints, etc. on your PC and download those into the receiver. Is this correct?

3) Any other advice before I invest in maps? ( I plan on getting the topo maps down the road -- after I've figured the device out).

Thanks all for your help and indulging a newbie .

tipit008

I'm a newbie myself and have just bought the 60Cx. As far as I know, the SD maps are much more expensive (for equivalent map coverage) than the DVD version. With the latter, you have a few more steps to get the maps to your unit, but it's worth it in the long run. I only have the Canada Topo maps, so this may or may not apply to the "City maps". Also, my unit came with a 128 meg micro SD card already installed in the unit instead of the 64 meg card as stated on the box.

Marc P.

ninja279

Buy the North America DVD (2009) with this you can load mapsource onto your PC then pick and choose which areas you actually want on your GPS.
As tipit008 says, with the SD card it's all or nothing, and the software is tied to the Card. You cannot back it up to another card, if you damage/lose the original card you lose your software. As far as I know Mapsource ties the software to your device during install.

gaston

This site answered a lot of my questions:

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for Garmin GPSMap 60CSx

Maybe my experience is too basic, if so I apologize, but just in case this is what I learned recently.

I recently bought my first gps, a 60csx, and also the folowing maps:
city navigator 2008 north america
topo usa
topo canada
topo us national parks west

A key thing to know is that you can have only a single map set loaded at any time, and this is limited by size (2000 or so map segments and some amount of disk space). It is not limited by geography or map product. You can mix map products, and you can have several products that overlap the same geographical area.

When mapsource loads a map set to the gps, it overwrites any existing map set.

For example, in June I am doing a road trip from northern california to vancouver. So I ran mapsource and stepped through each product. WHile in each map product I selected the maps I wanted (parts of CA, OR, WA, and BC) and then added them to the set. When done, I told mapsource to create the map on the gps (or you can point to a drive). Be prepared to wait a long long time.

While running the GPS, I will be able to choose exactly one map product (city nav, topo us, topo canada, or topo us parks) to be active at any time. (This point confused me at first).

If you are creatin a set with a lot of maps making the mapset can be time consuming, so I save the mapset on my hard drive under a unique directory name, and copy as needed to the sd card (or have several sd cards and juggle between them).

Hope this helps
- James

HairyKnuckle

I also wanted to know the answer to this question. I have reviewed the City Navigator maps for sale and I see an Update version and an NT version. I know the NT version has a different compression schema but I'm confused about the word 'UPDATE' in the product description. I have the America Recreational level of maps loaded on my base Garmin unit, and does Update signify it will update this base version or do I need a base version of City Navigator and then run the Update CN version on that?
My unit is slightly different than that of the orginal poster.