Our Garmin 60CS GPS Handheld Review

The Garmin 60CS GPS handheld shares all the functionality of its 60C brethren, with two added sensors to give this handheld the "S" designation. Those added features are a built-in electronic compass and barometric altimeter.

A 2.6-inch 256-color TFT screen with a resolution of 160 x 240 occupies the upper two-thirds of the front panel. This high-resolution screen makes the edges of small fonts and circles smooth to the eye. We noticed no pixilation issues with this Garmin Handheld GPS.

Garmin GPSMAP 60CS 56MB Handheld GPS
Compass Page

We rated daylight viewability very good. We found the night lighting on this unit to be fairly sophisticated for a handheld unit. It has a 20 position slider to set brightness for the screen and on/off switching for the pushbutton backlighting.

Eight pushbuttons and a rocker switch are located below with function labels clearly marked on the case front panel. The off/on pushbutton resides on the top of the unit adjacent to the antenna.

We found it somewhat awkward to hold and operate the Garmin 60CS GPS with one hand because of the small pushbuttons located near the bottom of the case.

The 60-series units utilize the latest Garmin handheld GPS software. These units interface with the user through five main pages.

The Satellite page displays tracked satellite location and signal strength, battery status, present position in latitude and longitude as well as position accuracy in feet.

Three navigational pages follow with each press of the Page button. First you’ll find the Trip Computer page which displays either three or eight user changeable data boxes.

Next comes the Map page, here you can display a full page map or add up to four data boxes, again all user selectable. The last of the navigational pages is the Compass page. Half the screen space is used by a large compass rose and the other half by either three or four data boxes.

Again, the user can select the data to be displayed in the boxes and either degrees or cardinal headings for the compass.

In the Garmin 60CS GPS the compass display is driven by the internal electronic compass and provides information even when the unit is stationary. It works much like a handheld wet compass. The unit must be held level and steady to get accurate readings.

In the 60C model compass information is supplied by the GPS receiver and is only accurate when the unit is moving at several miles per hour.

Another page button push on the 60CS GPS takes the user to the altimeter page. This page can display altitude and barometric pressure. Both can be useful bits of information to hikers.

The final page is the Menu page, it leads you to one of 16 other lists or sub-menus including Tracks, Routes, Setup, Calendar, Calculator, and others.

Access to the battery compartment, data port, external antenna jack, and USB port are all located on the rear of the case.

The 60CS GPS has 56Mb of internal memory to store downloadable data like maps. It can store up to 1000 waypoints and as many as 50 routes. The warranty period is one-year.

We really like the Garmin 60CS Handheld GPS for its excellent screen and easy to use software.



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