The Golden Triangle Rider

[beddhist]

All this info is on the Garmin home page. You can compare the models and some are listed as "motorcycle friendly". Among other things that means they are waterproof.
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[TonyBKK]

Thank you very much for your feedback and advice. I find Garmin's website rather hard to navigate, so your guidance has been most helpful.
Sounds like the Zumo 550 is an excellent option, and the 60CSx looks handy too. I quite like the handheld design and easy to replace batteries of the 60CSx as this will make it good for hiking and mountain biking as well as motorcycling. Appears the 60CSx is about half the cost of the Zumo 550 too...
Decisions, decisions
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The Large Print Giveth, and the Small Print Taketh Away

[Davidfl]

[siinthai]

[SilverhawkUSA]

For a relatively new user my recommendations would be;

1: 60csx
2. 76csx
3. Zumo 450 (if you can get it. It doesn't have the bluetooth and a couple other options of the 550 that don't work in Thailand anyway).
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Dave Early

As I grow older I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do. ~Andrew Carnegie

[tonykiwi]

[Auke]

Actually there are very little differences between the 60 CX, 76 CX, 60CSX and the 76CSX. The CSX models have a built in electronic compass which is lacking in the CX models. Internally the models are the same and in fact both use the same firmware.

Preference depends very much on yourself and what feels best in your hand while using it. The buttons on the 60 models are on bottom part while the 76 models have them at the top. The 60 models have the antenna on top while the 76 models have the antenna built in. Screens sizes are more or less the same. Some people think that, because the 60 models have the antenna sticking out, the GPS would be less robust than the 76 models. In practice I think it does not make much of a difference as both are very robust pieces of equipment and can take a lot of beating.

Best is to go to the shop and try them out and see what feels best for you. Make sure that you get the CX or the CSX model as these have the SIRF III chip which is much more sensitive (accurate) than the chips in the C models (which seem to have been discontinued).
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"There's always something waiting at the end of the road, if you aren't willing to see what it is, you probably shouldn't be out there in the first place."

[tonykiwi]

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate the explanation. This information is always there on the Unit description and specifications, but for a newbie it needs decyphering into plain english. Chip types and technical details don't mean a lot to me. That is the problem with just researching on the internet, all the information is there but sometimes we need someone to tell us what the actual practicalities are. I appreciate your time and all those who take time to explain things to us beginners.

T

[monoplex]

I can recommend the Garmin eTrex Venture. It's really tough, completely rainproof and can be set up to display big digits for important things like speed, heading, mileage and time - something I find useful when renting old bikes. It conforms to some standardised description of shallow waterproofing and can be dropped into streams and puddles etc.

A pair of quality alkaline batteries (and I mean the real McCoy, like Duracell) easily will last two days worth of touring and depending how you set up the sampling, it can log about 400Km. For fairly low resolution road stuff to overlay terrain maps like WorldWind and Google Earth I use distance triggering of 100 metres ie slighly more than 3 arcSeconds. For short trips in strange cities it can be configured to sample on a time basis, say every second. I logged a nice trundle along both sides of the Chiang Mai canal and up to Doi Suthep using this method.

My version came with a computer 9 pin D-serial lead that I connect to a serial-to-USB bridge cable and it works fine with every piece of software I have that expects a Garmin GPS unit to be connected to a USB port.

If I were to point to any flaw it would be that the carrying strap is connected to the battery cover instead of to the body of the unit.

Finally, I like it because it's about the size of a fat mobile phone and I carry it around if I go walkabout.

For three summers I have used it to log just about every mile driven in Thailand.
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[johngooding]

Quote: The CSX models have a built in electronic compass which is lacking in the CX models. Internally the models are the same and in fact both use the same firmware.
Agree the above. However the CSX costs more and using the electronic compass will drain the batteries faster. The only advantage of it is that the compass will point in the right direction when stationary. The GPS does not know which way it is pointing unless it is moving.
For motorcycle use the only time this comes into play, is when you are starting to move, the compass and map will not be correctly oriented until you have moved a couple of metres. I have never found this a problem, and so chose the cheaper CX model
I believe the CSX also has an electronic pressure sensor which can give more accurate height readings, but this is not really relevant for motorcycle use.

If I was intending to use it for mountain biking or walking, then I might find the electronic compass and pressure sensor useful, it also records pressure trends. But for me in Thailand it is just cycling and motorcycling and the CX is great.

[pikey]

Chaps,

Correct me if I am wrong but after doing my research prior to going for the 60CSx my understanding was that the "x" in "CSx" referred to the fact that it had an SD card slot and therefore eXtended memory capabilities over the standard CS jobbies?

Cheers,

Pikey.
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[johngooding]

Hi Pikey,
You may be correct about the x.
My model is the GPSmap 60Cx, it certainly does have the SD card, which came with Thai maps installed ready to go.

The slightly more expensive model the GPSmap 60CSx, has the pressure sensor and electronic compass added. Neither of them useful to me, so I saved 3500 baht and bought the 60Cx.

The difference between these 2 models is the S which maybe stands for Sensors Cheers, John

[SilverhawkUSA]

Go to this Garmin link;

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145

Check the box next to the units you want to compare side by side.

Easy.
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Dave Early

As I grow older I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do. ~Andrew Carnegie

[tonykiwi]

Just to throw something else into the pot.

The Colorado 300 looks to be a nice unit, not too large and has a decent sized screen. This hasn't been suggested in this thread.

Is there a reason to not select this as an option given the discussions so far, apart from the obvious cost difference? Is this one a suitable option too?

[johngooding]

Quote:
The Colorado 300 looks to be a nice unit, not too large and has a decent sized screen. This hasn't been suggested in this thread.

Is there a reason to not select this as an option given the discussions so far, apart from the obvious cost difference? Is this one a suitable option too?


This market is a very fast growing one, with new units coming out everyday, some on mobile phones, even one from one of the pocket dictionary manufacturers. No doubt some of them will be good units.
I have used Garmin and Magellen GPS units in the UK for bike, car and for mountain walking, including mountain rescue work. I know them to be rugged, waterproof, easy to use and very reliable with good battery life

These units are also recognised by various software mapping programs I use on my PC, so as the Garmin was available with good maps here in Thailand, I was happy to buy it, and not have to experiment with unknown models.
Hopefully someone may have experience with the model you mention and be able to give you an anwer, but for me I will stick with what I know works well.

[SilverhawkUSA]

I have to agree with John. The Oregon series is new and I have not seen one and don't know of any reports from people using them. Over here, I think it would be wiser to go with one of the tried and true.

edit: After posting the above I went to the link I provided above and compared the specs of the 60csx, the Colorado and the Oregon. The specs are identical except for a somewhat shorter battery life on the last two which is probably due to a higher resolution touch screen.

The last two can also do wireless transfer and have mapping capabilities.

Interesting. Maybe someone should be the guinea pig and try one?
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Dave Early

As I grow older I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do. ~Andrew Carnegie

[bard]

From reading this thread I have decided to go for a Garmin 60Cx with Ram mount for my bike. Thank you all for the information I found here, it helped me decide.

Cheers Bard
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"What luck for leaders men do not think"

[tonykiwi]

Hi

Been really helpful to me too. I finally bought a brand new Garmin 60Csx today for NZ$525. Works out about 10,700Thb. Now all I have to do is work out how to use it. As a newbie Pikey, how are you getting on with yours.

Cheers

T

[tonykiwi]

I am working hard to get my head around the importation of maps and what it actually means. In researching, I came across this site which may have some commonailty with members here. I am not too sure if it is helpful or not but someone more in the know would be able to advise.

http://www.asiagps.org/community/index.php


T

[tonykiwi]

another question please for the guys using the Garmin CSX

It has the compass page which I think is quite useful for bearings. To make it work correctly however it seems to need to be held flat or horizontally. In a vertical position it is not accurate, to so it seems. Change from verticak to horizontal and see what happens.

That being the case, motor bike holder is vertical so how do the user get around this if you want to use compass to check direction or bearing.

Maybe it is not important to do so, I am just used to the blue water stuff where it is pretty important but would still like to explore this. Any ideas anyone please?

T

[SilverhawkUSA]

[Auke]

I own a 60CX so may not be completely up to date with the 60CSX but as far as I know you will need to hold the unit horizontal while calibrating it (three round turns, etc.). Once calibrated, you can use it vertical without any problem for as far as I know.

With regard to the Vietnam/Laos map. this is a work in progress and while there are many good things in the map, there are also many strange things and you should not blindly trust it. Rd 12 from Thakheak to the Vietnam border seems OK but they show also a road running just below (from Mahaxai linking with Rd 12 and that road does not exist. There are many more of these phantom roads so, as for planning purposes it is not a very useful map.
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"There's always something waiting at the end of the road, if you aren't willing to see what it is, you probably shouldn't be out there in the first place."

[xlineshooter]

If its of any intertest to anyone, I just bought a Garmin "Nuvi" 310 at the Rangzit Mall in bangkok. It came loaded with the 2008 Thailand map version. And they loaded it in English for me for free. Per their display sign the suggested retail was 22,000 B and I bout it on sale for 12,900 B. In U.S.D. that's about $386. So, I thought that was a good price considering what some of the others cost. this model has a standard SD slot, but for those of you that have or prefer mini SD's, you can buy an adaptor that looks like a standard SD card.

Also, it had the standard type mounting equipment for windshield or dash. For my older eyes, I chose to mount the suction cup on the metal disk for the dash mount method, then stuck it on my resevoir just in front of my clutch lever.

Now, I have to learn to use the dang thing, so many thanks to the posters here for such good info about maps.
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"Beauty is in the eye of the Beer holder"

[SilverhawkUSA]

[pikey]