Garmin GPSMap 60CSx Handheld GPS Review

Background: In my younger years I would take off on a trail with no real concern as to it's destination or how well it was blazed. Looking back I can see that being young is no excuse for being stupid. These days my hiking party includes my wife and my 2 year old daughter. I Do Not want to get lost. A few weeks ago we went hiking in the Hanging Dog Recreation Area near Murphy, North Carolina. We live a few miles from the area and thought this would be an easy area to hike. The trails there are in great shape, but every half mile or so you come across a 2 or 3 way split in the trail. The splits are all marked, but unfortunately it's the same trail. My goal is 1) not get lost this close to home 2) map out the trails in the area so others (and myself) will have an easier time. I should point out that I have never used a GPS unit of any type so this review will be ongoing for some time.

Review: The Garmin GPSMap 60CSx is small, light and comfortable to hold. The first time I turned the unit on it had my position within 25 feet in less than 3 minutes. By the end of the 4th minute my position was within 17 feet or so. By the way I should mention that I was sitting in my house during this time.

The instruction book was clear (for the most part) and had me up and running in no time. One feature I found very helpful while sitting in my house was the fact that the included USB allowed my laptop to power the unit. This also keeps the backlight on non-stop which really helped in my low-light living room. I thought I would have to go through a long setup, but putting in batteries and pushing the on button was it. Ok my elevation was off by about 7 feet.

With my Garmin GPSMap 60CSx, I also received the Garmin TOPO U.S. 2008. This mapping program is great, I was side tracked for a couple of hours playing. I selected the area from the TOPO which I wanted to hike and loaded the 60CSx (takes less than a minute). As I was hiking the maze of trails at Hanging Dog, I was constantly reassured by the fact that I could always backtrack and by the fact that the unit showed the nearby lake, boat ramp, the paved road, and campground ( the TOPO map included these). Having this knowledge gave me a general idea of my location and since my 2 year old has a max range of about 2 miles.

The Garmin GPSMap 60CSx gave us a constant readout of the distance traveled, time moving, time standing still, altitude, total accent, latitude/longitude, while showing a visible track of our hike.

Having completed our first hike with the 60CSx, I now have my first mapped out loop at Hanging Dog Recreation Area. After returning home I loaded the recorded 2.7 mile track to my computer. With only 6 miles or so of trails in the area remaining we are well on our way to mapping out the trails.

To be continued...