60cs for $250 or 60csx for $399?

Upgrading from an eMap, the 60cs contains most of what I want, the
60csx contains everything I want. But currently the price difference
for me is $125. (REI has the 60cs on sale for $299, plus $50 rebate).
The 60cs is a really good deal at the price.

When the 60 series came out, I said to myself, I am gonna get it (60c)
once the price hit $300. Now the 60CS has, except there's a better one
out there. ;)

For me, the 60csx has several advantages:

- bigger map memory. While 56mb is a mile ahead of my emap's 8mb,
having 1G in there would be really sweet in the future. The advantage
for me is I don't need to upload/download maps prior to my trip, I can
pretty much fit everything I want to go in there. But with the USB
interface, it's still miles ahead of my emap's serial port.

- Higher sensitivity. Not a big deal in my home town, but when I go on
trips, in plane, onboard trains, bus, the high sensitivity would be
nice.

- tracklog to microSD card. I can literally store my entire weeks of
travel tracklog from taking off to landing, without truncating my
tracks.

- 14 waypoint characters vs 10.

The eMap's 2k trackpoint is ok for short trips, but inadequate for
long trips. The 5x trackpoint in the 60 is a significant improvement
for me, and chances are should be enough for me, considering I can
turn the tracklog on/off and tune it as needed. The memory is a nice
improvement, but not an absolute requirememet, considering I've using
the 8mb on my eMap for so long. The 14 character waypoint is also a
nice plus, but not an absolutely necessarity.

So really the only thing I would be missing is the high sensitivity.
Is it really worth the extra $150?

Raymond

nospam.gps@none.com wrote:


God damn, Amazon's 60csx price went back to $448. So much for my $125
difference. ;)

Raymond

On Mon, 12 Jun 2006 18:54:40 +0000 (UTC), nospam@none.com wrote:



$395 from:

http://www.certifieddigital.com/shopping/ProductDetails.asp?Sku=GARM-GPSMAP60CSX

I have no idea how reputable they are, pricegrabber found them for me.

$415 from www.tvnav.com, and I know they are reliable.

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley Lake, CA, USA GPS: 38.8,-122.5

=
= $415 from www.tvnav.com, and I know they are reliable.

I hadn't visited tvnav.com in quite a while. Thought I'd check.

Personally, I think their shipping charges are outrageous!

1) UPS Ground: GPS Units (48/US Only): $10.00
2) UPS Ground: Accessories (48/US Only): $5.00
4) UPS 3 Day Select: Accessories (48/US Only): $10.00
5) UPS 2nd Day Air: GPS Units (48/US Only): $20.00
3) UPS 3 Day Select: GPS Units (48/US Only): $15.00
6) UPS 2nd Day Air: Accessories (48/US Only): $15.00
7) UPS Next Day Air Saver: GPS Units-Quotation will be sent by
        return email: $0.00
8) UPS Next Day Air Saver: Accessories-Quotation will be sent by
        return email: $0.00
9) Priority Mail: GPS Units (US Only): $20.00
A) Priority Mail: Accessories (US Only): $15.00
B) Outside of 48/US and other shipping methods will be quoted by
        return email: $0.00

I guess that I should be glad that they even offer Priority Mail
shipment; many on-line firms flat refuse. But to the point;

I have long preferred Priority Mail to UPS. I quote from USPS web
site info about Priority Mail Flat Rate:

Any weight, any State, $8.10. No matter which Flat Rate
Box you choose, the postage is $8.10, regardless of weight
or destination.

The larger box is 12"x12"x8" which should surely hold a Garmin GPS
in its factory packaging (and probably the "Accessories" as well).
The smaller boxes are 11" X 8.5" X 5.5"
and 11-7/8" x 3-3/8" x 13-5/8" -- and they are available at no cost
from USPS. Indeed, I believe that they'll even deliver the empty
boxes to the merchant. Just affix proper postage and label and ship.

Oh, I'm sure that tvnav, et al., claim that the $20 they charge is
partly handling charges. Part of the process of selling things is
*handling* them; get over it.

Oh yeah -- someone has to pack it up. Get over that, too. The
local merchant has to have sales clerks who are often standing
round doing nothing between customers; I'd bet that the packer-
upper has damned little time to stand round doing nothing.

Handling charges are among my pet annoyances in buying either
mail-order or on-line. Such merchants price their merchandise
artificially low, often lower than local merchants can do, and then
make up the difference by charging some exorbitant (in this case
nearly $15) handling charge. Local merchants ethically include the
"handling" charge in the cost of the merchandise where it belongs.

So, when you compare mail-order or on-line prices to those offered
by local merchants, be sure to add the "handling" charge with the
price offered by the former before comparing.

Well, thanks for letting me vent a bit...
--
Charlie Sorsby
crs@swcp.com
Edgewood, NM 87015
USA