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Garmin GPSMAP 76Cx
This GPS unit is supposedly made for marine use but it makes more sense for it to be used for roughly mapping an area or mapping waypoints and such. It's great for using on the road and the color display really helps to distinguish features.
Garmin's 76CSx is a high quality unit, built very rugged to ensure its compliance to the IPX7 standard, which among other things means that it is waterproof. Looks and feels good, and acquires GPS signal quickly.
The device comes with a 128Mb transflash/micro-SD memory card for instaling maps. It has a color screen and through the use of memory cards the ability to increase the map space to whatever capacity micro-SD/transflash cards come in. It is necessary to use a 4Gb card for all the City Navigator Europe version 9 maps, and it fits on the 4Gb card together with the necessary route indexing data needed for navigation. Notice that loading all of Europe onto the 4Gb memory card takes several hours. The GPSMAP 76CSx has a maximum map set size limit of 1024, but it is currently not an issue, as all of Europe is made up of a total of 600 maps.
The ability of the SIRF III chip in the GPSMAP 76CSx to find and use available GPS satellites is impressive. It seems better at picking up the satellite radio signals than previous Garmin units. The 76CSx conforms to the IPX7 standard, which means that it can be held at 1 meter water depth for 30 minutes without problems. In fact the GPSMAP 76CSx swims. If dropped in water it doesn't sink.
The use of micro-SD memory cards makes it very easy to upgrade to a higher map capacity. Yet increased memory with a 4Gb memory card doesn't seem to make the unit slower. And if you need to clean it, there is not much maintenance to do. A damp cloth will usually do the job smoothly.
The built-in USB 2.0 interface makes map updating much faster than you normally see in NMEA-compliant GPS receivers. This does not mean that you won't have to wait - loading a 512Mb memory card with maps can take an hour.
Garmin offers a pc webupdater program which checks for firmware updates to the unit as well as the SIRF chip when the Garmin is connected to the pc, and the pc is connected to the Internet. Updates fix issues with the unit so it's important to get the new upgrades as they come.
The GPSMAP 76CSx has a setup option to distinguish between the use of Alkaline batteries or NiMH rechargeable accumulators. NiMH accumulators are routinely used in this test and are recommended to cut operating costs.
When driving through a tunnel without a clear view to the sky and satellite lock is lost, the 76CSx had periodical problems reacquiring after returning outside the tunnel. It will usually state that satellite signals are weak, until you press menu and "New location", to let it begin a new acquisition. A recent firmware update has corrected this problem.
Heavy downpour with force 6 winds or more shouldn't present the unit with any problems. The display is lower than the top surface of the unit, so you need to manually wipe rain off of it, or turn it around and let the water run off occasionally.
The Garmin GPSMAP 76CSx is a high quality GPS receiver. It gives you a location quickly after power on, and is rugged. It is also going longer on a pair of batteries than you normally see in handheld units. The screen is large enough. The use of micro-SD/transflash memory cards for maps rather than the 115Mb in the 76CS model, gives it an even better map capacity. It doesn't seem to be slower with a 4Gb card with the complete European maps and navigational indexes loaded than it is with the supplied 128Mb card. In general this unit is excellent, mainly in areas like canyons and areas with crappy reception.
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