UPDATE: This model has been discontinued. For more current recommendations, please refer to our handheld GPS buyers guide or our Garmin handheld GPS comparison chart.

Regular readers of GPS Tracklog may recognize the Garmin GPSMap 60CS as one of my personal GPS receivers.  It’s my favorite workhorse in the stable at this point, and is highly visible in posts here and on the cover of my book, GPS Mapping: Make Your Own Maps.  The 60CS has it all — a bright color screen, turn-by-turn routing capabilities, on screen maps (separate purchase required), an electronic compass, and a barometric altimeter to accurately track elevation gain.

I’m planning to review quite a few of the current crop of GPS receivers over the next month or two, and it only seemed fitting to start with the 60CS. I highly reccomend it on the basis of two years of personal use. The menus are intuitive, and Garmin has an excellent reputation for customer service. The 60CS does double duty as a great ruggedized unit for the backcountry or a dashboard companion for highway navigation.

57 reviewers gave an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars at Amazon, which said the 60CS “is packed with navigational features, but Garmin knows that a great device has to go beyond a simple color display to be the cream of the crop. With that, Garmin has upped the ante on this lightweight, rugged, waterproof unit, offering a 256-color, highly reflective display that provides easy viewing in almost any lighting condition, including bright sunlight. This transreflective TFT, 2.6-inch diagonal screen provides excellent viewing while maximizing your battery life (up to twenty hours with typical use).”

You can see a list of features on Garmin’s GPSMap 60CS page.

Other reviews:

• A Garmin 60CS review from the Utah Association of Geocachers with nice geocaching screen shots.
• The GPS 60CS is reviewed is reviewed by ZDNet, where nine users gave it an 8.2 (out of 10) rating.
• Science Fun reviews the Garmin 60CS
• If this story is any indication, the 60CS is one tough unit

Recommended accessories:

• For automobile navigation I recommend the Garmin City Select software, which provides turn-by-turn directions and automatic routing.
• A more cost-effective choice might be the Automotive Navigation Kit, which packages the software with several mounts and a cigarette lighter power adapter.
• If you’re more into backcountry use, I recommend MapSource US Topo.

Last, but not least, some additional resources:

• A PDF version of the 60CS manual.
• The excellent and active Yahoo 60CS discussion group.