Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Like many others, I bought the GPSMAP 64 because I lost my beloved 60Cx out in the woods. I looked over the Amazon reviews carefully, and I searched all over the Internet for more and more reviews. It seemed like maybe the hardcore fans of the 60 series were too harsh on the 64, and I just wasn't sure if it was as bad as they say. Well, at the end of my first hike, after seeing the 64 take measurements in a wild and seemingly inexplicable manner, I decided on that basis alone I hated the 64 so much, I would sell it and use the funds to buy another used 60 model. Then an amazing thing happened. I thought, why not check this one little spot I sometimes go to take a break and look once more. I had already searched the ground at least once, maybe twice at this spot, and I had found nothing. This time around, I saw a familiar, shiny reflection from under the trees. Buried in a half a foot of leaves was the half-circle shaped battery cover lock from the 60Cx! I almost didn't believe my eyes until I had the thing back in my hands. It had been sitting in the woods for over two weeks during a time when the lows had dropped to near freezing for several nights. I opened up the battery cover, and the Eneloops I put in there looked normal. No moisture anywhere. No battery leakage or anything. I took out the batteries just to be safe, and I packed my lovely little buddy in my bag for later. When I got home, I put the 60Cx in a ziplock bag of rice, and I patiently waited for about three days before testing it. After that, I put two freshly charged batteries back in and booted it up. Bingo. Just like day 1. I took the 60 back out on another hike. This time, I put both the 64 and the 60 in my bag, cleared the trip data on both devices at the same time, and started on the journey. When the day was done, I compared both units. The total distance measured by both devices was actually pretty close, but the other values were totally different. ----60Cx---- Trip Odom: 9.64mi Moving Time: 4h49m Stopped Time: 3h51m Max Speed: 5.7mh Moving Average: 2.0mh Overall Avg: 1.1mh Elevation: 3194ft ----64---- Trip Odom: 10.3mi Moving Time: 6h47s Stopped Time: 1:54m Max Speed: 2.8mh Moving Average: 1.5mh Overall Avg: 1.2mh Elevation: 3210ft The biggest issue I have here is that the moving time and stopped time are so completely different. I tried to figure out why, so I walked with both devices in hand and then repeatedly stopped. What I noticed is that the 60 model is a whole lot more accurate about starting and stopping. It really does recognize you have stopped very quickly whereas the 64 seems to take two or three times as long to recognize the change. Also, when I am stopped in place, if I move just a little bit (I mean literally a half a step in any direction), the 64 will oftentimes think I started moving again, whereas the 60 has a more realistic understanding that when you take a break, you might move a little bit, but you're not yet "on the move." I haven't tested the water resistance of the 64 vs. the 60 yet but I will say the 64 gets a lot of dust and dirt and stuff that gets caught under the water seal whereas the 60 does not suffer from this problem as much. I can only surmise that if more dust can get inside, then certainly water might be more able to as well. The build quality of the 60 is obviously a lot higher. The plastic on the 64 feels cheap; hell, the whole thing looks cheap. It really feels like a toy. The huge difference is immediately obvious when holding both units. In the sunlight, I can read the 60 so much better than the 64. Somehow the 256 color display on the 60 holds up better in sunlight than the 65k screen on the 64. At night, I can read the 60 better, too. I don't know why; it's just more easily readable. I really thought I would like the higher color display. I was totally mistaken. This last item is perhaps totally unimportant to many people, but I really prefer the gratifying, old school sound the 60 makes when booting up. It's really swell, and I almost get an adrenaline rush from hearing it, because I know I'm gonna be on the trail with good mapping/tracking capability. Plus the beep it makes when changing pages is also really satisfying. The menus in the 64 are definitely more complicated. I found that the complications were not as bad as I read in some reviews, but the increased details of using it did not enhance the experience, either. So I decided to keep the 64 for now just as a redundant backup to the 60. It is not as nice in almost every way, but if I lost my 60 or something terrible happened to it, etc, the 64 will get you where you want to go; it's just not as much fun. Garmin, please make the 60 series again. You don't even have to improve it. Just re-release it. When you do something right, keep it that way! Listen to your customers for goodness sake. There is still a market for standalone GPS units, but only if they provide the kind of benefits that the 60 series provides. They are very tough, use standard AA batteries, apparently can sit out in the woods for weeks without harm, easily readable in sunlight or in darkness, and are truly a simple joy to use. When I'm hiking, I don't want any kind of BS. I want my GPS unit to be extremely simple and straight-forward, so much so that reading the manual is hardly required before using it the first time. I don't want to have to worry about the thing breaking, because it's just a toy. I don't want to deal with it thinking I'm moving when I'm not or vice versa. I want to focus on nature and the wonderful experience of immersing oneself in it, not on fumbling around with any kind of electronic device. The 60 allows me to focus on what I'm out there for without getting in the way, and it does a phenomenal job of that.