Calculation Method - What Exactly is this?????

What model is this? That's pretty neat, IMO. My 775T doesn't have this.

a GPSMAP60CSx

Okay, here's some test results. I used a destination on Cape Cod, and an origination in Connecticut.

I then used the Faster TIme and Shortest Distance options, and went through the four calculation methods for each.

Here's the results:

1. Faster Time, Best Route: 166 miles, 2:41

2. Faster Time, Better Route: 166 miles, 2:40

3. Faster Time, Quick Calculation: 166 miles, 2:40

4. Faster Time, Quickest Calculation: 169 miles, 2:45

5. Shortest Dist., Best Route: 148 miles, 3:14

6. Shortest Dist., Better Route: 149 mile, 3:09

7. Shortest Dist., Quick Calc.: 149 miles, 3:11

8. Shortest Dist., Quickest Calc., 154 miles, 3:13

This is great but how do you use it in your car it is not like a regular gps,how does it mount in the car.

Garmin makes a beanbag, suction cup, and adhesive mounts for automotive applications, and right now I am using a suction cup mount from Ram. Works great.

From what I saw on the Garmin site, your GPSMAP60CSx looks like a nice 'hybrid' or 'crossover' unit, giving you trail and road capabilities. Most of us here in the discussions are using road units that don't act quite the same. And, that's one reason (I think) the route discussion got a bit confused in a few places.

It's a great thread (forcing..) and caused me to dig a lot deeper into routing than I had previously. Still digging!

I'm now realizing that each type of unit has it's own peculiarities when it comes to routes. For example, Zumos have the ability (I think) to turn off the initial recalculation on import, as well as once in the unit. Some of the others seem to prompt you before it recalcs when you go 'off-course', but I think most nuvi's will auto-recalc, which really blows out a saved route on specific roads if you 'wander' and you don't have enough route points defined.

I'm also trying to document the other announcement behaviors (and hopefully possible mods) around Waypoints added as vias, Route waypoints when creating on the PC, and 'normal' route vias created on the PC. All are technically different, I'm finding. And just to make it worse, the units themselves (usually) redefine things during the initial import!

..My brain can't even contemplate unit calculation differences at this point ..

I was shopping for years for a GPS unit. Then the 60x series came out with expandable memory and I got one. This is an incredibly feature rich unit, which I still appreciate to this day, almost 5 years later. This unit has been in production for almost 5 yrs, and that is an eternity in GPS model life. The new 62 series looks pretty good... added wireless capacity and a little more. If I wanted to get a new one, I'd go for that, but the new features are not enough to get me to buy a new one.

I see many people here have multiple units, and I don't get it. The 60CSx does it all, or at least all I want, and I'm still discovering new stuff. I will use it to map a friend's property soon, first time using that capability. I use this unit in the car, hiking, biking, and I love watching it while flying. Altitude clamps because it has a baro sensor, but watching speeds of several hundred miles per hour is pretty neat. Can see the GPS altitude manually though.

You got some very interesting results.

interesting

This variable calculation method is not on most Garmins. It sounds like a nice feature.

The question though is do any of those results give a better routing. I can set my 1490T to shorter route or faster route and the shorter route was taking me on streets that I would never want to drive on. I believe, with no basis of fact, that the routes are determined by s set algorithm that is applied by the unit and that it basically works like water running through pipes - connect all of the roads that touch and then come down to the fastest or shortest route (depending on what is selected by the user.) I have a non-Garmin that will take a very direct route to a location from my home and the Garmin wants to make three right turns to accomplish what can be done in a single diagonal road. And it comes down to we know the roads that we are familiar with and want the GPS to take them - I like a particular route but I already know that route and don't need the GPS to go that way -but what comes after that beginning route I need the GPS for - so I want the GPS to go a certain way. I have accomplished this with waypoints (vias) that force the route to where I want it. After that I have to hope that the GPS gets me to where I want to go despite the odd ways it sometimes chooses.

I didn't bother to examine all the different routes closely, especially since most were so close to each other. The big difference was from choosing Faster Time or Shorter Calculation, the other stuff didn't produce much given the overall length of the route.

This was my first GPSr and it will always be near and dear to my heart. The only reason I use a Nuvi 765T in my car is the larger screen.

I recently uploaded street maps to my 60csx (it gets used mostly for geocaching along with my Oregon 550 for paperless geocaching) and am very surprised at how well it works as a street navigation device.

The 60CSX is definitely one of Garmins success stories.

Yes it is. The couple times I called Garmin for help, the Garmin people tell me that the 60x series is the favorite amongst employees, and they can use whatever they want, and they go for the 60x series first. It is still in production, and there isn't that much more in the 62 series to make me want to go get one.

I too thought of getting a Nuvi for the bigger screen, but it didn't have the features I have become accustomed to.