Is CSV the wrong format for my Garmin?

The "reverse" order you mentioned as far as I knew applied to all Garmin GPS units. It certainly applied to all nüvi, zümo, and dēzl GPS receiviers. So you're going to find that the vast majority of .CSV files from here are all going to have that reverse order. If your Garmin requires the coordinates be reversed from what is here on the site, you'll have to use a Mac spreadsheet program, e.g. the Mac version of OpenOffice on the file. Cut column A and paste between Columns B and C. Then save the file and load it into your GPS.

I thought that the simplest .csv files and .ov2 files have the same format - three fields: longitude, latitude and name

If this is so, then I do not understand why you had a problem.

Would you be able to give us the first few lines of both files, please?

No Garmin unit can read CSV files directly.

The 60CSx cannot read GPX files directly.

Any Garmin unit that is compatible with POI Loader and Custom POIs can read CSV files that are loaded as Custom POIs using Garmin's POI Loader software.

The 60CSx can accept GPX files from RoadTrip, BaseCamp, MapSource, EasyGPS (and other GPX software).

The latitude and longitude are reversed in the CSV files because this is the way that Garmin designed POI Loader to work (for some unknown reason).

Will all GPS’s similar to my Nuvi(likeTomTom , Navman, Magellan, Uniden, and there are many more) load CSV & GPX files?

Can you view them the same way as the Nuvi and will the formatting of the file look the same?

My reason for asking is while I’m OK with regards to the Nuvi as I have owned 3 different models of Nuvi I have never owned any of the other brands. I’m preparing POI file of our Motorhome club’s camping locations which consists of some 1500 locations.
There’s going to be many more questions but for now I would like to start with these three

Each has its own file format and some of the newer Magellans will not accept custom POI in any shape or format.

So when we publish POI files here do the others convert them? What software do they use?

When you are talking about "others", I believe you are referring to members of your Motorhome club and are interested in being able to provide a file that owners of any GPS would be able to use - assuming that they were able to load "custom POIs".

If you were going to use a file from this site, it would seem that you would best be served by using the .csv files because they can be read by a spreadsheet program like Excel or by something like Wordpad/Notepad.

I have no idea what format other GPS units need but surely things like coordinates, name and address would be common. Perhaps you could involve friends who have GPS units from manufacturers other than Garmin or TomTom and see what format their custom POI files might require. As you likely know, a spreadsheet program has extensive capability for reformatting.

The most versatile conversion program I have used is Turbo's Extra_POI_Editor. He has a great many formats built into the program which can both read and write the many formats.

As Mr. Germann states, keeping the files in a spreadsheet is one of the easiest ways to perform edits and updates. EPE can read the spreadsheet then spit out a file in many different formats - OV2 for Tom-Tom, CSV or GPX for Garmin, MGLN for some magellan units and many others.

Here's a FAQ I wrote on setting up EPE.
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/33782

Thanks, I'm sure there will be many more questions coming.