Garmin 76CSx review

[markgsnw]

from a TVnav customer:


===========================


Ed Warzala sent me (and Garmin) the following review and with his permission
I'm posting it on our mail lists. Some of Ed's personal info. has been
deleted.


Darrel-

I got my 76CSx last Thursday - what a remarkable box!

I can get a cold fix in the basement of my 85 year old 2 story house - with
the internal antenna- in about 1 minute. Garmin is to be commended, that is
exceptional performance.

I am very pleased with the unit and I appreciate you getting it to me so
quickly. Garmin makes good products, and your customer support is super -
thanks Darrel.

Being the engineer that I am, I have found a few bugs in the unit and I am
hoping that you might convey these to Garmin. I
figure that I'm in the group of some of the first users. Given Garmin's
track record of excellent customer support, I am happy to help out with
their evaluation process knowing that future software releases will be
forthcoming.

So here is what I have:

76CSx (ok, I call it a Rx here sometimes)

Updated software release Ver 2.50

Mapsource Ver 9.9.1 running on windows XP Home SP2

76CSx is loaded with City Select North Amer ver 7, Roads and Recs
Continental US (turned off in receiver) and 162/168 tide info


------1. Receiver won't lock when moving
I know that it is difficult to get a cold fix while in motion, but this
seems like a bug. While moving (observed at 20 - 40 mph) the receiver shows
good signal strength on the SV page, but won't lock. When power is cycled,
the receiver locks within a few seconds - still moving.

------2. Map page freezes under certain conditions
I was looking at HDOP in my basement using SA Watch (ver 3.8) and a patch
antenna (Mighty mouse SM-76). I'm using the COM 1 port of my computer
(4800) and the NMEA transfer mode of the 76CSx. Everything seems to work
fine until I lose reception. I get the Weak Sat message, I ignore the enter
and when the SV coverage is good again, the unit re-acquires the SV's. At
some time later (~ 15 minutes) the map page freezes. When
working, the map page shows the EPE circle and the electronic compass is
active. When broken, the EPE circle disappears, the location icon jumps to
a street (lock to roads is on), and the electronic compass is no longer
active on the map page (it does work on the compass page). NMEA strings are
still being transferred to SA Watch, and other pages in the 76CSx seem to be
working. I've also shut off NMEA transfers on the interface page of the
76CSx, and I observe the same thing. I can simulate bad reception by
disconnecting the external antenna (I have to cover the internal antenna
area of the Rx with my hands to fully stop reception!) and I observe the
same. It seems that as long as reception is good (i.e. the Weak Sat message
doesn't appear) the map page doesn't freeze.

------3. Routes downloaded from mapsource have me going in circles
If I map a route in Mapsource (CSNA ver 7) with vias to force a route, I see
a "sensible" route when the calculation is complete - notably with no
U-turns. When the 76CSx computes this same route (after downloading the
same route to the Rx) it adds a U-turn at practically every via point (avoid
U-turns on the route setup page is selected). The Rx routing options are set
for better (or best),
car-motorcycle, follow roads.

------4. I miss "add via" and "detour" on auto routes
My last Rx was a GPS 5, and it had the ability to add a via or invoke a
detour on an auto route. While the addition of a via often caused the GPS 5
to crash (like, remove the batteries - I had the latest firmware) it was a
nice feature when it worked. The detour feature was nice for a quick
re-route; it would be nice to see that feature re-established in the 76CSx.


I am a very happy Garmin customer, in addition to the 76CSx, I've owned a
45, 12xl, GPS 3+, and a GPS 5. I am a RF/microwave designer at the hybrid
facility at Tektronix, and I've designed (paper only, shucks) a
GPS-disciplined timebase for instrumentation.


So, there's my $.02. Once again, a great job on this box. With the extra
map space and the Rx sensitivity, you should be poised for some good income.
Now if you could only get non-nerds interested in these things. My line is
"As a taxpayer, you are paying for the service. For a few hundred $ in a
Rx, you can use it".

Best regards,

Ed