I have been using my iPhone for route tracking while on my motorcycle and on foot. I love my 3G iPhone. The iPhone, being what it is, has very little space for a GPS receiver. With that bit of information it is expected and understandable that the iPhone would have mediocre GPS accuracy performance, and it does.
I have been wanting a more accurate way of tracking my routes, including top speed, and also a means of having a GPS on my motorcycle. I had a Nuvi 350 that I fried while trying to mess with the USB power cable to make it charge via USB. We purchased a new Nuvi but I don’t trust its construction to withstand the vibrations of being attached to the motorcycle handlebars.
Yesterday, I was my birthday and I went looking for a GPS unit after I was reminded, by online photographs, that many motorcyclists use the Garmin 60CSx. There was an almost new unit on Craigslist for $120 which got me very excited. These go for $300 on Amazon. Long story short, I missed that one. There was another unit, slightly more used for $175. I offered $150 and he said “sure”. He even offered to drive it to me, details of this aren’t important.
I now have a 60CSx and this unit has been to Uganda tracking Gorillas. How cool is that?!
As soon as I got it and after making sure it worked and after performing a factory reset, I hopped on my bike to do a test and comparison. I put both the 60CSx and the iPhone running the Everytrail app in my tank bag. I plugged in the iPhone to my USB charger which I have found in the past to improve the GPS performance. Because I did that, however, the differences in performance aren’t as stark as they otherwise would have been.
Below you will find both the output from the 60CSx and the Everytrail app. I went on my standard short loop including a clover leaf highway exchange and a large roundabout. You will notice the 60CSx did perform better, which was to be expected. (The Garmin data is best viewed in the “Player” after clicking on “View Details”. As is usual with Everytrail, my top speed is 860 mph. The Blue Hills are also tree covered roads so this added to 60CSx superior performance.
Garmin 60CSx via Garmin Connect
EveryTrail
GPS 60Csx Test
Plan your trips with EveryTrail Mobile Travel Guides
I think my camera is with my wife so I wasn’t able to take a picture of both units in my tank bag. Below is a photo of the 60CSx in the bag and the iPhone went in just to the left of it. Also a photo of the Trip Computer showing stats about my trip. It would be cool if the 60CSx could export a screen shot of that.
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- Tank bag with Garmin 60CSx
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- Garmin 60CSx Trip Computer
Now to use the rest of my birthday gift money to purchase the RAM mount.
Thanks for reading and happy riding.
Cool! Did you get the Garmin MapSource software? You use this app to plot a route and upload it to the device.
And City Navigator North America NT 2009 (the detailed maps with merchant data)? This is a must-have, since the base maps have no detail.
I did get the MapSource software however it is not Mac compatible. I have downloaded Garmin BaseCamp which should allow me to do the same. I haven’t played with it much. I intend to after I get my RAM mount.
I am excited, it should be a fun and useful gadget. If my job requires a car, I will also order a suction cup base for the RAM mount which will allow easy swaps between bike and car.
Greg, I missed the second half of your comment. I looked further at the maps and you are right, there is no detail. The City Navigator North America NT 2009 map is $99, I will need to think about that before I purchase.
Thanks for the tip.
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