Was wondering how the Garmin 60C or CS works for motorcycle travelers?? Is the screen to small? Is it bright enough to view & read during daylight hours? Thanks to all.

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Frank, Miami, FL
03\' F650 GS

I,m using my 60 CS with a mounting bracket from Touratech, and I,m ver pleased with it.
I got the same bike as you (F650GS Dakar). The screen is good, and the size is no problem at all. Its also pretty easy to operate when I ride (although you,re not supposed to). Previously I had a StreetPilot mounted, but I prefer the 60CS. And its asy to carry with you when not on the bike. The battery lifecycle seems also to rather impressive. I had some minor problems with autorouting, but when I upgraded the firmware from Garmins web, all hickups disappeared. I strongly recommend the Touratech mounting bracket for both connectivity to power, as well as a rugged place to keep it secure, easily accesible and visible when riding.
Good luck!

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Dizzie

I reacently purchased the 60cs and look foreward to learning how to use it on my next trip. I like the fact that it's small and easy to pack away, although i do wish it was made for cards instead of down-loading into an internal memory. I'll soon find out if this is adequate.
I also purchased the Touratech locking holder. This is an absolute work of art in my opinion

I use the 60CS with the Garmin ‘Bike Bracket’ on my 1200GS.

The unit:
The screen is large enough and although you can adjust the brightness you will need to slide it to its highest setting to make it merely viewable in harsh sunlight. If you have trouble reading the text you can scale the fonts to make it more legible. The buttons on the front is very handy for bike use.
The lack of an expansion slot is disappointing because you will quickly run out of memory when installing large maps.
The unit is reasonably reliable. It works well in hot weather of +35°C but has intermitted failures and weird readouts when it’s extremely cold. It certainly is waterproof, unlike my poor bike…
The battery compartment needs internal padding after a while. The cells and the contact points loose the plot when used in damp weather and shaky roads (not a problem when using the bike’s power supply).

The bracket:
I use the plastic ‘bike bracket’ from Garmin because I hate the huge metal ones from Touratech (Its also lots cheaper than the TT and nearly invisible behind the unit). You may need to modify the clamp a little by filing it down so that it will fit on the handlebar.
It’s very tough and secure even though it looks inadequate. I have ridden many thousands of kilometers with the unit over the past six months.
After dropping the bike several times on sandy sections and once in a river the unit stayed in place, even long periods on corrugated roads that gave me severe back and neck pains could not shake it loose. Obviously the bracket is not lockable so you need to keep your eye on the bike when parked or simply remove the unit (easily done).

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BMW R1200GS
Suzuki TL1000S
Suzuki GSX750R
Honda MBX50

Totally agree about the internal memory vs memory stick, altough its not the the lack of memorystick-options thats the problem, its the 54 MB internal memory that is. I wouldnt bee surprised if they came out with a new version with a lot more internal memory soon.

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Dizzie

The 60cs is the best handheld ive used, the auto routing combined with mapsource is good, the display is great and its user friendly.
cheers
Grif

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Cheers
Grif

'11 KTM 450 EXC
'09 Suzuki DR650
'00 Discovery Series 2 V8
'95 Defender 90 300 Tdi Overlander
http://gipperstravels.blogspot.ca

Go with the C-version.
I have the CS myself and the sensors are not needed in my opinion. Weather changes mess up the altitude (barometric sensor?) and you only need to move 5-10 meters to have your direction correct (instead of the built in electronic compass). The height will always be pretty close (5-6m off maybe) if you get a nice "3D"satellites-lock.

As of using the bicycle mount remember that a single cylinder bike might cause the battery terminals to break because of the vibrations. Buy a good bracket (Touratech/RAM) or buy a multicylinder bike. ;-)
The american Touratech-shop has a lot of good information:
http://www.cycoactive.com/gps/gps_hardwire.html
(For what I know, this doesn't apply to new units but I wouldn't take the chance running on batteries that destroy the gps in the long run).
LuckyStriker? proves that the simple Garmin holder works well on a new multicylinder machine (with balancer shafts) ;-)...

JoHS