Wow, really an impressive GPS

This is about the 5th or 6th GPS that I've owned. I use the GPS for driving instructions, Geocaching, traveling and hiking / outdoor activities.

The 76 CSx is an upgrade from the 76 CS. The primary documented upgrade from the CS to the CSx is the removable or upgradable memory card. I keep my street maps on one microSD card and my National Parks hiking maps on another. The microSD cards are inexpensive enough.

As always, my primary gripe is about the add on software that you need to buy for the unit. The Mapsource City Select or City Navigator as it's now called, runs over 100 dollars. You can buy the entire US on a microSD for about $130.00. This is an advantage if you don't want the hassle of uploading areas of the country to your GPS before traveling.

I have a 512mg microSD chip in my Garmin. I upload all of Washington state and some of the surrounding areas in Idaho and Northern Oregon onto the chip with room to spare. If I travel out of that area, I need to upload the areas that I plan on traveling to.

The reason that I prefer to upload specific areas rather than having all of the US in the unit, is that searching for an address or a POI (point of interest), is much quicker and more localized if you don't have to search data from the entire US. For example if I'm looking for a US Bank in the Seattle area, I don't want to scroll through a list of banks in Florida.

Last summer I took the GPS to Europe. I had to buy the Europe MetroGuide software. That was about $100.00 for a piece of software that was only used for 4 weeks and probably will never come out of the box again. The expensive supporting mapping software is my only complaint with this Garmin family of products.

The accuracy of the 76CSx is the best I've ever seen or experienced. I get very quick, cold start satellite lock-ons. The screens are easy to see (even for a 50 year old guy with glasses) and the menus are intuitive enough (once you get familiar with Garmin).

I¡¦m getting at least 18 hours of usage out of 2 AA batteries. Just awesome.

The unit is a bit heavy and large compared with some other outdoor units but once you pick a mount for the car, a mount for the motorcycle /bike and get a good hiking carrying cover for the GPS, you¡¦ll have an durable, dependable and top of the line GPS with all of the features I can imagine you¡¦d want or need.

I've had occasion to call Garmin a time or two for Customer Support. I am very pleased to report that they really do offer customer support. The support people speak English and really seem to care about the Garmin customers. They have solved my issues 100% of the times that I have called.

I never leave home without it ļ