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Garmin GPSmap 62s with GB Discoverer 1:50k - Full Country  Ref: M10-UK100-36

REVIEW: Overview: The 62s takes its design from the original and still popular 60 series and is one of the more functional of the current crop of multi-activity mapping receivers. Different profiles can be set up for different activities, including options for on road use for bike or car with 'sat-nav' style turn by turn guidance. Operation: Control is via key pad rather than touch screen. This is better in poor weather and cold conditions, and uses less battery power. All menus are typically Garmin and very easy to navigate. Page sequence and data fields are all user definable. Screen: The screen is claimed to be readable in direct sunlight and it really is. In fact, the brighter the sunlight, the brighter and easier to read it becomes, and it's good in low light conditions too. Receiver: It's a high sensitivity receiver with "Hot Fix". The high sensitivity receiver means it works well in difficult reception locations, under dense tree cover etc. The "Hot Fix" bit basically means it acquires quicker if it's been used recently, and it does. Usually a few seconds. Maps: The 62s is supplied with the whole of Great Britain 1:50,000 OS Discoverer mapping on MicroSD data card. This works well on the 62, zooming in it remains clear down to around 600m full screen but is still easily useable to 300m. Zooming out to 2.5km full screen gives an almost true 1:50,000 scale, so you can see 1.25km ahead and behind and 800m to either side. At 4km the map is still readable but the detail becomes a bit fine. At 6km the mapping changes to Ordnance Survey 1:100,000 and a 40km changes to 1:250,000. We have tried one of the 1:25,000 OS Explorer cards as well but to be honest the 1:50,000 works better in this unit. BlueChart marine mapping and Topo contour mapping can also be used and work well. Altimeter: The barometric altimeter can be manually calibrated but by default it calibrates to the GPS altitude which is usually correct to within just a few metres. It records the profile of ground covered including cumulative ascent and descend and in addition, when navigating to a point or a route, it shows the elevation profile ahead. Compass: Most electronic compasses are rubbish! This one isn't. It uses a new 3-axis sensor providing accurate stationary readings regardless of tilt or orientation. On the move the rotation of the compass and direction indicator are "damped" so that it doesn't suddenly jump around as GPS readings are calculated on the move. On Road: If used in a vehicle or on a bike the 62 can provide 'sat-nav' style route guidance. The instructions are visual rather than spoken audio but that's probably a good thing and it can be set to beep prior to up coming turns etc. The 1:100,000 OS atlas mapping which is included on the supplied 1:50,000 data card is useful too, giving a better indication of road type than standard sat-nav mapping. Bugs: Usually new GPS receivers contain a few bugs causing freezes or eronious shut downs and the 62s had a few. The latest download from Garmin (v2.44 Beta) seems to have cured most of them. Since installing this we've only found one associated with the trip computer page. If the lower text fields are set to 'large' it switches off when scrolling to the next page. With the text field boxes set to small the problem goes away. This will undoubtedly be fixed with a later version. Conclusion: Up until now, the GPSmap 60CSx was arguably the best multi-activity hand held GPS available for the serious or professional user. The 62..... so far seems to be as good, but has the added benefit of being compatible with Garmin's Ordnance Survey data cards, as well as existing Topo and BlueChart maps. More when we've used it for a month or two.....

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