350 mile Trip with the Garmin 76cx is 770 miles
I own a Garmin 76cs that I have had since 2004. It does a great job, but cant update maps past 2009 and the receiver is kind of weak in heavy tree cover.

So I decided to purchase a new 76cx, which is basically the same unit as the 76cs, with the ability to add newer map products, and better receiver.

Here is the problems, and I tried this on 3 different units and they all did exactly the same thing.

First Problem:

I set all of my avoidances to avoid (HIGHWAYS, TOLL ROADS and U-Turns) same settings in my old 76cs. Then I selected the city I wanted to go to which was Northeast as the crow flies from my home. My old 76cs created a route that did as I wished, avoided (HIGHWAYS, TOLL ROADS and U-Turns). the route was 346 miles. I also tried this same thing on my old Garmin quest, with the exact results. Then I tried it with the 76cx, it not only took me on all of my avoidances (HIGHWAYS, TOLL ROADS and U-Turns), but it actually sent me in the wrong direction creating a route that was over double to my destination to the tune of 770 miles. All 3 units were using exactly the same maps, but that did not really matter as I tried the 76cx with 3 different Mapsets (2008, 2010.30 and 2010.40).

Second Problem:

I created a route using Mapsource for a Dirt bike ride on some County roads. I set my unit not to (Auto Recalculate) and checked off the same avoidances (HIGHWAYS, TOLL ROADS and U-Turns). My Route was a total of 38 miles with several Vias making sure it would go the right way. I loaded this in my old 76cs and it ran it as it was created on the PC in Mapsource. But on the 76cx, it sent me the wrong direction again putting me on an interstate. In doing this it also added 10% to my route although it was set to (SHORTEST DISTANCE). The 76CX totally missed one of the roads I wanted to go on and disregarded my Via points, as well as it was recalculating my route as I was riding although that was turned off in the menus.

So Garmin completely screwed up a perfectly good product, and their Tech support was absolutely no help. They told me they would research this problem and contact me back. It has been 2 weeks and not even a phone call. I then contacted a local representative and he said he would contact a supervisor, and he would contact me. Well again it has been 5 days and no word from Garmin.

If you are looking for a reliable GPS I would look elsewhere.

Also I wanted to add that I tried these test with these other Garmin units and they worked correctly!!!

Garmin Nuvi 265
Garmin 76cs
Garmin Quest

These units did the same thing as the 76CX

Garmin Zumo 550
Garmin Nuvi 360


Good luck with Garmin, I am done with them!!!

Garmin GPS 76Cx from Amazon
Love this GPS. It allows you to upload free USGS maps from the internet if you are so inclined. I haven't tried it to see if it floats!! I will be buying Lake depth maps for this unit as well. A larger sceen would be nice, but then you have that to carry around. I got the best price through Amazon.

Great GPS!
I use this GPS for search and rescue. It is rugged, full of features and easy to use. It will run for a full day on one set of AA batteries. The only complaint I have is with the rocker switch, sometimes it doesn't do what I think I'm asking it to do. I have downloaded second party maps onto a 2G sd card. The maps are 100% better than garmin's and were free too!

Nice GPS
Nice GPS. Good price. Having to pay extra, actually A LOT extra, for detailed maps of small areas from Garmin(not Amazon's fault) is a rip off. Welcome to the world of GPS. Other than that no complaints with the electronic component GPS itself. Most other GPS mfrs. charge extra for their maps also. Around 0 a whack for an unlock code to a small zone seems a bit steep. I guess if you've got the corner on the world market you can charge outrageous prices though. What good is a GPS device without Maps? So, gotta' have the maps...gotta' pay the $

Good choice for me

I purchased the 76CSX from Amazon in July 2007. Since then I have used it on the boat (I am on the water here in Kachemak Bay-Cook Inlet Alaska almost every weekend from late April through September), while flying in small aircraft throughout Alaska, and while driving both in Alaska and the "Lower 48."

The unit does not come with detailed maps; those have to be purchased. I purchased Bluechart Americas v9, Topo US- 2008, and City Navigator - North America. These were all purchased on CD/DVD media. My unit came with a 128mbt micro-SD chip in it. I replaced that with a 2 gig chip. Changing out the SD chip is very easy.

Like anything new, it takes a while to get to know how to use it. The online Garmin Knowledgebase for this model was very helpful to me. Customer support, when I had questions, was better than average via email and when talking to a "live" person.

Once purchased, folks should set up their "MyGarmin" account .... makes it much easier to download software updates for the unit and also update map products that they have purchased.

The unit has an excellent GPS receiver. It locks on to satellites and hangs onto them in the house, in the cabin of the boat, in small aircraft and in the car without any external antenna connected. I might also mention that I have carried this unit inside of a daypack while riding snowmobiles and it has not dropped the satellites. Battery life is about 15 hours and when they go dead, you can change them out without losing your real time nav data.

I also purchased the 12-volt power outlet cord and a RAM windshield mount.
Garmin Mapsource, included with the unit, has been a valuable tool that I use frequently to download travel routes/tracks from the GPS to the PC. There it can be saved, emailed and printed as a PDF and also layered over Google Earth.

One thing that I have found is that it is best to download the track from the GPS to the PC before "saving" it on the GPS. The data will then show a very detailed track with speed, elevation, lat/lon position, direction and bearing for every point shown on the track. If the track is saved on the GPS before it is downloaded, the resulting track will not be as detailed, as the Saved Track mode on the GPS strips out 5 of every 6 points saved. This is common with many other Garmin units too.

When navigating in the car to a specific address, it does reroute you if you miss a turn. We have found the City Navigator maps to be quite useful not only for the map data, but also because you can easily find locations and a text listing of names, addresses and phone numbers for thousands of hotels, motels, gas stations, shopping centers, restaraunts, and points of interes. It is almost like haveing a phone book with you. This feature makes finding a place to stay or eat very easy when making those long road trips in the Lower 48. This data is only as current as the date you purchased the maps and may not be as easily updated as auto-specific GPS units.

The screen is what you would expect in a hand-held multi function GPS. If you are looking for GPS for your auto that has maps preloaded so it is ready for a road trip upon its arrivel, this is probably not your best choice. If you need a single portable GPS unit that can serve in many environments: marine, hiking and auto road trips, this is a good choice provided you also buy the maps you will need and take the time to learn how to use it. GPS Photo-link also works well with this unit.