Garmin 60
Garmin Portable GPS Review

The Garmin 60 uses a monochrome screen measuring 2.6 inches on the diagonal with 160 x 240 pixel resolution. The high resolution on this Garmin marine handheld made the edges of small fonts and circles smooth and easy to read.

We found the night lighting on this Garmin portable GPS to be fairly sophisticated with five levels of brightness for both screen and pushbutton backlighting. Daylight viewability was very good.

Garmin 60

The screen occupies the upper two-thirds of the case face with eight pushbuttons and a rocker switch below. All the pushbuttons on the case front are clearly marked for function. The off/on button resides on the top of the unit adjacent to the antenna.

We found it awkward to hold and operate this Garmin portable GPS with one hand mainly because of the small pushbuttons and their location near the bottom of the case.

The Garmin marine handheld interfaces with the user through five main pages. The Satellite page displays tracked satellite location and signal strength, battery status, and present position. Three navigational pages follow with each press of the Page button.

First, you’ll find the Trip Computer page displaying either three or eight user changeable data boxes. Next in order is the Map page, here you can display a full page map or add up to four data boxes, again all are user selectable.

The last of the navigational pages is the Compass page; half the screen is used by a large compass rose and the other half by either three or four data boxes. Again, the user can select the data to be displayed in the boxes and either degrees or cardinal headings for the compass.

The final page in the list is the Menu page. It leads you to one of 16 other lists or submenus including Tracks, Routes, Setup, Calendar, Calculator, and others.

Unfortunately for mariners the Garmin handheld does not contain any tide tables or buoy data. Access to the battery compartment, data port, external antenna jack, and USB port are all located on the rear of the case.

Including the pair of AA batteries used to power this unit it weighs in at seven ounces. The Garmin 60 is WAAS capable and can store up to 1000 waypoints and 50 routes. It carries a 1-year warranty.