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I have a Garmin 60csx, about 2 years old and I have attempted to connect it to my laptop/ArcView (GPS toolbar) using the Detect GPS Port to no avail. There is no port number being displayed and that is what it states in the popup box.

the baud rate, parity etc... are accurate. Should the Comm Port have a number displayed upon connection if it is working?

Is there a patch or a specific usb cable to use or specific Garmins will only function properly in ArcVIEW?

now it is saying the USB is not recognized. I'm thinking a new USB cable as one solution.

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Your Garmin 60Csx has the 4 pin round serial port. Just use it with an RS232 serial cable--pFranc pD32 ( http://pfranc.com/cgi-bin/P/pD32/Garmin_interface_cable.html ) cable.

And if your computer doesn't have an 9-pin RS232 port use an RS232 to USB serial adapter, something like a Cables-to-Go #26886 ( http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=7057&sku=26886 ); it has drivers that ArcGIS GPS Tool will recognize as a standard COM port.

About $30 US will get you connected to ArcMap.

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  • I tried some cable adapters before (serial 2 USB) and ArcGIS wouldn't recognize them on any COM or USB ports. Windows 7/XP would. I haven't tried those specific cables but it's worth a shot. Maybe ArcGIS could get shipped with these in the mid-term... @stuart Did you find if the reduction in transfer rate introduced any limitations? That's the only reason I tried to stay away from Conversion cables (even though they often work!). Or is it nothing I would really notice inside ArcGIS?
    – SaultDon
    Commented Jul 13, 2011 at 19:24
  • ArcGIS reads RS232 NMEA on the serial port using a fixed baud rate of 4800 which Garmin sets on the receiver when that mode is selected. So, the USB converter also has to be set to that. The Garmin native format is 9600 baud (for other utilities like GPS Babel or GPS Trackmaker)--these are all 1Hz updates so we're not talking a lot of data being delivered with each NMEA 0183 sentence. If the port conversion "magic" works use the USB conversion cable without concern.
    – V Stuart Foote
    Commented Jul 13, 2011 at 20:49
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ArcGIS does not support GPS devices using a USB connection because Serial Ports are far superior (sarcasm).

Are you running windows xp? You can use Garmins Spanner to trick the computer into thinking that USB connection is a Serial Port. Spanner is not supported on Win 7 or Vista.

If this is for something quick, try QGIS, it has a GPS toolbar that actually works.

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  • No, Vista. Solution is XP then?
    – Zoran
    Commented Jul 12, 2011 at 20:04
  • @zoran yes, I have tried to get it to run on 7 and Vista but no go. I have not heard of anyone getting it to work (not even in windows 7 "xp compatibility" mode) on any other version than XP. It is a Garmin product and they left it at XP.
    – SaultDon
    Commented Jul 12, 2011 at 21:15
  • thank you along with vulgar language re. vista causing more headaches.
    – Zoran
    Commented Jul 12, 2011 at 23:50
  • @zoran in this particular case, it is not a Windows limitation but Garmin who have deprecated this software and haven't upgraded it.
    – SaultDon
    Commented Jul 13, 2011 at 19:25

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