April 27th, 2007
Dead Finger Tech: Garmin GPSmap 60c goes on this cyclist's handlebars and everywhere else
Meet John Pickering. After taping a video segment for an upcoming review of some fitness technology for cyclists, I encountered Pickering on his bike as I was riding back to my home office. As we were riding, I looked down on his handlebars to see something very different from what I normally see on other cyclist's handlebars. Normally, you see one or, in some cases two small devices. One is invariably a bike "computer" that shows speed, average speed, distance, etc. and the other, if it's there, is usually a heart rate monitor (hint: I've got new ones of both that I'll be showing in an upcoming video review). But Pickering had neither. Instead, he had Garmin's GPSmap 60c attached to his bicycle's stem (the stem is the part that holds the handlebars).
I was quite surprised to learn that, using GPS technology, it too shows speed, trip distance, average speed, etc. In other words, it offers much of the same data that a typical bike computer gives you. The advantage is that it also does mapping which means he never gets lost on his bike and he can take it with him on business trips just as easily as he takes it on cycling trips. He was so fond of the technology (and convinced that he needed nothing else on his bike) that I decided to do one of my Dead Finger Technology interviews. The Dead Finger Technology series is a series of interviews where I randomly stop people and ask them what their dead finger technology is — the one technology that can't be taken from them unless you pry it from their dead fingers. For Pickering (also a Blackberry user), his GPSMAP 60C was it. Garmin doesn't sell the GPSMAP 60c anymore. Instead, the company has newer GPSMAP 60Cx for $429. Here's the video interview:
