Large size 40x40cm 2 gaseous microstrip MICROMEGAS detectors are used for the charged particle tracking in the COMPASS experiment at CERN. The commissioning was performed using a 160GeV muon beam of up to 1.5x10 8 particles per SPS spill. Position resolution of =<70μm and timing resolution of =<10 ns are achieved. A printed circuit board of 60x120cm 2 surface and 100μm thickness allows to move the front-end electronics components outside of the spectrometer acceptance, hence keeping the amount of material within acceptance minimum. These detectors fulfill the stringent requirements of the COMPASS spectrometry.