GPS

[Currybeast]

Hi there,

I'm looking to go into the world of GPS. Do you know if any of the models that are currently available as a driving aid can be adapted or have maps loaded to help with flying, so that can be 'dual purpose'.

Thanks for your help?

[Pudnucker]

Hi CurryBeast...

I bought a Garmin 296 and have now used it for a year. It's available with an Automotive Kit and I use it in the plane, car and boat (with a depth transducer). The thing comes with a variety of mounts (inc yoke and dash mount)

The thing is fantastic but would recommend that you seriously buy the Garmin Instructional DVD - I managed to get mine thrown in FOC at the Transair Shop in Shoreham. Didn't have to look at the manual at all.

The screen is very easy to see in daylight, battery lasts for hours, terrain avoidance is a bit superfluous for us in the UK but it does have a great "Edit on Map" allowing easy route building, auto log book (great if you forget to write times down) and a useful weight and balance calculator. It's also got GPS derived flight data that works (I used it when I had a pitot tube blockage)... The Jeppsen database seems to be accurate (but I always check routes against a paper chart).

Hope this helps!

[IO540]

What is your budget?

A near-useless GPS can be had for £100.

A usable one is perhaps £500.

A really good one is about £1000.

My choice would be the Avmap EKP IV. Harry M (www.gps.co.uk) sells it for perhaps the best price in the UK.

[Rans Flyer]

Airmap 600C has Terrain awareness, + all the other thinks you would expect from a aviation GPS.
http://www.lowrance.com/images/Products/AM600C/AM600C_screen.jpg http://www.lowrance.com/images/Products/AM600C/AM600C_xlarge.jpg
Delahay’s doing them for £380! http://www.delahay.co.uk/acatalog/

[PH-UKU]

Be warned.

The EKP-IV looks superb but I have had several niggles with mine, and I would not say they have been resolved.

1 - Customer support from avmap.it is total $hite
2- I'm on my second unit as the first one had a processor fault after 7 months (Harry replaced the unit)
3 - terrain - pretty display, but some of the heights on Scottish mountains are out by as much as 1000 feet
4 - my nipple has just fallen off :sad:
5 - purchased the C-map Route Planner software - on registering it says that the Aviation background map (rather essential for flight planning on the pC) will be sent by email. I am still waiting (4 months).
6 - used to be an avmap forum in the USA, now closed (due to negative feedback?)

The unit is excellent (despite the niggles). But its potential is sadly not being realised. Questions go unanswered and customer support in europe is invisible. If this is Italian business then they will pi$$ a lot of people off adn lose a lot of potential customers.

I remain to be convinced.

[IO540]

I first looked at the Avmap a year or so ago when it came out.

It's made in Italy (avmap.it) who as reported above are sh1te when it comes to communications. They are somehow connected (owned by?) to a mapping out fit called Cmap who are equally sh1te. Getting questions answered is like getting blood out of a stone, and (as in the normal American style) they rarely answer those you actually asked.

In the USA, Cmap set up a dedicated marketing+support network for this product, which also distributes the updates (combined Cmap and Jepp data).

Sad to hear this crap support is still true over here.

Their route planner is crap - even certain of their resellers say that. But Navbox supports it now, and Navbox is the program of choice for Euro VFR flight planning.

The terrain elevations should be from the Jepp data so "should" be wrong on all aviation GPSs. I know of seriously (dangerously) defective elevations on the Honeywell KMD550 multifunction display and that product costs a few grand. One cannot rely on terrain colouring in aviation data to tell you how high to fly.

After a while I worked out how one does updates. They come from Cmap, and as far as I could find out they are not expensive. Also, the compactflash cartridge is unprotected (unlike the GNS430/KLN94 ones which are hacked) so you can reduce the cost of a current database with other owners :)

What Avmap shows is how crap the existing GPSs are, how little the buyers care so long as the unit is cheap, and how much better things could be done. They get close to doing something really good.