(hp) Anywhere travel (ATC) GPS

[komn]

hi there I am currently thinking about buying a GPS unit to take with me to USA when I go to do my hour building.I was wondering if anyone has used the " Anywhere Travel Companion (ATC) " and if so could they let me know what they thought of its performance.

Many Thanks in advance.

[dublinpilot]

Hi Komn,

As I understand it Anywhere Map has no database for Europe, or a lest none that have been updated in the past few years.

This means that you will have little use for the unit when you get back to Europe. For the price it seems expensive for a once off trip, if you can't use it back in Europe again.

Have you thought about PocketFMS? Home of the PocketFMS Foundation. (http://www.pocketfms.com)

This is one area that PocketFMS is really strong on. It has world wide maps, and actively maintains and updates the databases for Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, and some other countries too.

This is all included in the price, so you don't have to pay again to install a USA or European database. In fact there is no reason not to have them installed at the same time.

In the interest of fairness, I should point out that I'm a Beta Crew member at PocketFMS, so I'm not completely unbiased ;) But in your case, you would seem to be very well suited to it.

Buy yourself a WinCE based car sat nav, a PocketFMS subscription, and you can use it as home as well as when you go away, and you have car navigation in the same device.

dp

[jxc]

what are the differences of pocket fms to memory map ?

[dublinpilot]

jxc,

Each will have their own advantages, but for a European flyer, I can't see the point in AnywhereMap, as it has no uptodate European Data, has no prospect of getting up to date European Data, and appears to have no interest in the European market.

As I'm part of the PFMS team, I don't want to turn this into an advertising post and try to tell you the advantages of one over the other, and to be honest I'm not all the familar with Anywhere map anyway.

I'll simply point you to the two websites and you can make an assessment for youself, or perhaps someone else who has experience of both products might make a comparsion (which wouldn't be seen as advertising on Pprune ;) )

Home of the PocketFMS Foundation. (http://www.pocketfms.com)
Anywhere Map - Aviation GPS & XM Weather (http://www.anywheremap.com/)

dp

[jxc]

Having looked at the memory map website I really like the idea of the samsung Q1 and linking it to a bluetooth gps and running memory map for the UK

any thoughts ?

Cheers

[dublinpilot]

Advantages of MM
The software is cheap.
It has the UK map that you're familiar with on screen.

Disadvantages
It has no knowledge of airspace borders so can't warn you if you're approaching an airspace boundary
If flying track up all the text is rotated at the wrong direction if you're flying any direction apart from North.
No weather facilities.
No knowledge of beacons etc (for frequencies, or routing via).
Only updated when the maps are updated, which is once a year. So if the airspace changes during the year, you will not see it until a new map is published.
Only clear when zoomed in. This means that generally you don't have much of a view around you onscreen. The Q1's VGA screen would help with this though.
Once you fly out of the UK, you no longer have any maps.
No obstacle or terrain database, so can't warn you of impending danger.
Not sure if it's important to you, but no facility to drive an autopilot, or link to Zaon or FLARM collision avoidance systems.

Some of the above may be important to you, some may not, but I hope it helps you with your decision making ;)

dp

[komn]

:ok:thanks for all the replies guys I think i might have another look around and see if there's an more good options.

Once again many thanks.

Karl

[jxc]

had a look at the samsung Q1 today and don't think the screen is bright enough great piece of equipment otherwise :(
I really like the avmap just need to find a cheap one