IO540
The "faults" you list are not equipment failures.
The first is the result of not reading the user manual. And then flying with the unit for real before making sure it works as desired.
The second is the result of a poor signal - if using a handheld in a metal cockpit you should always use it with a window-mounted remote antenna. This is a common problem. A radio won't work very well in a metal box (with some holes in it) and a GPS is no different.
I think the OP was after views on equipment reliability, rather than the likelihood of mis-nav with a GPS versus other means.
And I agree with you completely. Thats why I specifically did not state that these were equipment failures but rather failures in general. I'm usually the first guy to scream RTFM but in this case the manual did not do a very good job of explaining that if a certain setting is in this config, then the unit will shut down by itself automatically. So for that reason I would classify it as a valid failure albeit not exactly related to equipment malfunction.
In the second case there were two handheld gps devices on opposite sides of the plane that lost the signal at the same exact time. Again, I'm not dumb enough to use a gps for primary navigation but for the uninitiated, this might still come as a surprise and potentially lead to problems if not using the old analogs for primary nav.
I do think the gps in whole are considerabily more reliable if used properly than any old steam gauge. And like I originally stated, much more useful in whole.
But thanks for the feedback, love to hear RTFM comments.
