What Gps Should I Get?

[MR TEDDY]

Having recently passed my PPL, I would like to consider getting a GPS. I't looks like the Garmin III Pilot is the cheapest and suits my budget, however at a push, dearer choices look like the Garmin GPSMAP 196 and the Skyforce Skymap II. I can't afford a colour version of any model.

I would preferably like the information displayed by the unit to include: Extended Runway Centre Lines; Runway Details; Details of current position - e.g. 4.5 NNE of Bembridge; Railway Lines. I also notice that the Skymap has Turning Point Arrival and Marker Annunciation which sound like a very good feature.

I would be grateful for any advise on GPS's anyone might have.

Thanks.

Mr Teddy.

[easyflyer]

Addendum: Anyone with experience of the Navman IPAQ GPS

I've got an IPAQ thru work and note you can get a "Navman" attachment thru Transair for £350...anyone use these and can rate them, or am I best off just going for a Garmin III for £400?????

Input gratefully received, and Mr. Teddy - sorry for partially diverting your post!

ef

PS. Commercial stores do the GPS bracket much cheaper than Transair - is it just the map software that's aviation specific, or is there something in the bracket??

[Mr Wolfie]

easyflyer-

I have an Ipaq with a Navman GPS jacket that I use in the car (with the Smart Trip mapping software it gives you turn by turn directions as who drive- and very good it is too).

However, it only has an aerial built into the jacket itself and no connector for an external aerial. Used in a car (close to steeply raked front window, and with sunroof and side windows), it takes a long time to get its first fix, but once found it tends to keep a reasonable signal. Go through a tunnel or a major built up area and it loses the signal and again takes a little while to receive a signal from enough sats to provide a fix.

Aviation use? I haven't tried it yet, but I suspect that in the high wing Cessnas that I fly, the wings are going to obscure a lot of sats. A low wing Piper would probably have more chance. In something like a T67 Firefly, Vans, or anything else with a big bubble canopy, I should think it would work fine.

The jacket that is sold by Transair will be a standard Navman jacket (model 3000 or 3400 for an Ipaq). It is just the Memory Map CAA software that turns it into an "aviation unit."

Mr. W

PS - There are always loads of Navman jackets (around £150) and other Ipaq related GPS stuff on ebay for sale.

[Mike Cross]

I have looked at the Memory Map scanned charts. Downsides appear to me to be that the chart is always North Up whereas I prefer Track Up on my chart. That way I am in the centre and my desired track is straight up the window, making it easy for my ageing brain to work out whether I need to turn right or left to get back where I should be.

The other downside is the cost of updating the chart, around £50 a throw if my memory serves.

Personally I use a Magellan GPS315 with the aviation database. Cheap as chips and does exactly what I want.

Mike

Mike

[S-Works]

I bought a 295 Colour originally and swapped it for a 196. The 196 is awesome, extended centre lines, turn point coordination, database, Instrument approaches(yes even in a VFR unit!) the works. I have mine linked to my FuelScan Computer as well and so I even get fuel required, remaining etc data.

When flying Intsrument approaches I just put the approach in the unit and fly the normal gauages with the GPS as a sanity check. It also makes non precision approaches look very slick as you can use the extended centre line to exit your base turn!!

I update the database once a month and it costs me around £160 per year for the subscription service. You can update it as often or as little as you like. I fly 300 hrs a year so it pays to keep it updated for me.

The kit comes with a number of different mounting options including a yoke mount and dash mount as well as power cable. It also comes with an external antenna with suction cups.

I also have the 128mb data cartridge with the streetmap on it which allows turn by turn routing to house number and postcode level and even has a database of pubs, garages and hotels etc that is very comprehensive. I use it in my card all the time.

You can't beat the 196!

[Kirstey]

Magellan 310 for me!

£100. I have to program my own waypoints in, but it tells me how far away, in which direction stuff is. And it tells me which way I'm going and how fast. Never had a problem getting a signal lock. And isn't so flash I forget my other nav techniques.

maybe I'm just as tight as a Nun's fanny tho!

[Fly Stimulator]

Steve,

See this thread from last year too.

My comment in it about the Garmin databases not showing MATZ stubs etc is no longer relevant - Garmin fixed that problem earlier this year.

I still love my 196!

[Barshifter]

Mr Teddy

Buy the best one you can afford.The good ones have already been mentioned on here.Personally I have the 111 pilot,and cant fault it.( yet!).


Barshifter

[flyingwysiwyg]

FWIW,

I have a GPS III Pilot, and have no complaints at all.

F - Wyg

[NinjaBill]

battery life

If you are flying with a battery powered gps, then you probably want to consider what the battery life is like aswell.

I get about 10 hours from my pilot III, and replace the batteries when they get to 1/4 full. I cant comment on the battery life of the other units, since i dont have them, but it is good in the pilot III

NB

[S-Works]

Oh yes, I forgot that bit. I get around 20hrs from the 196. You can also amend the satelite scan rate from 1 per second to 1 every 3 seconds which gives a 3rd more battery time.

I run mine from the "mains" in my a/c and cigar lighter where I can find one in rentals. Cigar cable comes with it.

[MR TEDDY]

Crumbs, what a lot of responses in such a short space of time!

Thanks for all the info so far folks. It looks like the 196 is getting the biggest backing at the moment. Can any of you tell me if it has the position reporting text which is something I would really like?

Cheers,
Mr Teddy.

[S-Works]

No, you would something like the Skyforce locator for that or a panel mount GPS.

I tend to give my position as a DME/Radial from a VOR. Information which can be gained instantly from the NRST button on the 196. (or from the steam guages!)

[IO540]

I have flown about 70 hrs with a leg-strapped Skymap 2. It runs for 4hrs from non-rechargeable AA batteries, or a lot more from an external battery pack. It has a permanent location text e.g. "3.4NM NNW of Southampton" but you cannot fix the reference for that text (and use it as a "DME"); it just picks up the nearest item from its database (but you can qualify the category in the setup menu).

The Skymap 2 is the only GPS I know of which is really suitable for leg mounting; this may be relevant if you are renting.

I used to program it with Navbox and then it's really great.

[A and C]

Mr Teddy

Dont get a GPS you all ready have a map and a stopwatch this is all you need for VFR navigation.

Save the money and spend it on flying a few more X-C hours this will make you a much better pilot than if these very good GPS,s lull you into a faulse sence of security and errode your hard won skills as a pilot before the ink is dry on your licence.

[MR TEDDY]

.....Dont get a GPS you all ready have a map and a stopwatch this is all you need for VFR navigation.....

Thanks for your comments A & C. I fully appreciate what you are saying.

My reason for considering a GPS is so that I have a back up to my hard won skills. I have no intention of using the GPS as a primary navigational aid, but simply as an added safety feature. For example, I feel that being able to get an indication of an extended runway centre line on an approach to an airfield can only enhance safety. Of course, I will already know the field is going to be there, and I will know in my minds eye where the centre line should be, I see the GPS as simply helping me to be precisely accurate. Similarly, I would like to be able to give very accurate position information to FIS and LARS services. I can already tell them approximately where I am, but I see the possibility of being spot on accurate as a significant improvement over dead reckoning.

Once again, I cannot say strongly enough that after expending much blood, sweat and tears, not to mention piles of cash on honing my navigation skills (watching myself almost busting Luton airspace in the 'Flying School' documentary still makes the hairs on my neck stand up) I have no intention of throwing that all away and simply chancing it with an electronic device that could pack up on me at any moment.

Thanks again for your kind advice.

Regards,
Mr Teddy.

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

I have the 111 pilot,and cant fault it.( yet!).

I'd have said the same up until last month, when my less-than-two-year-old 'Pilot 111' packed up. Garmin want serious money to replace it (it can't be repaired, apparently). I think an expensive chunk of solid state electronics which has led a cossetted life, as mine had, should last longer than that.

SSD

STOP PRESS!!

As per my 'dead in < 2 years' post, free replacement Pilot 111 arrrived today

[bar shaker]

Another resounding vote for the 196. Its the dogs genitalia of GPS

Battery life... 10 times longer than a mate's 295 (colour screens eat batteries)

Ease of use... BIG screen, easy to use functions.

Mounting... comes with mounts for the yoke and a dashtop mount for the car. Remote aerial included. More mounts available as options.

Data card... get Map Source and at least 64meg and have turn by turn road navigation too.

I can't praise it enough.

[IO540]

Dont get a GPS you all ready have a map and a stopwatch this is all you need for VFR navigation.

Let's not go down this road again please! How many PPLs chuck away their license before it even comes up for its first renewal? Something like 90-95%. There are various reasons for this but a big one is that most of them are intelligent enough to realise they cannot get about UK airspace on the bit of string and a stopwatch which they've been taught to use.

There is nothing wrong with a GPS. A straight PPL (flying in VMC) can fly the plog visually while using the GPS for added accuracy, situational awareness, and general confidence that he is where he expects to be.

There are morons who don't do any planning and fly with a GPS but there will always be morons around. There are plenty of morons who run their tanks dry, etc. The only difference between a pilot who got lost doing things the "proper" way, and a pilot who got lost with a GPS, is that the former one might have been doing his best as he was trained, whereas the latter one must have made some really stupid cockup.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

I don't post here very often, but I can not just ignore anyone giving bad advice.

GPS is to this point in time the most accurate and reliable navigation aid we have.

If you can afford to fly you can afford to have the best device to accurately fly with.

No one has suggested that you depend entirely on your GPS when navigating, however to suggest that only dead reckoning and map reading is the best way to get from A to B is living in the stone age.....

Chuck Ellsworth