Low cost GPS units (yes, GPS again, yawn...)
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Savannah GA & Portsmouth UK
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Real navigators fly north-up Mike
It's presumably for people like me that CDI's and Flight Directors were invented and why the OBS knob exists.
That said, I always use the map North Up if map-reading in a car.
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: EGSX
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Has anyone had a look at the new Garmin 495 ? It's about £150 quid cheaper than the 496 - it has the City Navigator stuff removed.
Edit : admittedly, its not particularily low cost.....
Edit : admittedly, its not particularily low cost.....
Join Date: May 2001
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Would be interested to hear any reviews on the new Garmin 495 although I suspect it is too new for there to be any yet.
The info spec states that the unit depicts "private airports" (whatever they are.) Given that much of the spec detail is obviously a reprint of the American database, I am not sure whether this means licensed/unlicensed UK airfields or whether it just means US private sites? or whether VRPs are depicted?
The info spec states that the unit depicts "private airports" (whatever they are.) Given that much of the spec detail is obviously a reprint of the American database, I am not sure whether this means licensed/unlicensed UK airfields or whether it just means US private sites? or whether VRPs are depicted?
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: uk
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EFIS
anyone tried using efis on their pda? i have and use memory map but efis has more neat features but crap maps. anyone know of any pda sofware that will give you an instrument page with working hsi etc?
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Savannah GA & Portsmouth UK
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FBM
If you want private airfields, VRP's etc then look at Cub's databases linked to in my earlier post. Easily uploaded into your GPS (or mine anyway
)
If you want private airfields, VRP's etc then look at Cub's databases linked to in my earlier post. Easily uploaded into your GPS (or mine anyway
)
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Cambridge, UK
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I tried APIC/EFIS on an iPaq a couple of years ago. It was terrible, crashing all the time, the UK database was rubbish, a big waste of time and money. It might have improved since then, I have no idea.
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Lincoln
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I have a Garmin 96C. I noticed theres no obstacle data base for the UK. I take it the advertised Obstacles are just for the US database?
Love the 96C though. Good battery life with Duracell Ultras. Very easy to use.
Love the 96C though. Good battery life with Duracell Ultras. Very easy to use.
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Scotland
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Hireandhire:
To get back to your original question, the best low-cost GPS system available to aviators on a budget, at the moment, is unquestionably PocketFMS. It provides constantly updated nav data, downloadable MET data, flightplan/PLOG production, weight & balance calculations, automatic flightplan to nearest suitable airfields when a diversion becomes necessary, popup warnings of approaching controlled airspace, danger areas, obstacles, etc, output to control an autopilot and many other features. The functionality provided by PocketFMS is almost too much for the average weekend flyer, but then you only have to use the bits you need.
I have used it now for over two years and have not experienced any problems with PocketFMS in the air. Yes, all LCD displays can be difficult to read in bright sunlight, regardless of whether or not that device happens to be a PDA. My PDA is on a mount attached to the yoke and I can easily shade it with my hand when I need to look at it. As for hardware reliability, I have not experienced any hardware problems yet. But, just in case, I carry a spare PDA and a spare bluetooth GPS mouse in my flightbag which can be brought into operation should the need arise. Periodically, I mark my position (from the GPS) and time on my chart as a further insurance against becoming 'unsure of my position'.
Before using PocketFMS in the air, I used it for months in my car to gain confidence in the product and my ability to operate it properly. It takes some time to learn how to operate the software but now I never fly without it.
Previously, I used a Skyforce II Gps system but am now a convinced convert to PocketFMS.
To get back to your original question, the best low-cost GPS system available to aviators on a budget, at the moment, is unquestionably PocketFMS. It provides constantly updated nav data, downloadable MET data, flightplan/PLOG production, weight & balance calculations, automatic flightplan to nearest suitable airfields when a diversion becomes necessary, popup warnings of approaching controlled airspace, danger areas, obstacles, etc, output to control an autopilot and many other features. The functionality provided by PocketFMS is almost too much for the average weekend flyer, but then you only have to use the bits you need.
I have used it now for over two years and have not experienced any problems with PocketFMS in the air. Yes, all LCD displays can be difficult to read in bright sunlight, regardless of whether or not that device happens to be a PDA. My PDA is on a mount attached to the yoke and I can easily shade it with my hand when I need to look at it. As for hardware reliability, I have not experienced any hardware problems yet. But, just in case, I carry a spare PDA and a spare bluetooth GPS mouse in my flightbag which can be brought into operation should the need arise. Periodically, I mark my position (from the GPS) and time on my chart as a further insurance against becoming 'unsure of my position'.
Before using PocketFMS in the air, I used it for months in my car to gain confidence in the product and my ability to operate it properly. It takes some time to learn how to operate the software but now I never fly without it.
Previously, I used a Skyforce II Gps system but am now a convinced convert to PocketFMS.
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Canberra Australia
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Cheaper GPS Nav systems concentrate on road nav for earthbounds.
Aviators should avoid them like the plague unless you can enter your own succession of waypoints in lat and long.
Aviators should avoid them like the plague unless you can enter your own succession of waypoints in lat and long.
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Oxford
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Actually my very cheap one doesn't even do that! All waypoint entry is manual.
It's for extreme emergency airborne use only; mostly for leading groups of cadets in the Welsh mountains (it stays in the bag, switched off, but in case of emergency I can then give a very accurate grid ref for the casevac!)
Tim
It's for extreme emergency airborne use only; mostly for leading groups of cadets in the Welsh mountains (it stays in the bag, switched off, but in case of emergency I can then give a very accurate grid ref for the casevac!)
Tim
The Original Foot
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Chesterfield
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Garmin 60cx
I alawys carry a garmin 60cx. The x means it has the latest nema chipset, which is very sensitive and locks really quickly. I use Memory map to program extra way points and my route and it has a very hand course line deviator, which tells you how far off you are a line between two way points, but becareful you know exactly how to read this. In the beginning I didn't and I got into a bit of muddle! It always points along the line you are supposed to be travelling, not towards the next way point. It is a cracking piece of kit. I have never had an issue with way points uploaded from memory map either. I don't know why they don't put this chipset in the Garmin 96c, I would buy one of them then! I also fly with the 296, cos it's easy, but the 60cx is always in my bag. There are cheaper one on the x ranges, but they tend not to have the course deviation. You have to then learn how to use it, essentially like an ADF, which can be a bit harder work!
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Hindhead
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The Pocket FMS guys are working on an "install to SD card" option that will let it run on units like the Garmin nuvi. When I zoom right out on my nuvi you get rather a good picture of towns and rivers etc which could be used to cross check your position against the traditional charts.
Edited to add: From the pocket FMS site:
Edited to add: From the pocket FMS site:
The following PND's will never run PocketFMS because they are not based on the Windows CE operating system:
TomTom
Garmin
The following 4.3" PND's have been successfully tested to run PocketFMS:
HP 310/312/314 Travel Companion
Mio C320/C520
Medion 465/475
The following PND's are currently under test:
NavMan C50
TomTom
Garmin
The following 4.3" PND's have been successfully tested to run PocketFMS:
HP 310/312/314 Travel Companion
Mio C320/C520
Medion 465/475
The following PND's are currently under test:
NavMan C50
