Handheld GPS: Lowrance or Garmin?

[magbreak]

I use an Ipaq 5455 with a Navman sleeve at present (soon to be updated). I use a program called Pocketfms and if I need an OS map I can download from Fugawi which gives OS coverage of the UK. Memorymap also do the CAA 1:250000 and 1:500000 charts which can be loaded on as well.

Then into the car and Tomtom shows me the way

[HELOFAN]

What to do?

I am just about ( god I hope its soon ) go to school to do my CPLH.

I was planning to pick up a lap top and GPS to help me in my training.

I was pretty stuck on the Garmin 396 till I litterally stumbled on this page when I wasnt looking for a GPS.... Anyway I digress.

www.aviationsafety.com/fl_190.htm

I looked at the comparison it does with the 396 ( right hand side of page about half way down ) and am now interested in this if it is a good thing.

Has anyone heard of this manufacturer and does anyone know of this GPS ...good reports or bad , I am interested.

Choices choices....it makes my head hurt !

[HELOFAN]

Hmm cant be that great then

No Replies tells me something about this product I think.

HF

[Heli_Sticktime]

I'm not sure Helofan, I own a 296 as I said earlier and am very happy with it, but that FL19 looks amazing....or too good to be true
I would definitely speak to someone who actually owns one before buying it. As for the 396, I don't know if it's worth you spending the extra money on the weather feature unless you're going to use it in the states. It doesn't work here in SA, not sure if it works in the UK?

[HELOFAN]

Too good to be true ?

I am going to be doing my training in the States and then hopefully be working there for the next year, so it would be handy but after that & outside the USA ...... will its main function still work ?

The weather feature looks very handy & makes me wonder why it doesnt work outside of the states.....

The big question is , if any of the units are used out side the states for example , will they work in other parts of the world , like Australia , or do you have to get it rechipped ( $$$$ for no real reason ) or download all the different maps as well ?

Its a lot of money to spend , not sure if I want to keep adding $$$$ and lots of it just to keep the tool working .

Thanks for your input, from what I could see on the site , it is only going to work in the USA cause of all the XM stuff and doesnt seem to mention anything out side of USA .... then again neither does the Garmin but I am sure it does..... doesnt it.

Will the GPS ( Garmin or any other ) work out side the USA ( excluding the features that require XM or US suported stuff ) ???

HF

[Heli_Sticktime]

Helo, Garmin has three main geographic regions it caters for, but this only relates to geographic and Jeppeson(airfield) data, the units will work anywhere in the world from a GPS point of view. However if you buy the unit in the states for instance, and you move to Oz, you wont have airfield data like frequecies, names & co-ordinates, and you possibly won't have terrain data either, but the unit will still have the basic base map of the area. You'll have major towns and roads etc. I doubt the weather will work as I'm pretty sure it's only for the USA and part of Europe.

When they ship the units they load the info for that particular area, you can buy the memory cards with additional info if you like. If you're unsure of where you are going to work I'd wait before buying the unit, but then again you could sell it, I have always sold my old units when I have upgraded without much advertising. Good luck

[HELOFAN]

Thanks for your input , much appreciated.

I think , I will pick one up when I get there & make the decision with the pressure of having to have one then.

HF

[Aussie Andy]

Taking the plunge with Lowrance Airmap 1000!

Well have read the various comments and have deceide to go for a Lowrance 1000 -- just ordered it from George Delahay (http://www.delahay.co.uk/acatalog/) as he had best price and a number of people have said they got good service.

The reason I have decided to order the Lowrance AirMap 1000 is because I have a Garmin GPS-III Pilot which I have been using happily for a few years, but it has a some weaknesses that I don't like and want to improve upon:

• GPS III's display is small and resolution not fabulous... ok in HSI mode but map is not ideal. Not too bad for seeing airspace boundaries, and relative position of airfields, but wanted something a bit bigger and a bit better than the GPS-III's display.
• The buttons on the small Garmin unit are a touch fiddly, especially the arrows which make it just as easy to enter "up" as "left" for example -- this has been an issue when diverting due wx say, using the the "Direct To" function -- you can be fiddle-farting around with the arrow buttons trying to seelct your alternate airfield... its doable but not ideal.
• Garmin units don't have global basemap, and I want to be able to use the unit when travelling both in the US and Australia, as well as day-to-day here at (my new) home in Blighty. The GPS-III (and I think most other Garmin units) have basemap data for one part of the world or another, burned into ROM in the factory, and can't be readily changed by the user; whereas I am told the Lowrance has a basic global basemap, with low detail, and you can use their (somewhat poor) software to upload more detailed local base-maps for a given area if you wish.

So time will tell if the new model will live up to my hopes -- I will let you know how I get on!

Andy

[BlenderPilot]

Aussie Andy,

Garmin Units do have a Global Base Map, I have an old Pilot III that has been used from in a good part of North and Central America as well as Europe and Africa, you are right that Garmin units come preloaded with a permament Base Map for a certain region, what happens for example is that if you purchase the Americas region version all of the American continent will have a extremely detailed map with roads and cities and the works, and for Europe and Africa for example it will only have country borders, large cities and rivers, lakes. but no roads. I still prefer this to using a non Garmin GPS.

[Aussie Andy]

Depends what you want to do -- if only country / state borders in a place like Australia for example, it makes it next to useless to find your mate's place up some river for example! But yes, if you only want it for point-to-point nav then thats fine.

Andy