Upgrade handheld GPS, or save for panel mount?

[[email protected]]

I am thinking about upgrading my aging Garmin 195. The new inexpensive
WAAS-enabled offerings from Lowrance make it almost irresistible, and my
Garmin is losing value in the used market fast. As I see it, my
options are to upgrade the handheld or just grit my teeth and save up
for a panel-mount. My home airport should have a GPS approach sometime
in the next 2 years, about the same time I will be pursuing an
instrument rating.

The cheapest solution, obviously, is to do nothing and just hold onto
the 195. It works great, if slow, and has a big screen. In 2 years it
will be worthless, so perhaps this isn't the cheapest solution after all.

Right now I could upgrade to the Lowrance 500 for about $100 net, and
have a fancy new GPS with an obstruction database that will be current
for a few years to come. Another option is AnywhereMap, which would
give me WAAS, color, and lots of other features, albeit at a premium,
or---while I'm dreaming---save up for a tablet PC and have the king of
all handheld systems, but I'd need to hold onto my 195 or buy another
handheld to feed it GPS data.

Or, I could start saving for an IFR panel-mount, maybe a used King
89b---I believe the last discussion I heard put the unit plus
installation at around $4500, which is coincidentally about 10x the cost
of the handheld, for a unit similar in speed and function to my old 195
but with a smaller screen. But, I could use it for approaches.

So....

do nothing
net cost: $250 (value of GPS now, dwindling to $100 in 2 years)
upgrade handheld
net cost: $100
sell 195, buy AnywhereMap
net cost: $400
buy tablet, keep GPS
net cost: $2000 or more
panel mount:
net cost: $4500

Am I missing anything?

[Paul Tomblin]

In a previous article, said:
>do nothing
> net cost: $250 (value of GPS now, dwindling to $100 in 2 years)
>upgrade handheld
> net cost: $100
>sell 195, buy AnywhereMap
> net cost: $400
>buy tablet, keep GPS
> net cost: $2000 or more
>panel mount:
> net cost: $4500
>
>Am I missing anything?

Well, if you're going to compare stictly on dollars, then you need to make
a net present value analysis, not just compare the dollars of doing
something today versus doing it two years from now.

That said, I have a 195 and I don't see anything wrong with it. I look
longingly at the Garmin 196 and the Lowrance 1000, but not enough to want
to ditch the 195 now.

One thing you might want to consider - I haven't seen it advertised for a
long time, but Garmin sells or used to sell a connector kit so you could
use one of their old-style panel mount GPSes and use the 195 as a moving
map display slaved to it. If you could get one of the Garmin non-moving
map GPSes from somebody upgrading to a 530, you could have a fair amount
of function for a low price.



--
Paul Tomblin > http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
"I'm starting to suspect she has a part-time job in one of the circles of
Hell and is telecommuting."

[dlevy]

I'm in a similar situation. I have a Lowrance 100 and was debating
purchasing a 196 (to monitor instrument approaches - currently training for
the instrument rating). Here's what I think I'm going to do. I'm going to
buy software and a cable to connect the gps to the palm. I will be able to
have numerical data on the palm and a moving map on the airmap 100.

I already have cheap*******s software so this should be a good compliment.
I'll have weather and two gps screens. I can even check e-mail.

My issue now is can I get instrument approach procedure overlays on the
palm? That would kick ass!

> wrote in message
...
> I am thinking about upgrading my aging Garmin 195. The new inexpensive
> WAAS-enabled offerings from Lowrance make it almost irresistible, and my
> Garmin is losing value in the used market fast. As I see it, my
> options are to upgrade the handheld or just grit my teeth and save up
> for a panel-mount. My home airport should have a GPS approach sometime
> in the next 2 years, about the same time I will be pursuing an
> instrument rating.
>
> The cheapest solution, obviously, is to do nothing and just hold onto
> the 195. It works great, if slow, and has a big screen. In 2 years it
> will be worthless, so perhaps this isn't the cheapest solution after all.
>
> Right now I could upgrade to the Lowrance 500 for about $100 net, and
> have a fancy new GPS with an obstruction database that will be current
> for a few years to come. Another option is AnywhereMap, which would
> give me WAAS, color, and lots of other features, albeit at a premium,
> or---while I'm dreaming---save up for a tablet PC and have the king of
> all handheld systems, but I'd need to hold onto my 195 or buy another
> handheld to feed it GPS data.
>
> Or, I could start saving for an IFR panel-mount, maybe a used King
> 89b---I believe the last discussion I heard put the unit plus
> installation at around $4500, which is coincidentally about 10x the cost
> of the handheld, for a unit similar in speed and function to my old 195
> but with a smaller screen. But, I could use it for approaches.
>
> So....
>
> do nothing
> net cost: $250 (value of GPS now, dwindling to $100 in 2 years)
> upgrade handheld
> net cost: $100
> sell 195, buy AnywhereMap
> net cost: $400
> buy tablet, keep GPS
> net cost: $2000 or more
> panel mount:
> net cost: $4500
>
> Am I missing anything?
>

[Aaron Coolidge]

wrote:
<snip>
I was in this situation 1.5 years ago. My Apollo GPS820 (anyone remember
that one?) broke. I decided to buy a Garmin 295, which cost about $1200.
I thought that an approach GPS would be far more expensive than the $1200
for the 295. About a week after I got the 295, I found a really good deal
for an approach-certified GPS - for $1200 (well, $1600 installed).

: Or, I could start saving for an IFR panel-mount, maybe a used King
: 89b---I believe the last discussion I heard put the unit plus
: installation at around $4500, which is coincidentally about 10x the cost
: of the handheld, for a unit similar in speed and function to my old 195
: but with a smaller screen. But, I could use it for approaches.

Whatever you do, DON'T get the 89B. The KLN94 is only a bit more $$, color,
and a much better UI. Even better, get a Garmin 300XL GPS/COMM, toss your
#2 NAV/COMM (perhaps sell it as well?), and have a decent panel mount
approach GPS and a very good COMM as well.

Do keep in mind that the database updates are supposedly required for
IFR approaches , and are a non-trivial cost. I just mailed Jepp $360 for
another year of updates.

Yes, I know that it is possible to verify each & every waypoint and
continue to use an out-of-date database, but my POH supplement requires
"an updated database".

--
Aaron Coolidge (N9376J)

[Paul Sengupta]

Well, maybe not so expensive. When I was in China this week
(just come back from a holiday) I saw a new tablet machine using
a (IIRC) 800MHz processor, 30GB HD and a touch screen.
Came with separate keyboard though with a clip on case to make
it into a PC-looking thing. The screen was 8.5" IIRC.

I was offered one for 8600 yuan. O and A gives this to be $1040.28.

The Chinese literature said GPS on it but I don't think it meant it had
a built in GPS.

And not sure if this would do the job...? With Anywhere Map?
http://www.gotocol.com/viewsonapv110p.html

Paul

> wrote in message
...
> save up for a tablet PC and have the king of
> all handheld systems, but I'd need to hold onto my 195 or buy another
> handheld to feed it GPS data.

[Paul Sengupta]

This is it:

http://www.ocworkbench.com/2003/computex2003/day5/p1.htm

"Paul Sengupta" > wrote in message
...
> Well, maybe not so expensive. When I was in China this week
> (just come back from a holiday) I saw a new tablet machine using
> a (IIRC) 800MHz processor, 30GB HD and a touch screen.

[Darrel Toepfer]

Paul Sengupta wrote:
> This is it:
>
> http://www.ocworkbench.com/2003/computex2003/day5/p1.htm

Just saw one of those on eBay...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3465240871&category=3998

They make no mention of an internal GPS receiver. Most of the tablets in
that price range have bigger screens...

[Paul Sengupta]

"Darrel Toepfer" > wrote in message
. ..
> Paul Sengupta wrote:
> > This is it:
> >
> > http://www.ocworkbench.com/2003/computex2003/day5/p1.htm
>
> Just saw one of those on eBay...
>
>
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3465240871&category=3998
>
> They make no mention of an internal GPS receiver. Most of the tablets in
> that price range have bigger screens...

The smaller screen/overall size is what we generally want in the cockpit.
Still too big for the place I wanted to stick it to my panel though.

Paul