Lowrance AirMap 300 Issue...

[Brinks]

My GPS keeps losing it's mind. On my trip back from California a couple
weeks ago, and then on my last trip down to Shreveport, LA last week, my
AirMap 300 loses it's position and goes into a cold start. Sometimes it
picks up again, sometimes not. On the way down to Shreveport, I left it in
the cold start for a little over an hour. Suddenly, out of nowhere, it
finds itself again and is perfectly happy for a while. Then, it's back to
Cold Start. Sometimes powering down and back up help, sometimes not. It's
getting to be pretty annoying. Does anyone know if this is a problem with
the AirMap, or if there's a fix for it (short of buying another GPS)?
Thanks!

Chris

[Aaron Coolidge]

Brinks > wrote:
: My GPS keeps losing it's mind. On my trip back from California a couple
: weeks ago, and then on my last trip down to Shreveport, LA last week, my
: AirMap 300 loses it's position and goes into a cold start. Sometimes it

Do you have a separate antenna? If so, it sounds like the antenna wire
has an internal break. Sometimes it makes a connection, sometimes not.
--
Aaron C.

[[email protected]]

Brinks wrote:
> My GPS keeps losing it's mind. On my trip back from California a
couple
> weeks ago, and then on my last trip down to Shreveport, LA last week,
my
> AirMap 300 loses it's position and goes into a cold start. Sometimes
it
> picks up again, sometimes not. On the way down to Shreveport, I left
it in
> the cold start for a little over an hour. Suddenly, out of nowhere,
it
> finds itself again and is perfectly happy for a while. Then, it's
back to
> Cold Start. Sometimes powering down and back up help, sometimes not.
It's
> getting to be pretty annoying. Does anyone know if this is a problem
with
> the AirMap, or if there's a fix for it (short of buying another GPS)?
> Thanks!

I'm not sure if the Lowrance is similar, but I've seen this happen on
Garmin and older Magellan units. The problem was a dead internal
lithium battery. The battery was used to power a memory function that
kept the most recent position and the almanac alive. Once the lithium
battery died, the unit had to "find itself" and download the almanac
every time it was powered on.

John Galban=====>N4BQ (PA28-180)

[smackey]

My Airmap 300 does the same thing. I've just assumed it is related to
losing its fix on the sats once in awhile. I agree it is annoying, and
I'm thinking of getting a new handheld GPS because of it, except of
course I hate spend the $$ if this is something that happens on all the
handhelds. What is anyone's experience with this? Is it more
prevelant with some brands?

[Jay Honeck]

> My GPS keeps losing it's mind. On my trip back from California a couple
> weeks ago, and then on my last trip down to Shreveport, LA last week, my
> AirMap 300 loses it's position and goes into a cold start. Sometimes it
> picks up again, sometimes not.

This was the first symptom of our 300 losing its ability to "find" the
airport data card.

Have you tried moving the card around, or uninstalling/reinstalling it?

Interestingly, now that ours can NEVER find the database (it's now just a
plain, old vanilla GPS, with the base roads and rivers) it never cold starts
anymore. It locks on and stays locked. (And we've programmed a bunch of
airports in as waypoints, just like the old days. The 300 is now a backup
to our AvMap.)

Don't bother asking Lowrance about the problem -- they don't support the 300
anymore.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Dave Butler]

Brinks wrote:
> My GPS keeps losing it's mind. On my trip back from California a couple
> weeks ago, and then on my last trip down to Shreveport, LA last week, my
> AirMap 300 loses it's position and goes into a cold start. Sometimes it
> picks up again, sometimes not. On the way down to Shreveport, I left it in
> the cold start for a little over an hour. Suddenly, out of nowhere, it
> finds itself again and is perfectly happy for a while. Then, it's back to
> Cold Start. Sometimes powering down and back up help, sometimes not. It's
> getting to be pretty annoying. Does anyone know if this is a problem with
> the AirMap, or if there's a fix for it (short of buying another GPS)?
> Thanks!

Could it be related to RFI from your Nav/Comms, say when a particular frequency
is tuned?

As soon as you change frequencies (radar handoff or next VOR) it comes back to life?

Just a suggestion that costs next-to-nothing to try. My Garmin 196 is affected
this way by certain VOR frequencies tuned on the KX-155.