Opinion on the lowrance airmap 500

[Pascal Duchemin]

Hello,

I'm planning on purchasing a GPS for my VFR flights.

I have been doing a little bit of research and I think that this newsgroup
may bring me some help.

I'm not planning on spending more than $700 and of course would like to get
the best product for my money.
I'm still a student pilot ( flying in the US ) and I'm not really planning
on getting my instrument rating any time soon ( maybe next year ).

So far the "lawrance airmap 500 GPS" seems to be a good choice specially
with all the options that come with it ( mounting yoke, cig lighter etc
.... ) and price ( $500 ).


Anybody has any other suggestion ? Any personal review about the airmap 500
?


Thanks in advance for your help .

[Thomas Borchert]

Pascal,

we're selling them here in Europe - after having tried them a while. A
nice unit at a great price, considering what comes with it. If you are
in the US and the price you found is 500 $, you need to look some more,
because you'd be paying more than you need to. Google is your friend.
In fact, if your budget is around 700, you might want to look at the
Airmap 1000.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

[Jeff]

Hi,
I got the airmap 500 a few months ago. I bought it off ebay from JAAir in
the low $400 range.

What I like about the Airmap 500 is the size and the map software included.
I am able to use it
as a rudimentary street mapping GPS on the ground. It doesn't have any
driving directions capability,
but it does have a nice database of things nearby you. (restaurants,
campgrounds, etc.). It is small
enough for taking with hiking in a shirt pocket.

Enough about that; now the aviation aspect.
I previosly owned a Garmin GPS 90. I have a friend that has a Garmin 196 and
I have used that, and
I would say they don't compare well. The Garmin is much better. (at a cost
of course)

I find that the 500 will "lock in" quite well sitting on my lap without
using the (included) external antenna.
I've tried using the yoke mount, but find it much more convenient to have in
on my lap. The screen size
is adequate, but of course larger would be better. My biggest grip is that I
find it cumbersome to change
the map settings. For instance, if I'm in a mode that is showing a lot of
street detail, I must go through a
menu selection process that takes a few too many button pushes. A declutter
feature would be very
useful.

A note on database upgrades: they have been promising for some time the
ability to download a
database update. So far they haven't come through. I keep emailing them, and
they say it's coming
soon. I would like to be able to get the aviation database on a larger SD
card, so it can co-exist with
my other maps. Changing the card is a little cumbersome.

I would conclude that I am happy with the unit at that price point.

Have you downloaded the demo program from Lowrance? It will give you a good
idea of their
menuing scheme.

I'd be glad to answer any more questions about my experiences.
Jeff Barber


>
> Anybody has any other suggestion ? Any personal review about the airmap
500
> ?
>
>
> Thanks in advance for your help .
>
>

[Pascal Duchemin]

Thanks guys for your reviews, I'm definitely going to go with the 500. The
only feature that the 1000 has seems to be just a bigger screen, which is
not worth the $300 more I think.

I'm still looking on the web, and ebay seems to be the best way to go.

Thanks again !

[Thomas Borchert]

Pascal,

> The
> only feature that the 1000 has seems to be just a bigger screen, which is
> not worth the $300 more I think.
>

Well, that big screen is certainly very impressive and capable of
displaying an astounding amount of detail. Also, there are some neat panel
pages that are missing on the smaller display because it would be too
cramped. But the unit is much heavier and bigger. If you want compact,
cell-phone size, the 500 is for you. If you want all the bells and
whistles, and detail enough to also do street and sea nav, the 1000 might
be better.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)