A GPS Question?

[Frederick Wilson]

Hello all,

Short of looking through the docs of all the possible GPS' out there I
am hoping I can get a general, if not, specific answer to the following.

Do any of the handheld aviation GPS' have the capability to display
location in UTM, MGRS, and different datums such as NAD 27 or WGS84?

I suspect if they have that capability you'd be able to program
waypoints via the same systems.

Currently I am using a Garmin 12 XL which has and is serving me well. I
just program the lat/long of the surrounding airports or the ones I am
going to and viola. I can also use it while hiking or fishing. HOWEVER
(there is always a however) today I was out flying and wanted to go to
an airport I knew was close by but I did not have it programmed. This is
where the aviation GPS would have helped.

Thanks,
Fred

[COLIN LAMB]

Hello Fred:

I have a number of handheld GPS units. I use them in search and rescue and
they all have UTM, NAD27 and WGS84, plus a number of other options.

Although I started out with the Garmin 12XL, I changed over to the Magellan,
because the map versions were less expensive. The Magellan has a built in
map. They also sell a topo CD, which can be downloaded to the GPS. The
beauty of this particular program is that the entire United States is on one
CD - which means large coverage of downloaded maps with limited memory in
the GPS. And, this version of the topo has most of the airports right on
the map.

I think Garmin now has built in maps, but the Magellan is available for
about $150. I can draw the desired locations on the computer and download
to GPS quickly. The Magellan comes with a serial cable and uses 2 penlight
batteries rather than the 4 in the older Garmin.

Perhaps one minor glitch is that when I mark waypoints and upload to
computer, it converts all to lat/long and strips off the UTM. Minor
annoyance, though.

Colin