"TJ" wrote in message ...
Hi,

So, which is the best GPS unit to buy for
eventual use in a sailplane?


Depends if it to be a primary navigation instrument, or used to drive
a separate computer or moving map (like a PDA).

I use a Garmin 3 Pilot for both, and love it - moving map, glide angle
to destinations (backup for glide computer), Jeppeson data base, easy
to use, small, can be mounted vertically or horizontally, removeable
antenna (important if you have a metal ship). Price seems to be going
down on them.

If you are going to drive a PDA/Winpilot type of setup, then any GPS
that puts out a NMEA signal will do - but be careful of using the
bottom end hiking units because they may not be easy to hook up to
another device. On the other hand, some of the higher end hiking
models have some nice features.

I'm somewhat prejudiced (because I have one) but I would stick to a
Garmin - lots of good free software (G7toWin, etc) available to manage
waypoints and track files, reliable hardware, nice features.

Hope this helps

Kirk