"john smith" wrote in message
...
I got up early (4:00 AM) Friday morning and did the "SALE" thing.
Fortunately, I chose stores that had short lines.
The first was COMPUSA at 5:AM for a wireless router ($20).
The second was SPORT AUTHORITY at 5:30 AM for a Magellan Explorist 300
handheld GPS (list $230, sale $100, first 100 shoppers, extra $10 off).
So I got it for $90
It has two modes to select from, LAND and MARINE.
It has many public use airports in its database (I am not sure what the
criteria is).
The nice thing about this unit is that it has an altimeter function.
I used it yesterday for a $100 hamburger run. Speed, altitude, track
recording work well. It will be good backup.
The only item I am not happy with is that it takes a looooong time to
find itself and reestablish the almanac if it is shut down at one
location and powered up at another.

Sounds like a great buy for a handheld GPS! I've been using my old Magellan
330Map GPS and it works fine for the type of flying I do. I can't justify
(yet) spending the AMU's on an aviation handheld GPS.

My 330Map works a lot better than the Magellan Pioneer that it replaced! I
did a 1,200 mile XC using the Pioneer, stopping every 250-300 miles and
reprogramming the waypoints for the next leg using the charts and AFDs.