GPS Longevity

Recently, Longworth posted:

On Jan 16, 8:13 pm, "Kyle Boatright" wrote:
Which brings to mind the question of how long of a service life do
most of you experience on your handheldGPS's? Do you usually retire
them because someone has marketed a better mousetrap, because the
unit is unsupported, or because the unit no longer works properly?

Our Lowrance Airmap 1000 stopped working today after about 3 years
of frequent usage (~ 250 hrs/year). It had been working fine.
During a flight today, the screen just went blank. We thought
something was wrong with the power plug which drained the internal
batteries.
Coming home, we recharged the batteries and still could not power
it up. I put in a fresh set of batteries but the unit still as dead as
a door knob. Will call Lowrance Service center tomorrow.
The hand-held GPS has become an indispensable cross-country piece
of equipment for us. For navigation, we use all available sources of
information, charts, VORs, pilotage, dead reckoning etc. but the GPS
gives the most precise information.

How precise were the locations your blank screen?

I consider my hand-held GPS as a convenience aiding situational awareness,
and if it went blank in flight I'd simply ignore it for the rest of the
trip rather than fiddle with it en route beyond seeing whether the power
plug was loose.

--
Neil

On Mar 3, 8:55*am, "Neil Gould" wrote:
Recently, Longworth posted:

How precise were the locations your blank screen?

I consider my hand-held GPS as a convenience aiding situational awareness,
and if it went blank in flight I'd simply ignore it for the rest of the
trip rather than fiddle with it en route beyond seeing whether the power
plug was loose.

Neil,
We never rely solely on the GPS. As stated in my original post, we
use all available information (charts, maps, pilotage, dead-reckoning,
VORs and even ADF!). When the GPS screen went blank, we did exactly
what you said you would have done.
This particular trip was just a local trip for us to practice our
commercial maneuvers. We turned on the GPS just to have a visual
record of our tracks doing steep turns, lazy 8's, chandelles and 8's
on pylons etc..
There is no question that GPS is more precise than VORs, and
there is simply no substitution for the GPS to ensure no airspace
violations especially in busy area such as the doing the Hudson River
Corridor.
Of course a pilot can navigate just fine without having a GPS.
As a matter of fact, we had a Garmin GPS III before the Lowrance but
hardly used it because we had just obtained our PP certificates and
wanted to make sure that we could find our ways with just pilotage and
dead-reckoning.
The GPS is an excellent navigation tool especially in today's
flying environment with all kinds of TFRs. We plan to do a coast-to-
coast trip this summer. Of course, we can do it without the aid of a
GPS but having one with XM weather capability will make it a much
safer trip.

Hai Longworth

Longworth,

Recently, Longworth posted:

Neil,
We never rely solely on the GPS. As stated in my original post, we
use all available information (charts, maps, pilotage, dead-reckoning,
VORs and even ADF!). When the GPS screen went blank, we did exactly
what you said you would have done.
[...]
The GPS is an excellent navigation tool especially in today's
flying environment with all kinds of TFRs. We plan to do a coast-to-
coast trip this summer. Of course, we can do it without the aid of a
GPS but having one with XM weather capability will make it a much
safer trip.

Hai Longworth

I agree with much of what you wrote. I was originally reacting to the idea
that the GPS is "indispensable." The difference, in my view, is that truly
indispensable equipment would ground the plane if it was inoperative or
require landing ASAP if if failed in flight, and a GPS should only rise to
that level of importance in very specific cases.

Best,

Neil

On Mar 3, 1:57*pm, "Neil Gould" wrote:
I agree with much of what you wrote. I was originally reacting to the idea
that theGPSis "indispensable." The difference, in my view, is that truly
indispensable equipment would ground the plane if it was inoperative or
require landing ASAP if if failed in flight, and aGPSshould only rise to
that level of importance in very specific cases.

Neil,
I checked my original post and here is what I wrote: " The hand-
held GPS has become an indispensable cross-country piece of equipment
for us". The key word is cross country. Our typcial cross country
trips are more than several hundred nautical miles covering several
states. Of course, we can do such trips with nothing more than a set
of sectional charts and our eyeballs but we would not want to embark
on such a trip without having a long list of items checked and the GPS
is one item which I definitely want to have.
I recalled having posted at r.a.p of several long cross-country
trips where the GPS came in handy. One such trip was before obtaining
our instrument ratings flying back to Illinois from Minnesota. It was
CAVU when we departed Baudette, MN but the ceilings got lower as we
were over the Dell in Wisconsin. We checked with FSS and learned that
the weather was better ahead of us so we pressed on but was quite
nervous about the rolling terrain spiking with cell towers. The
obstruction database on the Lowrance helped up to look for them along
our route. This trip was what prompted us to get instrument ratings.
Shortly after getting our instrument tickets, we filed IFR going
from New York to Michigan. Departing Erie International airport, I
slavishly follwed the VOR needle intending to stay on the airway.
Rick, my husband and co-pilot, noticed that I had strayed from the GPS
track but I told him that I should use the VOR as my 'main' navigation
tool. It wasn't long before ATC told us that we had deviated from our
route!
So the bottom line is that for us, a GPS is an indispensable tool
for long cross country trips along with other indispensable equipment
such as dual NAV/COM, glideslope, marker beacon, sectional charts,
IFR enroute charts, AFD books, approach plates, hand-held radios,
flash lights, extra batteries, cellphone, emergency/survial kit, food
& drink and even a relief red jug for Rick ;-)

Hai Longworth

On Mar 2, 9:56*pm, Longworth wrote:
* *Our Lowrance Airmap 1000 stopped working today after about 3 years
of frequent usage (~ 250 hrs/year). * It had been working fine.
During a flight today, the screen just went blank. *We thought
something was wrong with the power plug which drained the internal
batteries.
........
I still plan to get the Lowrance Airmap 1000 fixed. *If the repair
cost is more than the cost of a new unit, I may ask Lowrance for trade-
in credits.


Here is an update:
We examined the cigarette lighter adapter cable and found that it
had a blown fuse. Something inside the Airmap must have shorted as
well since we could not power it up with fresh batteries.
I called Lowrance and was told that there was a flat repair rate of
$199 with $7 or so for shipping. I asked about the power cable and
was told that I could buy a new fuse at a local store. I expressed my
concern that if the cable was defective, it could blow a new fuse and
short the Airmap (after repair) again. The rep told me that I could
order a new cable for $34 or so. He was going to look up some part
number for me then the phone got cutoff.
The next day, I called back and talked to a different rep. She
agreed with me that the suspect cable should be replaced as well and
told me that the flat rate repair should cover both the GPS and the
cable. She said that the rep I talked to the day before could be one
of the new trainees.
I asked her for about a trade off credit towards a Lowrance 2000
but she said the trade off credits of something like $200 only apply
to older Airmap (100 and 300?) which were no longer supported by
Lowrance. So I bit the bullet, get an RA# and gave me my credit card
number. The actual repair cost was $189 so the total came out to be
less than $200. We sent the unit in today and have no ideas how long
that it would take to receive the repaired or replaced GPS + cable.
About the cigarette lighter adapter power cable, few weeks ago,
Rick noticed some bare wires showing at the plug joint. It is a
molded plug so there was no way that we could open it to wrap
insulation sleeves over the wires. Using a combination of electrical
tape, adhesive and glue, he tried to patch up the cord. It was
possible that there were still some area of bare wires further inside
the plug creating the short later. The fuse in the cable was
supposedly to protect such event without damaging the GPS but it did
not seem to help. So the lesson is that next time, we should order a
replacement cable instead of trying to patch it up!
BTW, the repair unit will only have a 6 months warranty, just hope
that we would not need another RA# shortly after the warranty date!

Hai Longworth

I bought a Garmin GPS 92 about 1999, after taking a borrowed GPS 90 on
a long trip in '98. It is still in great shape and
works as well as it ever did. I do, however, want a better display and
also want XM weather - so am definitely in the market for a new unit.
Like others, I have been waiting on Avmap and Lowrance to get their
acts together for quite some time.

David Johnson

I have serial #9 of the 195. It works now as well as it ever did, but
it's purely backup now that I've got a nice MFD/IFR GPS.

Ron Natalie wrote:
I have serial #9 of the 195. It works now as well as it ever did, but
it's purely backup now that I've got a nice MFD/IFR GPS.

Yikes, I'll bet that was one of the expensive ones! I bought mine about 3
yrs. after they were first introduced (about the time the 295 came out). It
was still a pricey $1K in 1999. It's still the only GPS I have on board.

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

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