GPS Choices

Somebody in customer service finally told me that they weren't planning on
any discount for owners of dead original AirMap units. My response was that
I would plan on my next GPS being a Garmin. I got the name of some
higher-up and sent a letter of complaint and finally got a discount. Not a
big one, but it was a better price than any web site.

Dave Reinhart


Jay Honeck wrote:

I think the Lowrance AirMap 500 is the best bang for the buck for a
dedicated GPS.

Agreed. Just pray they support it in four years, when something breaks,
however.

Lowrance orphaned my Airmap 300 after just 48 months, and lost me as a
customer forever.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Somebody in customer service finally told me that they weren't planning on
any discount for owners of dead original AirMap units.

What happened to your AirMap, and which model did you have?

Mine just stopped "seeing" the database one day. It still comes and goes
(we use it on the co-pilot's yoke), but it's mostly gone.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck"
Agreed. Just pray they support it in four years, when something breaks,
however.

to be fair, these units are quite robust: I still have my original
AirMap (the one that came up before the 300) and it still works great,
despite not being handled with all the love and care that it should
receive...

--Sylvain

Sully wrote:
I was wondering if I could get some input from others on a few GPS's?
I have been looking at the Garmin 196 & Street Pilot III as well as
the Lowrance 500 & 1000.

The major advantage that I see with the 196 is that you can use it for
turn by turn directions in a vehicle. I have been looking at getting
a GPS for the vehicle that would do just that. From what I can tell
the price between the 196 and most others are only a couple 100 (for
vehicle).

I think I paid $400 for the "auto kit" for the 196. I'd say it's marginal
utility for that price. I like it as an aviation GPS, and it's OK in the car,
too, but not worth the extra $400 I paid for the car kit.

The auto database is quite out of date, and several roads I use regularly are
not in the database. I just got an offer to purchase an updated database, so
maybe that will take care of that issue. The database doesn't carry a
"current-as-of" date. The road datebase upgrades are fairly expensive.

The auto-routing in auto (i.e.not aviation) mode has a tendency to send me down
a certain dirt road nearby. There seems to be no way to configure "ignore
unpaved roads".

Not sure whether you can cobble together your own "car kit" for a lot less than
$400. IIRC the kit consists of a sort-of bean-bag mount that sits on car's
dashboard, a 64M flash card, and the database CD. You might find another way of
mounting, find the flash somewhere else cheaper, and buy the database
separately. As I said, not sure whether this is feasible.


The main draw back to buying either of the ones I have listed so far
is that it looks like the only way I can get them is to buy online
which also means I don't get to play with it first to see exactly what
features I like or don't like. I have found places that carry Garmin
and Lowrance in the area but none carry any of the aviation models.

Thanks for the help.

I had the "original" AirMap, the same form-factor as the 300.

Its memory started acting up. I would be flying a stored route and all the
routes (current and saved) would vanish. Or, if you're asking what I did with
it, I parted it out on eBay to help pay for the 500.

Dave Reinhart


Jay Honeck wrote:

Somebody in customer service finally told me that they weren't planning on
any discount for owners of dead original AirMap units.

What happened to your AirMap, and which model did you have?

Mine just stopped "seeing" the database one day. It still comes and goes
(we use it on the co-pilot's yoke), but it's mostly gone.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Dave Butler" wrote in message
...

I think I paid $400 for the "auto kit" for the 196. I'd say it's marginal
utility for that price. I like it as an aviation GPS, and it's OK in the
car,
too, but not worth the extra $400 I paid for the car kit.

List is $349. MAP is $299. I paid $269 at Avionics West.

The auto database is quite out of date, and several roads I use regularly
are
not in the database. I just got an offer to purchase an updated database,
so
maybe that will take care of that issue. The database doesn't carry a
"current-as-of" date. The road datebase upgrades are fairly expensive.

Hasn't been a big problem for me, but I'll probably upgrade. The only big
shortage is all the subdivisions that have gone in around here in the last
couple years (based on what is there, it appears the data was from sometime
in 2000). The wife uses the car mode more than I do, and that was part of
the argument for getting it -- it wasn't just a toy for my flying.

The auto-routing in auto (i.e.not aviation) mode has a tendency to send me
down
a certain dirt road nearby. There seems to be no way to configure "ignore
unpaved roads".

The routing rules are obviously based on some general assumptions about
roads and average speeds for those roads. So sometimes it makes choices
that I wouldn't choose knowing the road. I find doing the routing on the PC
lets me tweak the route -- it's pretty easy to get what I want with a few
well chosen "via" waypoints. That doesn't help when I'm out somewhere and
start looking for an address, but then I'll usually take what help I can
get.

Not sure whether you can cobble together your own "car kit" for a lot less
than
$400. IIRC the kit consists of a sort-of bean-bag mount that sits on car's
dashboard, a 64M flash card, and the database CD. You might find another
way of
mounting, find the flash somewhere else cheaper, and buy the database
separately. As I said, not sure whether this is feasible.

It also includes the USB card programmer, so the kit is a few bucks cheaper
than the piece price. Problem is the flash is proprietary and Garmin won't
sell the City Select CD alone.

The 196 is great in the plane. In the car, it's as good as the StreetPilot
III except it doesn't do voice prompts -- it just chimes and displays a
pop-up message. Works fine for me and the wife is happy with it.

Gerry

Gerry Caron wrote:
"Dave Butler" wrote in message
...

I think I paid $400 for the "auto kit" for the 196. I'd say it's marginal
utility for that price. I like it as an aviation GPS, and it's OK in the

car,

too, but not worth the extra $400 I paid for the car kit.


List is $349. MAP is $299. I paid $269 at Avionics West.

OK, my memory is probably incorrect. ...but isn't Garmin notorious for
controlling the price of its products? How do you get a discount? I thought I
shopped around, but obviously I missed something. All the places I shopped had
virtually the same price (but obviously I don't remember what price I paid).

DGB
Remove SHIRT to reply directly.

On 12/2/2003 11:25 AM after considerable forethought, Dave Butler wrote:


OK, my memory is probably incorrect. ...but isn't Garmin notorious for
controlling the price of its products? How do you get a discount? I
thought I shopped around, but obviously I missed something. All the
places I shopped had virtually the same price (but obviously I don't
remember what price I paid).

DGB
Remove SHIRT to reply directly.


Avionics West does tend to discount the list price. I saved a couple of
hundred on my 295 when I bought it a few years ago.

Steve P

The NeverLost system in Hertz cars is by Garmin, and it is fantastic. It's
smart enough to change routes based on time of day, voice directions, on and
on. I spent a week on Long Island with one of those in the car and never got
lost once. The only thing I couldn't find (which isn't saying it's not there)
was a way to set a location, like my hotel, so I could just punch in "go here"
instead of entering the address again.

Dave Reinhart


Gerry Caron wrote:

"Dave Butler" wrote in message
...

I think I paid $400 for the "auto kit" for the 196. I'd say it's marginal
utility for that price. I like it as an aviation GPS, and it's OK in the
car,
too, but not worth the extra $400 I paid for the car kit.

List is $349. MAP is $299. I paid $269 at Avionics West.

The auto database is quite out of date, and several roads I use regularly
are
not in the database. I just got an offer to purchase an updated database,
so
maybe that will take care of that issue. The database doesn't carry a
"current-as-of" date. The road datebase upgrades are fairly expensive.

Hasn't been a big problem for me, but I'll probably upgrade. The only big
shortage is all the subdivisions that have gone in around here in the last
couple years (based on what is there, it appears the data was from sometime
in 2000). The wife uses the car mode more than I do, and that was part of
the argument for getting it -- it wasn't just a toy for my flying.

The auto-routing in auto (i.e.not aviation) mode has a tendency to send me
down
a certain dirt road nearby. There seems to be no way to configure "ignore
unpaved roads".

The routing rules are obviously based on some general assumptions about
roads and average speeds for those roads. So sometimes it makes choices
that I wouldn't choose knowing the road. I find doing the routing on the PC
lets me tweak the route -- it's pretty easy to get what I want with a few
well chosen "via" waypoints. That doesn't help when I'm out somewhere and
start looking for an address, but then I'll usually take what help I can
get.

Not sure whether you can cobble together your own "car kit" for a lot less
than
$400. IIRC the kit consists of a sort-of bean-bag mount that sits on car's
dashboard, a 64M flash card, and the database CD. You might find another
way of
mounting, find the flash somewhere else cheaper, and buy the database
separately. As I said, not sure whether this is feasible.

It also includes the USB card programmer, so the kit is a few bucks cheaper
than the piece price. Problem is the flash is proprietary and Garmin won't
sell the City Select CD alone.

The 196 is great in the plane. In the car, it's as good as the StreetPilot
III except it doesn't do voice prompts -- it just chimes and displays a
pop-up message. Works fine for me and the wife is happy with it.

Gerry

"Dave Butler" wrote in message
...
Gerry Caron wrote:
List is $349. MAP is $299. I paid $269 at Avionics West.

OK, my memory is probably incorrect. ...but isn't Garmin notorious for
controlling the price of its products? How do you get a discount? I
thought I
shopped around, but obviously I missed something. All the places I shopped
had
virtually the same price (but obviously I don't remember what price I
paid).

Garmin does an excellent job of maintaining margins on its products. It's
about charging what the market will bear and keeping costs in line. That's
good business.

Garmin can set the price it charges it's dealers and the minimum advertised
price (MAP) is enforced as a requirement of being a dealer. But beyond
that, fair trade laws say the dealers can charge anything they want for it.
When browsing, you'll only see the MAP price -- but ASK for the price and
they can quote their real price.

Checked at Avionics West's web site. Price is listed at $299. Click buy to
put it in your shopping cart and the price becomes $269.

MAP policies made some sense when ads were placed in magazines and T-A-P 5
months in advance. In today's world of e-commerce it's pretty much
pointless, but it hangs on for some reason.

Gerry