Which Aviation GPS is the best for the money???

jrenwick · Post by **jrenwick** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 2:46 pm

iowa wrote:...i'd want just the basics, and one that had long battery life, and was a self contained unit. which one would this be?
dave

I'm awfully fond of my GPS III Pilot, because I can stick it down anywhere, and the four AA cells last about 10 hours. Too bad Garmin doesn't make it any more, but maybe there are some used ones available online.

Best Regards,

John

voorheesh · Post by **voorheesh** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 6:33 pm

I'm with Iowa on this. The best flight of my life was with my son in our Champ a few years back. We went from Fresno to Great Falls by way of Chico, Alturas, Burns, Pendleton, Lewiston, and Missoula. Came back through Idaho Falls and Elko. Used sectionals, roadmaps, and a hand held radio. Fill the gas tank and use your watch (5gph) had at least 1hr reserve each leg. We always new where we were and had eyes outside the airplane the whole time. I really can't remember an experience that captured the joy of flying better than that. I still like having a simple Garmin in the plane I'm flying now (170A).

Post by **GAHorn** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 3:41 pm

I have to admit, when my brother and I ferried my Aeronca Chief to NM to trade it to it's new owner, we truly enjoyed the two-days of pilotage.
I guess I'll have to turn off my navs next time I go somewhere....

iowa · Post by **iowa** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 3:52 pm

i knew i'd convince you george!
i'll never forget what a lear jet
pilot told my dad one time in iowa city.
we had flown in with my c-140 at the time.
this lear pilot walked over to take a look,
saying that he like our plane.
my dad told him how nice it most be
to fly them there ultra modern jets,
and apologized about our 140 dripping oil
on the ramp area.
the lear pilot, whom my dad
thot walked on water stated,
'the lear leaks oil too!'
'and i fly it because it is my job,
on my off time, i fly my j-3 cub,
and don't bother to look at any instruments,
to me, that is flying'.
both my dad and i were a little
different after that day.
we proudly flew our humble 140 back home.
BUT
i still am looking for a inexpensive
self contained GPS with a long battery life.
how about the GARMIN 95c?
thanks
dave

hilltop170 · Post by **hilltop170** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 4:01 pm

Dave- For an inexpensive handheld with a lot of features and long battery life look for a used Garmin 196. They are going for cheap.
Richard

N2865C · Post by **N2865C** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 5:18 pm

Avionics West has the Lorwance 1000 on sale for $383. http://www.avionicswest.com/airmap1000.htm#2003
and the 2000C for $699. http://www.avionicswest.com/lowrance/2000c.htm#1115

The nice thing about the Lowarance is that they come with all of the accessorys you need.

iowa · Post by **iowa** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 5:20 pm

hi john
i don't want to have to mess with wires etc.
i want a completely contained unit.
is there such a thing?
dave

jrenwick · Post by **jrenwick** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 5:39 pm

Dave,

I believe all the models mentioned here can operate as fully self-contained units.

When you do that, there are two things to think about:

1. battery life
If the unit has a self-contained rechargeable battery, it might work best with a power cable that you plug into your cigarette lighter. Some of the older units, like the Garmin GPS III Pilot and maybe the GPSMAP 96 use AA batteries and will go for a long time on a set of them. The units with bright color displays don't operate as long on a battery charge, and you'd probably want to give them a 12V supply from the airplane's battery.

2. antenna location
All of the models mentioned have a remote antenna as an option, but with the GPS units I've used, I've found it isn't necessary in a Cessna 170. If the unit can "see" most of the windshield, that seems to be good enough. But depending on the unit, there might be places you might want to mount it where reception would be poor, and you might find you need to stick an antenna under the windshield and plug it in.

Best Regards,

John

N2865C · Post by **N2865C** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 5:39 pm

iowa wrote:hi john
i don't want to have to mess with wires etc.
i want a completely contained unit.
is there such a thing?
dave

With my old Lowrance 100 (note: not 1000) I never used the external antenna. With the Garmin I will loose the signal if I don't use it. I have no idea how the 1000 and 2000c will work. The external antenna is no big deal. It just sits on top of the glare shield held on with a very small piece of Velcro. I have never liked a gps on the yoke. I have mine mounted on the panel with a Ram suction mount http://65.102.174.116/rammount/productd ... 66U&item=1 . I was skeptical, but it works great. I also use the cigarette lighter adapter. The whole thing is removable and replaceable in about 30 seconds and with some creative cable-ties it dosen't look too messy.

Post by **GAHorn** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 6:34 pm

The Garmin 196 has an excellent, small, unobtrusive dash-mount that rotates, tilts, and locks into position. I used 2" wide velcro tape to stick it to my dash top. It uses it's own self-mounted antenna and never loses a signal.* It is also WAAS capable. It runs for 16 hours on 4 AA alkalines, or 12 hours on 4 rechargeables. (No wires.)
The color units either last about 4 hours on AA batteries, or require proprietary batteries, something I prefer to avoid. (I want to be able to get batteries whenever, wherever I wish. But I generally use rechargeables, even though I also have a hole drilled into/down-thru my hand-grip on my dash, and thru a 3A circuit breaker have the unit wired to my aircraft elect. system via the avionics master. Even if my aircraft's elect. system should die, my 196 will continue to operate on internal batteries... or I can remove it and take it with me should I crash land in the boonies and need to hike out. .... Another good reason to have a unit that will last a long time on batteries and also has a terrain and roadmap database such as the Garmin 196 does.)

The velcro does not permanently mar my dash, and the hole is like a drain in the hand-hold. (Put a grommet in the hole to finish it off nicely.)

And, oh yeah, ... even my picky FSDO avionics inspector...the one who says I can't change my own ELT battery,.... agreed that supplying my 196 from ship's power thru a CB is a minor alteration and only requires a logbook entry.

* If your GPS loses a signal while sitting on the dash in full view of the sky, then you should look at two things:
1- Use the celestial or sky page to determine if you have at least 3 satellites in view from your windshield area (sats not behind the aircraft or behind/low on the horizon), and...
2-Note which VHF frequencies your other radios are tuned to. Many VHF radios, even receivers only, are not well shielded for harmonics and "shadow-frequencies". Especially the non-TSO'd and low-cost radios (ValCom comes to mind) radiate shadows that will interfere with even high-quality GPS's that are using self-contained antennas. (One reason external antennas are required for IFR installations.)
I've never lost a signal on my 196 with my Narco 810, AT150A, KLN-88, PS-Engineering Intercom, and/or KX-99 handheld set ups, but I've heard of another brand of GPS going blank with a KX-170B tuned only to an ATIS and a VOR. Changing the ATIS freq. brought that GPS back online. Shielding the KX-170B's top and grounding it's case better cured the problem.

N2865C · Post by **N2865C** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 6:58 pm

I suspect that loosing my signal with the 196 without the external antenna is due to the placement. Mine is on the panel and the antenna can't see the whole sky like it can on the glare shield. The old Airmap 100's had the antenna built into the top part of the unit and as such probably could "see" more sky mounted in that location.

Post by **GAHorn** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 8:10 pm

N2865C wrote:I suspect that loosing my signal with the 196 without the external antenna is due to the placement. Mine is on the panel and the antenna can't see the whole sky like it can on the glare shield. The old Airmap 100's had the antenna built into the top part of the unit and as such probably could "see" more sky mounted in that location.

John, if you acquired your 196 new, then the small accessory antenna can be velcro'd to the top of the glare shield and a short cable connecting them can be routed out of the way, to solve that problem. If you don't have the small accy ant., then using the little "stick" ant the same way with a dab of velcro on it will also work.

Depending on which panel you have, a slick/simple way to hide cables is to route the cable behind the floating panel at the bottom or side, then out from behind the floating panel near the top, and onto the glare-shield top.

N2865C · Post by **N2865C** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 8:38 pm

Thanks George,
That's excatly what I do and it works great. I didn't mean to imply that I lost the signal with the external antenna.

170C · Post by **170C** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 4:42 pm

My Lowrance 200C is hooked up to use the external antenna which I have attached to a screw that holds down the left side of my glare shield up by the defroster vent. Works great! The unit has its own internal antenna and where I have it mounted I suspect it wouldn't need the external antenna, but I haven't tested it to be sure as the external works easily. Mine is wired in to the planes' power, but I use the internal batteries prior to turning on the master if I want to put in a waypoint, etc. The color moving map unit uses the batteries fairly quickly. I don't remember how long they are suppose to last, but I change them when the unit tells me they are getting weak and I keep extra's in the glove box.

thammer · Post by **thammer** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 5:23 am

I've been flying with a Garmin 195 for several years. The greenish backlight screen is pretty hard to see at night. I just got a new Lowrance Avmap 1000 and flew with it over to Michigan and back on Sunday. It's pretty easy to use and the paper white backlight is really nice at night. The screen is a little bigger than the 192 too.