"Dave" wrote

WHAT were they thinking? (or were they) Surprising from a company with
long experience in aviation GPS units....

Myself, I don't think it is too surprising.

You have the hardware gurus with the aviation permanent mount receiver
department. Then you have the hardware guys for the handheld units. Lots
of difference in the hardware, most likely different people. The software
is the most common thing between the two, but the software people don't care
what is running it, as long as the unit is capable of running it, which is
what the hardware guys can tell them.

The aviation guys know what they have to have for permanent mount antennae
on airplanes. No magnets, right?

The handhelds have antennae in the units, with a few having the added
capability of an added antenna. Who uses those? For one, the XM guys, and
the car GPS receiver guys. People with steel car roofs, thus the magnets.
The XM people say, "hey, why not use a basic design we already use." The
left hand didn't anticipate the different needs of the right hand.

So how long does it take to realize there is a big problem, design a
different antenna, get it to manufacturing and distribute it? My guess is 6
months, minimum. Added to that the fact that they already have made a big
production run of the wrong antennae, which they would no doubt like to
sell; otherwise it takes directly away from the per unit profit. These
people kill to save pennies per unit, but now they are going to have to take
a hit for several tens of dollars per unit? Someone up top is *not* a happy
camper, at Garmin, I'll bet.
--
Jim in NC