GPS questions

Has Lowrance put terrain and/or obstacle data into their GPS yet?

Yes to obstacles. Terrain is an extra $99 option which is now available.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay,

Terrain is an extra $99 option which is now available.


Do you have any pointers to where I could find this? On their website,
maybe?

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Terrain is an extra $99 option which is now available.


Do you have any pointers to where I could find this? On their website,
maybe?

Sorry, no. I'm just relaying what the Lowrance reps at OSH and the sales
reps at the CPA fly-in told me.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

I just bought a Lowrance Airmap 2000c and I like it. It comes with all
of the options needed to install the GPS in a plane, car, or permanent
mount somewhere. I have found some useful information in my new
experiences using it:

1) Buy rechargable batteries - NiMH, not NiCad. The alkalines don't
last very long, especially with the backlighting on "high".

2) Read the manual when it comes to using the mapping software that
comes with the unit. It's good, but the manual is needed to get full
capability out of it.

3) Buy a big SD-Ram card. The 32MB card that comes with it is not enough.

4) Call Lowrance and get a new db if yours is out of date within the
first 30 days after purchase for a free current db. (one-time good deal)

5) Enjoy it! It's a fun unit.

You can purchase it (for what I found to be a reasonable price) at
http://www.pacific-coast-avionics.com. I've bought a few items there
and they've always been really good to me.

Happy Landings,

Chris


Jay Honeck wrote:
Terrain is an extra $99 option which is now available.


Do you have any pointers to where I could find this? On their website,
maybe?


Sorry, no. I'm just relaying what the Lowrance reps at OSH and the sales
reps at the CPA fly-in told me.

Jase Vanover wrote:
Also, I believe the Avmap is direct powered from the
plane, and I don't know if and how this will be possible on rental aircraft.
Any insight?

As a practical matter, I think the Garmin 396 will require ship's power as well.
It has rechargables that recharge from your 12 v. outlet.

Dave

Dave Butler wrote:

Jase Vanover wrote:
Also, I believe the Avmap is direct powered from the
plane, and I don't know if and how this will be possible on rental
aircraft. Any insight?

As a practical matter, I think the Garmin 396 will require ship's power as
well. It has rechargables that recharge from your 12 v. outlet.

Dave

The AvMap EKP-IV has backup battery capability to run the unit for about an
hour after loss of power. You supply your own AA rechargeables. In normal
use it's powered via the auxillary power receptacle a.k.a. cigar lighter.

One thing I have noted about my EKP-IV is that it produces radio noise on
the aviation frequencies.

Morgans wrote:


"10Squared" wrote

One thing I have noted about my EKP-IV is that it produces radio noise on
the aviation frequencies.

Hard to believe that an aviation GPS would cause problems with your
aviation radios.

Yeah, that was my reaction. I noticed on my Icom IC-A23 handheld that I was
getting static on 122.8. I turned the squelch up all the way and that
didn't help. Turned off the AvMap and that cured the problem. Proximity to
the unit was a factor, but I haven't done any additional tests to quantify
the amount of interference or the specific sources of interference (power
cable, antenna, or cpu).

Does it make noise on the batteries and the power converter?

Power converters are often the source of much RF noise.

Not sure what you mean by power converter. There is a power cord for DC
power from the aircraft to the GPS. However, since the batteries are for
emergency use the only practical configuration is with the unit powered by
the aircraft power supply.


I also would be interested in hearing from other EKP-IV owners, to see if
they experience these problems, also. If not, it could be a problem with
you radio installation.

Me too. And note too, AvMap Navigation has turned off their web forum on
their website.

"10Squared" wrote
One thing I have noted about my EKP-IV is that it produces radio noise on
the aviation frequencies.

Morgans wrote:
Hard to believe that an aviation GPS would cause problems with your aviation
radios.
Does it make noise on the batteries and the power converter?
Power converters are often the source of much RF noise.
I also would be interested in hearing from other EKP-IV owners, to see if
they experience these problems, also. If not, it could be a problem with
you radio installation.

It is a tablet computer with a gps receiver.
The power supply, processor clock and display driver are all sources of
RF noise.

"10Squared" wrote

One thing I have noted about my EKP-IV is that it produces radio noise on
the aviation frequencies.

Hard to believe that an aviation GPS would cause problems with your aviation
radios.

Does it make noise on the batteries and the power converter?

Power converters are often the source of much RF noise.

I also would be interested in hearing from other EKP-IV owners, to see if
they experience these problems, also. If not, it could be a problem with
you radio installation.
--
Jim in NC

Dave wrote:
As a practical matter, I think the Garmin 396 will require ship's power as well.
It has rechargables that recharge from your 12 v. outlet.

Certainly it would be most convenient to plug it in if that's
available. But with a rated battery life of 5 - 15 hours depending on
backlight use it appears to be usable in rental planes without a
suitable outlet, especially if one brings along an extra charged
battery pack. OTOH, the one hour battery life on the Avmap seems
designed as an emergency backup in the event of an electrical power
failure.