Hand Held Radios (Com + Nav)and GPS...Help?

I'm going through the same process of elimination. I had my ICOM A22
and Lowrance Airmap 100 stolen from my airplane two weeks ago. I am
looking at the same replacements as you are considering for your
airplane. Here's some random thoughts I've had... I liked the Airmap
100 because I'm a vfr pilot and it had the obstruction database. It
was a good unit that I used for 6 years without trouble. I'll
probably purchase the Airmap 500 or 1000 unless someone that owns one
of these units and doesn't like it changes my mind . It seems they
are the best bang for the buck for the vfr pilot.

I liked the IC-A22 as well, but I also had the alkaline battery pack
for it. I didn't like the hassle of keeping the NiCad charged. Do I
need an alkaline pack if I get the A23? Are they even available? I
believe the A23 has a nickel metal hydride battery pack while the
Vertex has the NiCad. Is NiMH a hassle to keep charged? I have
little experience with it? I may go with the Icom A5 and save a $100,
as in my experience, the nav feature on the IC-A22 has limited range
and usefulness, (at least with the supplied antenna).

wrote in message
...
Hi All!

OK.. we are tricking out our new (to us) 172...

Looking at/comparing the ICOM IC-A23, and the Vertex Standard
VXA-210.

ICOM is more $, but a known quantity/quality.

Completely unfamiliar with Vertex quality/service..

Any experiences you would share with us?

And....

GPS....

The GARMIN 196 seems to be a fav, but we are attracted to the
features/screen size of the Lowrance Airmap 1000.

Short of "holding out" for a Colour 196 we are asking for
advice here as well..

Any owner/user comparisons/recommendations?

Thanks in advance....

Dave

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 21:02:29 -0600, "JJS" jschneider@REMOVE
SOCKSpldi.net wrote:


I liked the IC-A22 as well, but I also had the alkaline battery pack
for it. I didn't like the hassle of keeping the NiCad charged. Do I
need an alkaline pack if I get the A23? Are they even available? I
believe the A23 has a nickel metal hydride battery pack while the
Vertex has the NiCad. Is NiMH a hassle to keep charged? I have
little experience with it?

if you charge up a nicad it will retain the charge for quite some
time.
a NiMh battery by comparison will self discharge in about a week.
they charge quicker but need to be fully charged just prior to use for
the best effect.

(from my experiences with laptops)
Stealth Pilot
Australia

That's an interesting heresy. Care to share where you got this information?
Most of us have switched to NiMH because of the nicad's notorious self-discharge
effects. That's why they were invented.

Jim


Stealth Pilot
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

-
-
-if you charge up a nicad it will retain the charge for quite some
-time.
-a NiMh battery by comparison will self discharge in about a week.
-they charge quicker but need to be fully charged just prior to use for
-the best effect.



Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

Jim Weir wrote:

That's an interesting heresy. Care to share where you got this information?
Most of us have switched to NiMH because of the nicad's notorious self-discharge
effects. That's why they were invented.

It's not a heresy, just overstated. It's well-known that NiMH cells suffer
from much more self-discharge than alkaline and somewhat more than NiCd
cells. (But they have much more capacity and are better environmentally so
overall they are far superior to NiCd.)

Here's Eveready's list of NiMH characteristics:
Most cost-effective, economical power source over the life of the battery

Recharges up to a thousand times

Best suited for frequent usage and heavy-drain devices, such as digital
cameras

Good low temperature performance

Interchangeable with non-rechargeable batteries in the same size

Limited shelf-life—loses 1% of deliverable energy per day when stored at
room temperature

If StealthPilot's cells are discharging substantially in a week then
there's something seriously wrong with them and they should be replaced.

Stealth Pilot
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

-
-
-if you charge up a nicad it will retain the charge for quite some
-time.
-a NiMh battery by comparison will self discharge in about a week.
-they charge quicker but need to be fully charged just prior to use for
-the best effect.



Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

Peter wrote

It's not a heresy, just overstated. It's well-known that NiMH cells
suffer from much more self-discharge than alkaline

That's why I have switched back to the RAYOVAC Rechargeable Alkaline
(used to be called "Renewable Alkaline")for my seldom used applications
such as my YAESU Aviator Pro II. Yes, they make an optional back that
will hold six of any AA cells. These cells have a shelf-life like any
other Alkaline, but provided that they are not discharged too far, I
have recharged some of them probably a hundred times. Kinda hard to find
but I tracked them down in Walgreen Drug Stores.

Bob Moore

Robert Moore wrote:
That's why I have switched back to the RAYOVAC Rechargeable Alkaline
(used to be called "Renewable Alkaline")for my seldom used applications
such as my YAESU Aviator Pro II. Yes, they make an optional back that
will hold six of any AA cells. These cells have a shelf-life like any
other Alkaline, but provided that they are not discharged too far, I
have recharged some of them probably a hundred times. Kinda hard to find
but I tracked them down in Walgreen Drug Stores.

WARNING!!!
Do not leave RAYOVAC rechargeables in any device for an extended period.
They will leak and corrode your device.
They degrade with each recharge (this from a RAYOVAC tech).
NiMH, while they have a faster self-discharge rate, have more recharge
cycles and will not leak.

JJS wrote:
I liked the IC-A22 as well, but I also had the alkaline battery pack
for it. I didn't like the hassle of keeping the NiCad charged. Do I
need an alkaline pack if I get the A23? Are they even available? I
believe the A23 has a nickel metal hydride battery pack while the
Vertex has the NiCad. Is NiMH a hassle to keep charged? I have
little experience with it? I may go with the Icom A5 and save a $100,
as in my experience, the nav feature on the IC-A22 has limited range
and usefulness, (at least with the supplied antenna).


If you are going to purchase a new handheld with rechargeable battery
pack, also purchase the drop in charger. It is easy and quick, usually
recharging the battery pack in an hour.
NiMH have a self-discharge rate of 3-5% per day. If you are going on
extended trips, purchase an alkaline battery pack.

NiMH have a self-discharge rate of 3-5% per day. If you are going on
extended trips, purchase an alkaline battery pack.

You need to google about that to see for yourself. They self discharge at
slightly over 1% per day. Given the fact that they have a higher capacity
than alkaline, they will still have more capacity left over, even
considering self discharge, than alkalines for at least two or three weeks.

- I am the type of person to prepare by charging things often, so it is
ablsolutely no problem for me. If you do prepare for a long trip by
charging, you have around two times the capacity than alkaline, so where is
the down side? Add to that a charger to run off of ship's power, and you
can go long, indefinitely.
--
Jim in NC



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Morgans wrote:

NiMH have a self-discharge rate of 3-5% per day. If you are going on
extended trips, purchase an alkaline battery pack.


You need to google about that to see for yourself. They self discharge at
slightly over 1% per day.

Agreed, but the self-discharge rate can increase as the cells age.

Given the fact that they have a higher capacity
than alkaline, they will still have more capacity left over, even
considering self discharge, than alkalines for at least two or three weeks.

The relative capacity of alkalines and NiMH cells depends on how large the
current draw is. For AA cells, alkalines are typically rated to have a
capacity of about 2800 mA-hr which is higher than the rating for today's
NiMH of about 2200 mA-hr. However, the 2800 rating for alkalines is tested
at a very low discharge rate of 20 mA and at higher current draws the
effective capacity drops substantially. At a current draw of 1 A (1000
mA), the capacity of alkalines drops to about 750 mA-hr while NiMH cells
are much less affected and still deliver almost their rated capacity. So
for low-power devices the alkaline cells still outlive a single charge of
the NiMH cells, but for higher-power devices the NiMH cells last much longer.

In the case of a communications radio it depends on how it's used - if only
used to receive I'd expect the alkalines to do better but if frequently
used to transmit (i.e. higher power) then the NiMH cells will last longer.

Even if the alkalines might last longer than a single charge of the NiMH,
I'd usually still use the rechargeable NiMH for the lower long-term cost.
But a spare set of alkalines (or even better Li) cells is good for backup
since they have such good storage characteristics.

Morgans wrote:
NiMH have a self-discharge rate of 3-5% per day. If you are going on
extended trips, purchase an alkaline battery pack.


You need to google about that to see for yourself. They self discharge at
slightly over 1% per day. Given the fact that they have a higher capacity
than alkaline, they will still have more capacity left over, even
considering self discharge, than alkalines for at least two or three weeks.

I have gone to different sites and read different values, so I use the
highest.