Lowrance GPS

The magnets aren't a big deal--really.

I admire your brand loyalty -- but the consensus of every pilot I know (and,
more importantly, every pilot I know who has purchased a 396) is that Garmin
really, REALLY didn't do their homework with that antenna.

It's almost as dumb as the floppy disk manufacturer that included a
refrigerator magnet with every disk...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

The 396 is a great piece of gear, but we desperately need some real
competition in this field. What's Lowrance's problem, anyway?

Lowrance is big, dumb, and the world-leader in marine GPS -- a far larger
market -- so they look at aviation as an impossibly tiny niche market.

I'll bet their marine units get XM first.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jonathan,

that Lowrance cannot deliver


How do you know that? Maybe they just don't want to yet. After all, XM
requires quite an investment from the buyer and is usable only in the
US.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Karl,

Garmin leads the way in GPS and the other manufacturers are just
playing catch up. T


If you say to... I beg to differ.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

In article dQqAf.714892$x96.30673@attbi_s72,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:
The magnets aren't a big deal--really.

I admire your brand loyalty -- but the consensus of every pilot I know (and,
more importantly, every pilot I know who has purchased a 396) is that Garmin
really, REALLY didn't do their homework with that antenna.

It's almost as dumb as the floppy disk manufacturer that included a
refrigerator magnet with every disk...


It has nothing to do with brand loyalty and everything to do with
reality. The reality is that if you position the XM receiver away from
the compass, the magnets make no difference. Even on the glareshield of
most aircraft, the magnets should make little to no difference. I don't
know about you, but I rarely use my compass as my primary navigation
source.

My assessment is that Garmin did "do their homework" with the
receiver--it is a far superior design to the WxWorx equipment. The
magnets are in the receiver because Garmin markets the same receiver to
the automotive market, where the magnets may be beneficial. I suspect
Garmin's market research shows a much greater market in automotive than
in aviation.

Regardless of your opinion on the magnets, the fact is that if you want
XM weather in a hand held GPS, you have only one choice--Garmin.



JKG

In article ,
Dave wrote:
Yes..all good points...

But certianly a flub on their part, and the 11 ft of cable is not
necessarily convenient.

While not ideal, Garmin's solution is certainly more convenient than a
comparable WxWorx + PDA or TabletPC installation.

I suspect that the magnets in the XM receiver were not a mistake, but
rather an intentional design element that appeals to the automotive
market. Garmin was able to reduce production costs on the receiver by
manufacturing only one type of receiver.

Still, I would have preferred to see a magnetic base that screws on to
the receiver. Such a design element could be easily excluded from the
aviation kits, but included with the automotive kits. However, I just
don't see why the magnets should be of big practical impact for most
people.



and Lowrance does NOT have XM capability.

Yet,...... lately, the DO have a habit of delivering on what they say
they will...

I haven't seen any official comment from Lowrance on an XM-enabled
portable GPS unit.



Being "second" in introducing a new feature is not always a bad
thing..

No, but Garmin has done just about everything right with their
implementation. I hope that Lowrance does bring a unit to market at a
lower price, because I think that XM weather is fantastic, and a
capability that more pilots should employ.

In article URqAf.714896$x96.702487@attbi_s72,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:
Lowrance is big, dumb, and the world-leader in marine GPS -- a far larger
market -- so they look at aviation as an impossibly tiny niche market.

I'll bet their marine units get XM first.

The fact that Garmin has delivered XM on its marine units and Lowrance
hasn't just illustrates by how much Lowrance missed the boat.

Hopefully, they'll get on board soon. I have the impression that Garmin
pitched quite a few resources at XM delivery (they designed the
receivers and software themselves), and I suspect that such an
investment may have been a larger risk for Lowrance. Garmin has
products outside of the portable markets to which they could apply this
investment.

I will point out that I have preferred Lowrance units over the years,
but XM weather was too important for me to wait around for Lowrance.
While I don't care for some elements of Garmin's units, their UI is very
well designed, and they've done an excellent job of implementing the XM
weather features.



JKG

In article ,
Thomas Borchert wrote:

Jonathan,

that Lowrance cannot deliver


How do you know that? Maybe they just don't want to yet. After all, XM
requires quite an investment from the buyer and is usable only in the
US.


Judging by the popularity of the Garmin 396, and the fact that the vast
majority of general aviation operations occur in the US, I'd say that
Lowrance missed the boat with XM--big time.



JKG

"Thomas Borchert" wrote:

Garmin leads the way in GPS and the other manufacturers are just
playing catch up. T


If you say to... I beg to differ.

If you know of an aviation portable that comes anywhere near the
capability of Garmin's 396, tell us about it, Thomas.

--
Dan

"Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby."
--The Amazing Randi

"Jay Honeck" wrote:

Lowrance is big, dumb, and the world-leader in marine GPS -- a far
larger market -- so they look at aviation as an impossibly tiny niche
market.

I'll bet their marine units get XM first.

....and by the time they have an XmWx aviation unit, Garmin will have
their next gen. unit ready to blow it away.

Crystal ball: Lowrance's unit will therefore sell poorly, justifying the
internal nay-sayers at Lowrance and guranteeing their continued weak r&d
spending on aviation portables.

--
Dan
C172RG at BFM