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

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

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

I've got the ICOM. I've owned ICOMs since the early '90s. They are simple,
bullet-proof devices -- which is what I want in a back-up radio.

Jim Weir will tell you that the Vertex radios do some astoundingly cool
things, though.

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

Any owner/user comparisons/recommendations?

I spent DAYS testing all of the GPS's at OSH '03. (Well, the Lowrance
Airmap 1000 was just "vaporware" at that stage -- but I ruled Lowrance out
for other reasons.) It was hell, but someone had to do it... ;-)

The best GPS on the market, hand's down, is the AvMap. It's a few more
bucks, but it's TWICE the GPS of any competitor. We've been very happy
with ours, and can honestly say it has changed the way we fly the plane.

See an on-line demo at http://www.avmap.it/index.php?sec=1&sub=45&lang=en
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay,

It's a few more
bucks,


Ahem! But I see that your self-rationalizing-mechanism works really
well.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

It's a few more
bucks,

Ahem! But I see that your self-rationalizing-mechanism works really
well.

Well, Thomas, I'll admit that the AvMap *was* a hard financial pill to
swallow, at over $1700.

However, when I saw what it could do, and realized that the cruddy little
(relatively speaking, of course) Garmin 295 was going to run me around
$1300, the $400 difference paled into insignificance.

I've now flown with the AvMap for over 100 hours. That extra four bucks an
hour (and dropping by the day) has been well worth it...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay,

the $400 difference paled into insignificance.


It's still not "a few bucks", but rather a cool 25 percent more.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

It's still not "a few bucks", but rather a cool 25 percent more.

Right. For a 50% larger (and brighter) color screen, and all the instrument
approaches.

And -- more importantly to me -- the obstruction database that Garmin
stupidly omits.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Hi Jay...

Ok....tried it... (the AV demo..

But... only one dealer (in all North America !) listed... and
the link does not work.

Where did you get yours and how much?

And for what other reasons did you rule out the Lowrance?

Dave


On Sat, 21 Feb 2004 02:33:46 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

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

I've got the ICOM. I've owned ICOMs since the early '90s. They are simple,
bullet-proof devices -- which is what I want in a back-up radio.

Jim Weir will tell you that the Vertex radios do some astoundingly cool
things, though.

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

Any owner/user comparisons/recommendations?

I spent DAYS testing all of the GPS's at OSH '03. (Well, the Lowrance
Airmap 1000 was just "vaporware" at that stage -- but I ruled Lowrance out
for other reasons.) It was hell, but someone had to do it... ;-)

The best GPS on the market, hand's down, is the AvMap. It's a few more
bucks, but it's TWICE the GPS of any competitor. We've been very happy
with ours, and can honestly say it has changed the way we fly the plane.

See an on-line demo at http://www.avmap.it/index.php?sec=1&sub=45&lang=en

Ok....tried it... (the AV demo..
But... only one dealer (in all North America !) listed... and
the link does not work.

Huh??? The AvMap is available through all the big avionics houses.
Pacific Coast Avionics, Gulf Coast Avionics, J.A. Avionics, Sarasota
Avionics -- they all handle the AvMap. They've had a banner year,
according to the folks I've spoken with at AvMap. This only makes sense --
it's twice the unit for only a few hundred dollars more.

Where did you get yours and how much?

I bought mine at OSH '03. We had three avionics places competing for our
buck. Sarasota Avionics won the battle. The price was right around $1700
INCLUDING tax, which is a good deal.

And for what other reasons did you rule out the Lowrance?

Lowrance *had* my business -- I own(ed) an Airmap 300. They lost my future
business when the unit failed after just four years (it stopped recognizing
the airport database card), and they were "no longer" able to repair it.
They were more than "willing" to sell me an Airmap 100 --- with a dinky
screen -- or the 500, which isn't much better.

And the 1000 wasn't available yet.

So, I declined their kind offer, and took my business to AvMap. It's an
awesome unit.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

I personally own Vertex (Yaesu) aviation handheld, an ICOM ham handheld and a
Kenwood base HF-VHF-UFH radio (again for ham work). They're all good. The
Vertex was a better deal (comm only) than the ICOM and I like it a lot.

Dave Reinhart


Jay Honeck wrote:

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

I've got the ICOM. I've owned ICOMs since the early '90s. They are simple,
bullet-proof devices -- which is what I want in a back-up radio.

Jim Weir will tell you that the Vertex radios do some astoundingly cool
things, though.

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

Any owner/user comparisons/recommendations?

I spent DAYS testing all of the GPS's at OSH '03. (Well, the Lowrance
Airmap 1000 was just "vaporware" at that stage -- but I ruled Lowrance out
for other reasons.) It was hell, but someone had to do it... ;-)

The best GPS on the market, hand's down, is the AvMap. It's a few more
bucks, but it's TWICE the GPS of any competitor. We've been very happy
with ours, and can honestly say it has changed the way we fly the plane.

See an on-line demo at http://www.avmap.it/index.php?sec=1&sub=45&lang=en
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

I own a VXA-210 and love it. Haven't had any problems with it and use most
every time I fly as I like to monitor CTAF as I preflight or check AWOS. My
only nit is that the antenna is an SMA connector and not BNC...which means
you have to buy a special adapter should you want to plug into an external
antenna. Best price I found on the VXA-210 was he
http://www.radios.org/index.htm

No experience with ICOM but folks I know that have them love them too.

Something to consider when comparing is to add up any extras that may come
with the radio. When I bought my VXA-210, I was comparing with a Sporty's
model (glad I went the route I did) and when considering the extras that
were part of my VXA-210 package (headphone adapter, nicad battery), the cost
difference wasn't all that significant.

Wish I could help on the GPS front...but haven't ventured into that arena
yet as I'm fortunate to rent planes that have built in GPS.

--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

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