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#1
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PIREP: AirMap 1000 (Long)
As mentioned in an earlier thread, I would provide a PIREP with my
initial thought on my new addition. 1- "Wow, that is a big box." The company I purchased the unit from packaged it exceptionally well. The box was larger than I was expecting. This was due to the peanuts in the box. 2 - "What is that rattling sound?" After opening the box (from Lowrance) I was a little disappointed in the packing job they did. Four batteries just floating around in the box. The GPS unit had fallen from the cardboard holder down inside the box and was just floating around in there. 3 - "Geez, what is all that stuff?" I removed the GPS from the box and kept pulling item after item out of the box. The unit comes complete with an active remote antenna that has 2 different ways to mount it! A suction cup mount and a magnetic mount. What a surprize! 4 - "Ah, just as I had been told." The unit include a Yoke mount and a suction cup mount. That is pretty cool since I do not know which I will use at this time. The suction cup has some serious power. I clamped it only my bathroom tile countertop and thought it was stuck forever! It took me several minutes to remove this thing from the counter. When it finally came off my fingers were hurting... Geesh, do not need to worry about that thing popping off due to hard landing... that is for sure. Note to self, bring a screwdriver to pry the suction cup off if necessary. 5 - "Let's power this baby up!" Upon initial power up I could not get the unit to acquire a sat. Took it outside on the porch, and still only got 2 sats. "Dang, this sucks!" I opened the external antenna and plugged it in... Got 8 sats now. Only have 46 ft of error, not bad. 6 - "What is that CD in the box?" The unit came with a custom map generating program called Map Create 6. I loaded it up and messsed with the software, it is what I would call not very user friendly. Of course I am typical guy, don't look at the manual until I get frustrated. Managed to wiggle my way through the software enough to generate a map. Cool... now I can just put it on an SD card and pop it in the GPS! 7 - "What?!? I can't write to the included SD chip!" I powered the GPS down and removed the included SD Card, which is only 32MB and much to small to include the obstruction database as well as a customer map. Should include a 128MB at minimum to be at least a tiny bit useful. I plugged the SD writer (also included in the box with the airmap 1000) into MY PC and tried to write my newly generate are detail map to the SD chip. It did not show up?!?! "Hmmm that is interesting." Upon further investigation, I find that the included SD chip is permanently write protected. Still do not know why, but so be it... What was more odd is the Map generation program acted as if it had written the data to the SD chip... No indication that the write had failed. On top of that, the software requires that you "register" the SD chip to the software. Well I just wasted one registration on a chip which can not be used. What a load of horse crap. 8 - "Fine, I will use my Mega SD chip" I pull out my 1GB SD chip and then read the instructions. I mean afterall, I only have 4 registrations left for SD chips. Good thing I did.... 256MB is the maximum size the AirMap 1000 has been tested with. So... I do nto have any other chips I can use at this time... They are all used for cameras, MP3 players etc.... so exploring detailed maps will have to wait. 9 - "A hard cover and a fake velvet carrying case too." The unit comes with a hard cover to protect the screen. It just snaps in place and does NOT rattle around at all. Very cool. It also comes with a little velvet holder with drawstring to put the unit in to protect it. Kinda neat, but no place to carry the external antenna, cigarette lighter power adapter, yoke mount or suction cup mount. Kinda bummed about that. My flight bag can not handle any more stuff. Would have been nice if this had a molded case of some type. Maybe I will see if I can find one somewhere. 10 - "Dang its raining!" Well at least I got the unit and had a chance to play around with it. Too bad the weather is not good today, maybe tomorrow I can hit the air and see how well it does without an external antenna while in the air. 11- "Good deal for the price!" I got the whole thing, brand new, shipped on Thursday, arrived today (only 2 days!) from across the country for a really good price. Just over $400 shipping included. Patience paid off for me in this instance. That is all my rambling for now. If you have any specific questions I might be able to answer, fire away! Mike Alexander PP-ASEL Temecula, CA See my online aerial photo album at http://flying.4alexanders.com |
#2
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Mike 'Flyin'8' writes:
A suction cup mount and a magnetic mount. What a surprize! What a surprise when the airplane's mag compass becomes whack. The magnetic mount is of dubious value, eh? |
#3
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Ah geesh.... Did not really even think of that problem.. And my
spelling of surprise. Yikes... On 19 Mar 2005 19:50:33 -0800, Bob Fry wrote: Mike 'Flyin'8' writes: A suction cup mount and a magnetic mount. What a surprize! What a surprise when the airplane's mag compass becomes whack. The magnetic mount is of dubious value, eh? Mike Alexander PP-ASEL Temecula, CA See my online aerial photo album at http://flying.4alexanders.com |
#4
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"Mike 'Flyin'8'" wrote in message ... As mentioned in an earlier thread, I would provide a PIREP with my Where did you purchase it? KG |
#5
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http://www.airplanegear.com
Had a very good dealing with them and they will be the first place I try when aviation equipment is needed in the future. On Sat, 19 Mar 2005 20:10:41 -0800, "kage" wrote: "Mike 'Flyin'8'" wrote in message .. . As mentioned in an earlier thread, I would provide a PIREP with my Where did you purchase it? KG Mike Alexander PP-ASEL Temecula, CA See my online aerial photo album at http://flying.4alexanders.com |
#6
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How do you do database updates? how much are they?
I'm looking for something to replace my anywheremap |
#7
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$35 a monthm or $299 a year. You can just update the database as you
feel it is needed. I will likely only update annually, or prior to a long XC trip, whichever comes first. On 19 Mar 2005 20:45:27 -0800, "mark" wrote: How do you do database updates? how much are they? I'm looking for something to replace my anywheremap Mike Alexander PP-ASEL Temecula, CA See my online aerial photo album at http://flying.4alexanders.com |
#8
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Ah.. almost forgot the first part of your question....
You can Downlaod the file and put it on a SD card, or you can just buy it online and they will send you the SD card. You just return the out of date SD card.... On 19 Mar 2005 20:45:27 -0800, "mark" wrote: How do you do database updates? how much are they? I'm looking for something to replace my anywheremap Mike Alexander PP-ASEL Temecula, CA See my online aerial photo album at http://flying.4alexanders.com |
#9
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How does that work with the locked MMC card? Or is their software able
to write to it? |
#10
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also, does it have approaches, or just the extended runway centerlines?
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