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GPS WHAT TO BUY


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Hi, my sense of direction is terrible, I need a g.p.s but what to buy? Would like to be able to use it in both plane and car, dollars as always are limited. HELP.

Hi John,

 

I have a cheap and cheerful Garmin 196 - can be used in both plane and car (although I have not used it in the car). Has no colours or fancy stuff, but you get what you pay for.

 

I am sure there are others too.

 

Cheers

 

Neil

 

 

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I love my Garmin 196, in a mount and with an external antenna, great for supplementing my situational awareness, but Ozrunways has to be the BOMB, it is awesome, on an iPad 3 gs, can only use it as a situational awareness tool, but it is truly AWESOME ! Plus the iPad has so many uses and you can use the street maps that are provided.

 

 

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You'll never get lost or lose situational awareness ever again, just remember to use your paper maps and charts plus required paperwork when you fly. A side note, get a good Belkin charger that has two USB slots, one for your phone and the other for your iPad, the cheap ones tend to emit static or EMR through the electrical system, the good ones are really clean.

 

 

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I use a Garmin 196 and it has all I need. Forroad use it can sometimes be off to one side of the road, but it has the general direction OK. In the air I can't fault it. It has an instrumenr screen, similar to the aircraft instruments, but of course it is GPS derived, so GS, not Airspeed.

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

Whatever you look at buying, ask if you can take it out of the shop and view the screen in bright daylight. That made the choice for me to buy the Garmin 495 rather than the newer Aera units. The 495 has a transflective display but the Area units only had a transmissive display.

 

 

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Hi, my sense of direction is terrible, I need a g.p.s but what to buy? Would like to be able to use it in both plane and car, dollars as always are limited. HELP.

If you are not able to navigate by clock, map and compass as you are supposed to be able to as a VFR pilot maybe you shouldn't be flying?? Read the rules, gps secondary only.

 

 

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I learnt the sextant nav, But its too bloodi heavy & slippery when your hands are wet, two expensive lumps later I changed to GPS, going from 10 mile fix to 50 metres acuracy was a revalation.

 

Paper charts are only as good as the pencels used on it.

 

spacesailor

 

 

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I looked around and ended up with a Garmin 495, I looked at the aeras but the thought of trying to input something in turbulence sold me on not having a touch screen, I have an iPad which works great but if it's bumpy I'll get all sorts of stuff coming up on the screen, not the end of the world but it can be distracting. I'm all for being able to nav without the toys ,but the question here wasn't about using a GPS as primary ,it was just about what brand works best in the opinion of those that use them, maybe a good question would be " who NEVER uses anything other than a chart ,clock and compass?

 

Matty

 

 

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but the question here wasn't about using a GPS as primary ,it was just about what brand works best in the opinion of those that use them, maybe a good question would be " who NEVER uses anything other than a chart ,clock and compass?Matty

Matty,

 

I also use a 495 and they are very good, I would think (providing you are able to afford one) you're not using all the tools at your disposal if you don't have one (a GPS) especially if you are doing some serious cross country, the work load reduction is substantial.

 

Johnmon's statement was, "Hi, my sense of direction is terrible, I need a g.p.s but what to buy?" this is not telling me that he is competent with chart, clock and compass as you are supposed to be. A GPS will not help you if your sense of direction is terrible, you still need to know where you are going and where everyone else is in relation to you, if you don't then you are an accident waiting to happen and I don't want you flying anywhere near me.

 

Aldo

 

 

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Hi, my sense of direction is terrible, I need a g.p.s but what to buy? Would like to be able to use it in both plane and car, dollars as always are limited. HELP.

Hi John

I the mio navigator is a bottom line unit that has car maps and Wac charts on. Can only be used for position on chart display and has other info displayed including route, way points, airfields speed, direction etc can be as sheap as $80.00.

 

The one sold on this site is similar but better.

 

PM me if you require more info. eg I could email you a screen shot of the display.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

 

 

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Guest ivan4ilse
I have the Rec 5 " bought from this site,Its awesome.and cheap...does both aviation and automotive 107_score_010.gif.2fa64cd6c3a0f3d769ce8a3c21d3ff90.gif

Maybe I am going blind but don't see the "Rec" GPS's on the link provided, am I missing something? I am also in the market for a simple cheap but reliable GPS. Could some one please point me in the right direction...

 

 

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Maybe I am going blind but don't see the "Rec" GPS's on the link provided, am I missing something? I am also in the market for a simple cheap but reliable GPS. Could some one please point me in the right direction...

These are the GPSs sold by Clear Prop currently:

 

http://www.clearprop.com.au/index.php?subcats=Y&status=A&pshort=Y&pfull=Y&pname=Y&pkeywords=Y&search_performed=Y&q=gps&dispatch=products.search&page=1

 

 

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I use a Garmin Nuvi. It's just a car GPS set to off road mode. I enter my flight path (Say, Gawler, Murray Bridge, Loxton Gawler.) It draws a purple line between each town or waypoint and as I fly I leave a blue line. I can see how well I am tracking and the moving map shows the towns etc. as I approach and pass them. No airspace displayed (it's not an aviation GPS) and only miles or kilometres, but hell, it does a splendid job of backing up what all real pilots use, that is, a map and compass. I can upload the .gpx file straight into Google Earth and see how well I stayed on track. I can even replay it! See attached picture as an example.

 

Capture.JPG.2b44ef41b26fa91d883f1e098baa1076.JPG

 

 

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Yeh seems they not avail anymore? I now use oz runways on I pad . but any auto gps can be turned into simple aviation gps with moving plane , plans etc...

 

I also run my car gps with Ozzie explorer and have WAC charts downloaded into it.. ( just a back up)It was very simple to download and install! Then I installed my WAC charts ( simple again) . And pretty much the same as the old rec gps.

 

 

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I use a Garmin Nuvi. It's just a car GPS set to off road mode. I enter my flight path (Say, Gawler, Murray Bridge, Loxton Gawler.) It draws a purple line between each town or waypoint and as I fly I leave a blue line. I can see how well I am tracking and the moving map shows the towns etc. as I approach and pass them. No airspace displayed (it's not an aviation GPS) and only miles or kilometres, but hell, it does a splendid job of backing up what all real pilots use, that is, a map and compass. I can upload the .gpx file straight into Google Earth and see how well I stayed on track. I can even replay it! See attached picture as an example.

043_duck_for_cover.gif.77707e15ee173cd2f19de72f97e5ca3b.gif I wonder why your GPS shows the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle site just north of Truro Flats?

 

 

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"043_duck_for_cover.gif.77707e15ee173cd2f19de72f97e5ca3b.gif I wonder why your GPS shows the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle site just north of Truro Flats?"

 

We (at work) were there testing some model planes. I guess I could remove that waypoint from my GPS as I only added it so I could find the place by road.

 

 

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Guest ivan4ilse

Thanks for the replies, seems like they don't exist anymore. Like the idea of using the auto GPS and moving plane. How is this done as I am technology challenged?

 

 

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Thanks for the replies, seems like they don't exist anymore. Like the idea of using the auto GPS and moving plane. How is this done as I am technology challenged?

You can always Google how GPS works.

 

 

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