waldo said:
Lisa, as you can see you've got a lot of very good replies.
Yes I have, and I appreciate one and all!
For now, concentrate on that training. By-the-way, how far along are you?
I intend to. Technically, I have all my requirements, but I want to do another long solo cross country then do some additional polishing flights before scheduling the check ride. I've had to stop and restart the training since my last solo cross country with a long period of down time in between. Hopefully I'll be ready within a month if weather and my work schedule cooperate.
I'm leaning towards the gps even though the aircraft I rent now most all have panel mount gps installed (although not all have moving maps). I expect to rent at various other FBO's after I get my PPL, and there is no guarantee that their aircraft will of course.
My current instructor has shown me how to work the panel gps, and we've used it in local flights to become familiar with it just in case I were to get lost and need it. BUT, he's made me promise NOT to use it unless absolutely necessary. I agree I should use pilotage and dead reckoning during my training. It is nice to know it's there just in case though.
The transceiver crossed my mind even though I do have a scanner I could use to get ATIS or listen to traffic for radio familiarization etc. I fly out of class C, so I get a lot of practice on the radio. I also use a radio in my job, so mike fright isn't a problem, but I still get stumped from time to time on what I'm supposed to say to ATC, or what the heck they are trying to tell me. Practice should take care of that right? I wondered if a transceiver might have better reception than the scanner so I could listen more though. I could probably fix the scanner reception with a better antenna for much cheaper than a transceiver however.
I have two pair of Lightspeed QFRXCc Headsets, and two pair of cheap Sigtronic headsets for passengers (eventually!) so I'm headset poor (gifts and such inherited over the years). I have an electronic E6B (although my instructor MAKES me use the wizwheel - yuck) so that would be the only other electronic gadget I'd be tempted to get.
I do have a Pocket PC (Toshiba e755). I have a (inexpensive) GPS card for it already, and I use it in my work to navigate around the state via car, but to tell you the truth, I wouldn't trust the thing in the air. It resets itself to factory settings too often for me to trust it to last long with any of the aviation navigation software solutions. When I originally purchased it, I thought I'd use it's other functions more (phone book, date book etc). But I don't. So I just can't see upgrading it just to get decent gps nav capabilities that I could get via a dedicated gps, which I would use quite often. I understand even the Airmap 500 can load street based data, so I could use it for work as well.
So.. as I said, I'm leaning towards the gps. But I'm not in any hurry. The gift certificates aren't burning a hole in my pocket, but I do get asked almost daily from the gift giver WHEN I intend to use them. So I figured I'd start thinking seriously about WHAT to use them on so I have a response next time.
Thanks all for your input. It really helps.