Off-brand Handheld GPS?

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AA5Bman

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He who ironically no longer flies an AA5B
All,

Can anyone recommend a non-Garmin handheld GPS? I just sold my 496 which I liked (it went with the plane), and I'm looking for a replacement. There's really nothing all that special about Garmin products, so I thought I would look around and see if I can save some money. Trouble is, I don't know where to start!

I think I'd buy an AV8TOR, but I can't figure out if it has an E6B incorporated into its programming. I really liked that feature of the 496. The important points for me are:

1. Solid VFR map display - playing around at AS the other day, I liked the new Aeras' displays the best, but at $2,200? Come on.
2. Airport directory - crucial
3. E6B
4. XM Weather

What should I look at?
 
A buddy of mine got an Anywhere Map GPS for his Bo. I've only seen it in action once, but it seemed well put together and he swears by it.
 
Interesting that you mention that one. I was just looking at a side-by-side comparison between it and the Aera and AV8TOR lines. Pretty dang impressive, really, and at much lower cost. Maybe I'm just not used to it, but the way it displays chart information seems a little rinky-dinky to me is my only complaint.
 
One of our members at Windwood this weekend had an AV8tor - and HATED it. So much that they are putting a G500 in their airplane. I've played with the AV8tor and I think it's "not very good" (in my best Jeremy Clarkson imitation).

I believe Ron Levy has one of the new Aveo or Avio (whatever they are) from Garmin and his reports have been positive.

I haven't seen signs yet of Garmin getting comfortable with their market leadership, at least not in the aviation sector.
 
One point off the top -- if you want XM weather, you either buy a Garmin or you buy a second, separate, paperback book-sized WxWorx box to plug into your GPS. If you're OK with the extra wires and power outlet requirements, you have choices. If not, you buy Garmin or you go without weather.
 
"there's really nothing all that special about Garmin products..."

If that were true you wouldn't need help finding something comparable :)

Do yourself a favor: unless you want something tablet-sized, get another Garmin. Check out the touchscreen models first and decide if you like them better than the x96 models.
 
I bought an anywhere quadra efb at osh. Seems to work ok and has a lot of features in a small package. There are still a couple of software bugs they are working out especially with the pocket plates. They now have usb download capability and that speeds up the updates. As for the xm, yes the box is larger but it fits in the kickpanel pouch perfectly, antenna is very small. The wires were easy enough to conseal. There is a hardwire power pack that I put under the dash with just a gnd and pwr hook up. I have used it both day and night and can read it well in both settings.. even for "older eyes". The attitude on fixing the glitches is excellent but I will be glad when it is accomplished. I did suggest they incorporate a "track up" feature. lmk if you have any other questions.
 
Ron Levy said:
One point off the top -- if you want XM weather, you either buy a Garmin or you buy a second, separate, paperback book-sized WxWorx box to plug into your GPS. If you're OK with the extra wires and power outlet requirements, you have choices. If not, you buy Garmin or you go without weather.
Click to expand...

Ahh... I didn't realize this. I actually didn't get XM weather in the past. In general I wish I had it about twice a year - not enough to justify the cost in my opinion. If only you could get it on a "per use" basis...

Not sure I'd get it in the future, either. The base-model Anywheremap might be the ticket.
 
Maj Geezer said:
I bought an anywhere quadra efb at osh. Seems to work ok and has a lot of features in a small package. There are still a couple of software bugs they are working out especially with the pocket plates......
Click to expand...

Ah, some things seem never to change. My info if pretty out of data - circa 2003 - but I had Anywhere Map back in the iPaq days. Your review is close to verbatim what I would have written then, except back then the feature set from Garmin wasn't anywhere close to Anywhere Map.

Software was always buggy, they'd fix one thing while breaking another. Always introducing new features before getting what was promised right. They were friendly and would return calls/e-mails, the downside was that there were always problems.

Hopefully they've got most of these issues past them, but above brings back stability issues that drove me to Garmin (the turn it on and it works brand). I'm no Garmin apostle and I don't like their price point, but their stuff just works. Anywhere Map always felt a bit like Blue Mountain to me - great stuff, good people, but you had to make a hobby out of messing with it to have a tool that worked when you went flying. I'm open to hearing things have changed, but my experience over 3 years with Anywhere Map has turned me off of "off-brand" aviation stuff for the last 5 years.
 
AA5Bman said:
All,

Can anyone recommend a non-Garmin handheld GPS? I just sold my 496 which I liked (it went with the plane), and I'm looking for a replacement. There's really nothing all that special about Garmin products, so I thought I would look around and see if I can save some money. Trouble is, I don't know where to start!

I think I'd buy an AV8TOR, but I can't figure out if it has an E6B incorporated into its programming. I really liked that feature of the 496. The important points for me are:

1. Solid VFR map display - playing around at AS the other day, I liked the new Aeras' displays the best, but at $2,200? Come on.
2. Airport directory - crucial
3. E6B
4. XM Weather

What should I look at?
Click to expand...

The Aera 510 is about $1300.00 and the XM-WX subscription can be had for about $49.00/month. It is one hell of a resource in the plane. For a couple of bucks at installation, buy the interface cord and have the mount hard wired into the plane so you can drive it directly off of the electrical system and pickup any flightplan loaded into a Garmin GNS.
 
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The 510 doesn't have Airport Diagrams or Airport Directory. I could live without the former but not the latter.
 
I would point out that my concerns over the number of boxes required are driven by what I do -- giving training (primarily instrument training) to people in their own airplanes. Since many (most?) of my clients do not have weather in their airplanes, and we fly a lot in the goo, I want to carry my portable weather gizmo with me when I fly with them. The 510 is extremely compact -- the entire package (510, power cord, and XM "hockey puck" antenna) all fit nicely in my jacket pocket. If I had to add the WxWorx box, that would be more than I'd want to carry around on my person -- hence, I bought the 510, which is a lot more compact than the x96 units (and easier to use, too). Its "Nuvi" mode also serves as my automotive GPS when I'm traveling to clients' locations and driving a rental car around in strange cities -- another big plus for my situation.
 
If you don't care about weather you might check out Lowrance products. I tried one (2000) out for a week and found the Garmin to be much better but it still isn't bad.
 
alaskaflyer said:
If you don't care about weather you might check out Lowrance products. I tried one (2000) out for a week and found the Garmin to be much better but it still isn't bad.
Click to expand...

DON'T! Lowrance has stopped supporting the 2000c, and we can no longer update the database. Every day it becomes less and less useful.

AvMap rocks. Check out the IV. (I owned the IIIc, and should never, ever have sold it. Now I'm stuck with a boat-anchor Lowrance... :cryin: )
 
I realize it's kinda of large for a handheld but I have a Cheetah FL190 and love love love it. It has VFR sectionals as the moving map, it has IFR lows and highs, it has XM weather, it has approach plates, it has STARS, it has SIDS, it has flight planning, it has EIFIS type fly-through boxes, but I'm not sure (honestly) if it has a straight up E6B. It's on a Samsung tablet, but it is portable.
 
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