My next toy - Page 2

flyitup · February 17th, 2003, 00:11

[ QUOTE ]
By homework, I think they really meant "Do it in class-work"

[/ QUOTE ]

I guess I'll find out Tuesday morning...

drumminpilot · February 17th, 2003, 00:16

[ QUOTE ]
Arkansas? What's that?

[/ QUOTE ]

The third from last exit before hell.

drumminpilot · February 17th, 2003, 00:19

[ QUOTE ]
I guess I'll find out Tuesday morning...

[/ QUOTE ]

TUESDAY? Where's the fun in waiting til the last minute? See, it's better to help you get used to performing under pressure if you wait til the last minute, or, at least that's what I tell myself. haha

av8sean · February 17th, 2003, 01:16

The eTrex Legend is on sale right now at this place.. very tempting!

CLICK HERE~~~~~~~~~~

drumminpilot · February 17th, 2003, 11:06

Holy cow....... that's cheaper than Wal-Mart...

darrenf · February 17th, 2003, 12:32

[ QUOTE ]
Holy cow....... that's cheaper than Wal-Mart...

[/ QUOTE ]

Pretty soon these things are going to be the pize at the bottom of my Captain Crunch Cereal.

E_Dawg · February 17th, 2003, 15:00

So about the eTrex Legend... can you see terrain features like altitudes of mountains and all that good stuff? And I'm guessing it doesn't have frequencies to use but is there any way to manually enter them before the flight?

drumminpilot · February 17th, 2003, 21:03

if you download the maps off of mapsource, then yes it will give you objects like altitudes of mtns. You can also get topo stuff off of a topo CD. I'm pretty sure you cannot enter frequencies into it, but I could be wrong. I've never done it.

Ophir · February 18th, 2003, 09:13

Ed,

I would recommend going to Tropic Aero's site and purchasing their travel kit (the guys at Tropic Aero are really friendly, have great prices, and will answer any questions that may come up. Additionally, they have a buy back program when you are ready for the next generation GPS, when it comes out)Tropic Aero . It comes with the yoke mount, car mount, power cord, pc connect cord, and extended antenna, not to mention the sweet padded case. This would provide you with a protective case and most importantly a powercord and remote antenna. I have heard great advice and that is to run the GPS with the backlight during the day if you have it plugged in; and, it really improves the readability of the unit.

I was flying VFR from LAS to TEX this fall with friends. I decided to fly over the Grand Canyon on the way home. If you are unfamiliar with the Grand Canyon there are flight corridors that you need to fly through to be legal, and you have to request flight through the corridors. As I approach, on flight following, navigating with the 196, I requested Dragon Corridor. The controller (very nice) came on and asked if I had the appropriate navigation equipment to fly Dragon. I came back and told him that my handheld GPS should do the trick. He cleared me and I made the turn N bound through the corridor. Not two minutes later my GPS lost satellite reception and I was looking at a screen of a little plane that was blinking with a question mark on it. CRAP. So I says: "182AZ request vectors for Dragon." It turned out to be no big deal at all but my point is that the built in antenna is not 100% reliable. It is nice to have the remote antenna.

aloft · February 18th, 2003, 14:21

[ QUOTE ]
I disagree, a competent instrument pilot should be able to safely pilot a general aviation airplane without an autopilot-- or GPS for that matter in IFR conditions.

[/ QUOTE ]
True; however, the SMART instrument pilot will use every means at his/her disposal--including GPS, even if only a VFR-only handheld--to give him/her the best possible level of situational awareness.

The Legend is a good unit; it offers not only a moving map but also an HSI-like display which I find VERY useful. I wish my GPSMap 76 had that (and I keep bugging Garmin Engineering to add it via a firmware update). The downside to the Legend is that its display is tiny; having to read anything off it in anything but the lightest chop is a chore. The fact that the screen's resolution is quite high doesn't help, as it's allowed Garmin's engineers to make text labels very small (too small for quick glances, really). The HSI minimizes this shortcoming, as it displays a lot of information visually and is big enough to get that info in a quick glance (provided that you understand how an HSI works, of course). I also don't care for the "click stick" and buttons on the side of the unit; fine for hiking, a pain to use in any kind of yoke mount.

I would caution you to be VERY careful about programming in navaids, airports and intersections manually; it's extremely easy to make inadvertent errors this way, which can be dangerous if you're ever forced to use your gps in an emergency situation, like on a moonless night out in the boonies. A better alternative to manual data entry is to get it in electronic form from one of several online sources and load that data directly from your computer.

Ed, if you get the Legend (or any of the Garmin mapping units), let me know; as I showed you on my Garmin last week, it's now possible to create a custom MapSource map you can install on your gps to give you all CA's airports, navaids and intersections from DOD's DAFIF database--far more data than the limited number of user waypoints would allow.

mrivc211 · February 18th, 2003, 15:07

I was also thinking of saving up for a cool GPS unit, but I thought I'd better put enough money in my account to cover my checks first!

E_Dawg · February 18th, 2003, 22:14

Damnit I knew I shouldn't have started this thread... you people now have me lusting after a gps that's probably worth more than my car

; which isn't saying much because with gas prices the way they are now every time I fill up the value practically doubles

Anyways whatever happens it'll be after I get my rating; and aloft that was one killer setup you had that one day

February 17th, 2003, 00:11	#26
flyitup Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Denver, CO Posts: 620	Re: My next toy [ QUOTE ] By homework, I think they really meant "Do it in class-work" [/ QUOTE ] I guess I'll find out Tuesday morning...

February 17th, 2003, 00:16	#27
drumminpilot Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Springdale, AR (XNA/RVS/ASG) Posts: 320	Re: My next toy [ QUOTE ] Arkansas? What's that? [/ QUOTE ] The third from last exit before hell.

February 17th, 2003, 00:19	#28
drumminpilot Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Springdale, AR (XNA/RVS/ASG) Posts: 320	Re: My next toy [ QUOTE ] I guess I'll find out Tuesday morning... [/ QUOTE ] TUESDAY? Where's the fun in waiting til the last minute? See, it's better to help you get used to performing under pressure if you wait til the last minute, or, at least that's what I tell myself. haha

February 17th, 2003, 01:16	#29
av8sean Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Toronto/DTW Posts: 479	Re: My next toy The eTrex Legend is on sale right now at this place.. very tempting! CLICK HERE~~~~~~~~~~

February 17th, 2003, 11:06	#30
drumminpilot Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Springdale, AR (XNA/RVS/ASG) Posts: 320	Re: My next toy Holy cow....... that's cheaper than Wal-Mart...

February 17th, 2003, 12:32	#31
darrenf Old Skool Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Atlantic City, NJ Posts: 3,436	Re: My next toy [ QUOTE ] Holy cow....... that's cheaper than Wal-Mart... [/ QUOTE ] Pretty soon these things are going to be the pize at the bottom of my Captain Crunch Cereal.

February 17th, 2003, 15:00	#32
E_Dawg Moderator Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: chicago Posts: 4,147	Re: My next toy So about the eTrex Legend... can you see terrain features like altitudes of mountains and all that good stuff? And I'm guessing it doesn't have frequencies to use but is there any way to manually enter them before the flight?

February 17th, 2003, 21:03	#33
drumminpilot Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Springdale, AR (XNA/RVS/ASG) Posts: 320	Re: My next toy if you download the maps off of mapsource, then yes it will give you objects like altitudes of mtns. You can also get topo stuff off of a topo CD. I'm pretty sure you cannot enter frequencies into it, but I could be wrong. I've never done it.

February 18th, 2003, 09:13	#34
Ophir Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: was Ophir, CO, now in SLC! Posts: 1,477	Re: My next toy Ed, I would recommend going to Tropic Aero's site and purchasing their travel kit (the guys at Tropic Aero are really friendly, have great prices, and will answer any questions that may come up. Additionally, they have a buy back program when you are ready for the next generation GPS, when it comes out)Tropic Aero . It comes with the yoke mount, car mount, power cord, pc connect cord, and extended antenna, not to mention the sweet padded case. This would provide you with a protective case and most importantly a powercord and remote antenna. I have heard great advice and that is to run the GPS with the backlight during the day if you have it plugged in; and, it really improves the readability of the unit. I was flying VFR from LAS to TEX this fall with friends. I decided to fly over the Grand Canyon on the way home. If you are unfamiliar with the Grand Canyon there are flight corridors that you need to fly through to be legal, and you have to request flight through the corridors. As I approach, on flight following, navigating with the 196, I requested Dragon Corridor. The controller (very nice) came on and asked if I had the appropriate navigation equipment to fly Dragon. I came back and told him that my handheld GPS should do the trick. He cleared me and I made the turn N bound through the corridor. Not two minutes later my GPS lost satellite reception and I was looking at a screen of a little plane that was blinking with a question mark on it. CRAP. So I says: "182AZ request vectors for Dragon." It turned out to be no big deal at all but my point is that the built in antenna is not 100% reliable. It is nice to have the remote antenna.

February 18th, 2003, 14:21	#35
aloft Old Skool Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Inside your OODA loop Posts: 6,723	Re: My next toy [ QUOTE ] I disagree, a competent instrument pilot should be able to safely pilot a general aviation airplane without an autopilot-- or GPS for that matter in IFR conditions. [/ QUOTE ] True; however, the SMART instrument pilot will use every means at his/her disposal--including GPS, even if only a VFR-only handheld--to give him/her the best possible level of situational awareness. The Legend is a good unit; it offers not only a moving map but also an HSI-like display which I find VERY useful. I wish my GPSMap 76 had that (and I keep bugging Garmin Engineering to add it via a firmware update). The downside to the Legend is that its display is tiny; having to read anything off it in anything but the lightest chop is a chore. The fact that the screen's resolution is quite high doesn't help, as it's allowed Garmin's engineers to make text labels very small (too small for quick glances, really). The HSI minimizes this shortcoming, as it displays a lot of information visually and is big enough to get that info in a quick glance (provided that you understand how an HSI works, of course). I also don't care for the "click stick" and buttons on the side of the unit; fine for hiking, a pain to use in any kind of yoke mount. I would caution you to be VERY careful about programming in navaids, airports and intersections manually; it's extremely easy to make inadvertent errors this way, which can be dangerous if you're ever forced to use your gps in an emergency situation, like on a moonless night out in the boonies. A better alternative to manual data entry is to get it in electronic form from one of several online sources and load that data directly from your computer. Ed, if you get the Legend (or any of the Garmin mapping units), let me know; as I showed you on my Garmin last week, it's now possible to create a custom MapSource map you can install on your gps to give you all CA's airports, navaids and intersections from DOD's DAFIF database--far more data than the limited number of user waypoints would allow.

February 18th, 2003, 15:07	#36
mrivc211 Old Skool Join Date: Sep 2000 Posts: 2,006	Re: My next toy I was also thinking of saving up for a cool GPS unit, but I thought I'd better put enough money in my account to cover my checks first!

February 18th, 2003, 22:14	#37
E_Dawg Moderator Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: chicago Posts: 4,147	Re: My next toy Damnit I knew I shouldn't have started this thread... you people now have me lusting after a gps that's probably worth more than my car ; which isn't saying much because with gas prices the way they are now every time I fill up the value practically doubles Anyways whatever happens it'll be after I get my rating; and aloft that was one killer setup you had that one day

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