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November 21
More Magic—in Your Hands
The Lowrance 600c GPS goes to our winner

Though the 1977 Cessna Cardinal we've refurbished for this year's Catch-A-Cardinal sweepstakes has a host of electronic goodies in its new instrument panel, the prudent pilot always takes along a back-up navigation source. Lowrance Avionics is providing its latest handheld GPS, the 600c, for the winner to use to check off this important box.

We reviewed the 600c last year in Pilot, and I gave it high praise for its screen clarity and slim profile. The unit measures 5.6 inches by 2.5 inches wide by 1.2 inches deep, making it a comfortable fit on the Cardinal's yoke.

The 2.8-inch diagonal TFT screen isn't spacious (the GPS does have to fit on the yoke, you know), but the 320-by-240-pixel resolution makes up for it. A removable MMC or SD memory card records trip details, stores custom maps, and allows you to upgrade the unit's software or transfer trip details to another device.

A yoke mount is also included, along with USB card reader and Jeppesen and Safe Flight 21 databases preloaded on the supplied memory card.

A white LED backlights the screen for night operations, and the 600c can be powered by two AA batteries, or via the adapter included in the package. (Note: The adapter contains a voltage regulator that drops aircraft system voltage to about 3 volts—splicing the adapter wires directly into the panel bypasses this regulator and the unregulated voltage will destroy the unit.) Lowrance recommends using akaline AA batteries for longest battery life. Power-saving settings use less frequent update rates, which extend battery life but slightly reduce GPS accuracy—but the tradeoff lengthens battery life from three hours to a maximum of 12 hours.

The nuts and bolts
The 600c is Wide Area Augmentation System-capable, for precise navigation, and offers a variety of map views to present this information. Its horizontal situation indicator (HSI) panel function shows WAAS GPS-derived bearing, groundspeed, and altitude information, and displays it in several ways.

One view is the Map Panel screen, with the groundspeed tape ghosted on the left side of the map at the top of the screen, and the altitude tape ghosted on the right side of the map, with a 100-degree compass rose along the bottom. Another option is to have the groundspeed, altitude, and 360-degree compass rose with a CDI (course deviation indicator) on the top portion of the screen, and the map running the full width at the bottom. An OBS Hold feature allows you to navigate along a selected radial to or from a location. A VSI function can be selected to display vertical speed along the far right edge of the screen.

The 600c also offers terrain information in both map and profile views, the profile available on a split screen with the map. Terrain data includes man-made and natural obstructions, plus airspace. Customizable data blocks along the top of the screen can be configured to show track, groundspeed, distance, closing speed, and off-course error, as well as estimated time enroute, which is always displayed. You can even adjust the transparency of the on-screen menus so you can read the map behind them while they're activated.

Position updates typically occur once per second; the 600c can store up to 1,000 user-defined waypoints and 100 routes with up to 100 waypoints per route. The MapCreate custom maps add additional data, including points of interest (restaurants, lodging, grocery stores, and other landmarks).

There's more...
...but we're going to let the winner discover all those details. That lucky pilot will have plenty of time as he or she criss-crosses the country in the new bird. Who knows, if it's you, you could even try out the Man Overboard function (in Land mode) which marks the position of anyone you've lost from the ship—though keep in mind that it's probably less valuable for skydiving than for it is for marine operations.

—Julie K. Boatman

E-mail the author at julie.boatman@aopa.org.

FEATURED CONTRIBUTOR
Lowrance Avionics
In 1957, Carl Lowrance, an avid fisherman, founded the company that bears his name initially to develop an instrument (sonar) that would help fisherman determine the best fishing spots. The inclusion of transistors in consumer electronics paved the way for Lowrance to introduce its first sonar at a much lower price ($150 vs. $2,000) than other sonar units on the market. This history of producing value continues through the present day. Lowrance branched into aviation with the first handheld GPS with full mapping capability in 1996.

Navico Group was created in September 2006 to extend Lowrance's global reach, with Jens-Thomas Pietralla as chief operating officer, and CEO-elect for when Darrell Lowrance, Carl's son, would step down from heading the company in January 2007. Aviation sales manager Grant Farrell is an active pilot with a new-to-him Yakovlev 52 warbird. With products like the 600c we're giving away in the Cardinal, plus the large-format 2000c, Lowrance continues to offer a value solution for pilots that they can also use on land or sea. Contact Lowrance by calling 800/324-4740, or by visiting the Web site.