Moving-map displays join the hand-held GPS receivers.
Each Global Positioning System satellite circles this blue-green globe of ours about once every 20 hours. That's making time. Given such a frenetic pace, one may well understand why GPS advances, on the receiver side at least, have been streaking along like a technological asteroid. Not long ago, when the first satellite receivers hit the market, the infant medium imposed some operating hardships, like limited coverage and receivers with rudimentary — or nonexistent — databases.
All that has changed. This latest round of GPS receivers shimmers with more features than a 16-screen cineplex, and the hottest new trick involves the moving map. Pictorials of airspace now join the typical navigation information, all in a palm-of-the-hand package. Garmin elected to retain the basic shape of the popular 55 AVD and add a beefed-up database and an entirely new dot-matrix liquid-crystal display. Result: the 95 AVD. Likewise, Magellan swapped out screens on its 5000A hand-held to bring us the MAP 7000. Electronics giant Sony started anew with the IPS-760, after a dismal start with the IPS-360 portable. And there is a new II Morrow, an all-new construct, designed, as were all of these units, for a crossover market. Part of the II Morrow 920's case is rubberized, and it is listed as water-resistant. Take it flying or take it fishing, your choice.
Packaging differences aside, this GPS technology has become universally good. Our use showed that all four of these units acquired satellites quickly, tracked accurately, and agreed on information like groundspeed, distance and bearing to waypoint, and altitude within a very small range. Certain features have become essential at the head of the class, like databases including airports and navaids. Specifics among units varies, with different runway-length criteria and limits on the types of navaids. Sony and Magellan give you airports and VORs. Garmin and II Morrow add enroute intersections and more detailed airport information such as communications frequencies and lighting notes. All have flight- plan functions and nearest-waypoint search, and all offer data-output ports. Only the Sony currently does not support input of differential-GPS data, though its maker says it can be upgraded. (These features might seem premature, since the differential standard has not been set. Nor is it certain if the FAA will allow handheld units to be used for sole-source IFR.)
Some differences remain in the type of GPS receiver itself. Garmin continues with its MultiTrac scheme, basically a single-channel scanning receiver. The Magellan, II Morrow, and Sony devices have five, six, and eight channels, respectively.
How many satellites each unit receives and tracks depends more on the individual installation than anything else. A closed-in cabin with lots of metal around will hamper the receivers' ability to "see" the satellite signals. Radios like the Garmin and Magellan, with cigar-shaped antennas, generally can be placed on a yoke mount and operated without detaching the antenna. The Sony required its antenna to be dismounted from the frame and placed in the windshield in one of our test airplanes, a Mooney. Amazingly, the II Morrow would track in three dimensions almost all the time, although a few hours in a high-wing airplane called for implementing the external puck-shaped antenna for 3-D coverage. Garmin and Magellan include short segments of coaxial cable to allow remote mounting of the antennas.
Over a period of two months, we spent time with these units, flying regular trips and pressing lots of buttons. Here's how the four shake out.
Fourth place: Sony IPS-760 — We expected great things from Sony this time around, considering the difficult-to-use first-generation IPS- 360. At first blush, Sony seems to have delivered — the 760's LCD screen is by a good margin the largest of the four, with crisp characters and good contrast. It does, however, suffer from annoying reflections in the cockpit. Equipped with two card slots, it could be specialized for different uses. Arnav Systems massages Jeppesen data for the Sony, and it includes airports, VORs, NDBs, and the outlines of Class B and C airspace. Card-based updates mean database changes and system-level improvements can be implemented without returning the receiver to the factory.
Rather than coming home a victor, the Sony is an early casualty in the hand-held GPS war. An infuriating degree of button-pressing marks the Sony's system logic troubles and creates difficulty for even careful users. For example, for direct-to navigation, you must enter the Quick Nav mode, select your method of entering the waypoint (text or via the map), bring up the identifier (either through a list or on a letter map), back out of the enter mode, and then select GO TO. Basic system flaws conspire to slow you down. Displaying waypoint names calls for far more concentration and button poking than we think is reasonable.
Those shortcomings might be forgiven were the moving map a knockout — it is not. Airports and navaids are depicted by clunky icons, without the identifier, and Sony's choice of screen ranges is unfortunate. You get a large-scale display (which shows the West Coast through about a dozen western states), and another at about 250-nautical-mile range, both of which show airport, airspace, navaid, and geographical information. Another, tighter range, at about 60 nm, cannot depict anything but the waypoints in the flight plan and latitude/longitude lines. In short, the Sony's map, for light airplane work, is perilously close to useless.
Add all this to poor battery life (less than three hours, much less with the backlight on) from six AAs and you have an out-of-the-pack runner in a very competitive horse race. The Sony retails for $1,699 and can be purchased from many sources for about $1,250.
Third place: Magellan MAP 7000 — Initially, the MAP 7000 appears to be a lightly warmed-over version of the 5000A. Indeed, the cases are identical, right down to the rubberized finish and watertight battery compartment. Only one button on the face is new, called "MAP," and a couple of others have been renamed.
Displaying the Nav page, the 7000 will show the usual information about distance and bearing to your selected waypoint (in this case, airports with runways more than 1,000 feet long, VORs, and up to 500 user- defined locations), groundspeed, and a digital CDI. In all displays where there is more information waiting just around the corner, small arrows appear in the lower right corner of the screen. Pressing the corresponding button brings these data to the front.
Magellan's map shows well, although it is hindered by a relative paucity of screen ranges. You get ranges (in statute or nautical miles or kilometers) of 10, 20, 50, 125, and 250. (Meanwhile, Garmin's 95 has 10 ranges, and the II Morrow's 920 includes 15.) You can elect to display any or all of the following information: airports, navaids, user waypoints, airspace boundaries, desired track, and track history. Magellan chose to show just the generic outlines of Class B and C airspace (30 nm and 20 nm circles, respectively), so you really can't expect a high degree of resolution around odd-shaped chunks of airspace.
Magellan deserves a hefty pat on the back for simplifying the 7000's system architecture over the 5000A and upgrading the sub-menu selection process. Data entry is accomplished through the alphanumeric keyboard in much the same way as the Garmin. Touch the key with the desired character, and then toggle through the four choices with the right-arrow key — simple, and quick.
Pleasant features abound, like fuel planning, E-6B calculations, and nearest-waypoint searches for airports, navaids, and user-defined points. Aspects that keep the Magellan out of second place here include the slightly limited map and the total radio's size; length and width are only slightly greater than the II Morrow's, but it feels heftier and bulkier.
Suggested retail price is $1,299, but Magellan has asked its dealers to offer a standard advertised price of $995. It is rugged and has generally very good battery life. Claimed longevity from the six AA cells is 10 hours, but we didn't get them to play much past eight hours, with a mix of day and night use; backlight use naturally cuts into battery life.
Second place: Garmin 95 — Garmin decided not to mess with a good thing in turning the Model 55 into the moving-map 95. As such, the basic system architecture remains, as does the nifty and tidy case, backlighted (though somewhat numb-feeling) rubber keys, and keyboard data entry.
As GPS navigators go, the Garmin 95's operating logic is one of the very best, clear and understandable even when the pilot never so much as breaks the cellophane on the manual. The data-entry technique is the best of these four, requiring fewer keystrokes and needing much less time to master. Moreover, the essential functions of the unit seem perfectly logical, with enough prompting to turn even the most wary user into a grinning gadgetite.
Garmin's 95 placed runner-up in the field for one simple reason: the map. What sets these four GPS apart from the many others out there is the moving map, the quality of which will be a prime deciding factor for buyers. The short answer is that the Garmin's map, though generally quite good, is second best, a conclusion based in part on the larger pixels in the 95's display, They tend to make the graphics appear chunky, and often two pieces of information that are very close to each other cause significant and annoying overwriting.
Presentation of other navigation screens, however, proves excellent, with large numbers and clever use of graphic elements (like a course deviation indicator that includes a rotating pointer for basic orientation). And if you plug into ship's power, you can lop off nearly 1.5 inches from the Garmin's length and fit it into a sleek yoke mount. Shorn of its four-AA-cell pack, the 95 appears almost miniature. (Those batteries, by the way, permit about four hours' navigation, so long as the backlight remains off.)
Suggested retail price is $1,495 retail (and about $1,150 from mail-order houses). It is in most respects a finely honed and mature device, and for pilots wanting a diminutive package and keyboard, the Garmin 95 might still be the best deal.
First place: II Morrow Apollo 920 — If you want the most in maps, the II Morrow 920 is the one to buy. Acknowledging two relatively minor shortcomings, the II Morrow's dot-matrix screen is a winner, with sharp graphics and a superior data-presentation scheme. (Those glitches? Too many reflections on the glass — the Garmin is better — and slightly less contrast than the 95.) In addition, the 920 displays the authentic outlines of Class B and C airspace; although the underlying segments and altitudes are not depicted, the outside boundaries are worth seeing. Fifteen screen ranges, in nautical miles, include 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 100, 250, 500, and 750. (Screen ranges depictions will change by the distance units chosen by the user, nautical or statute miles, or kilometers.) By comparison, the Garmin includes 10 ranges, at 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, and 240 nm.
Not only is the II Morrow's basic map display better, but there are two types: one with a full-screen depiction of the airspace, and another with about one third of the right side showing waypoint information. Further, you can (as with the Garmin) toggle through the items on the screen and pull down more detailed information. You can bring up numerical nav pages, too, if all you want are the basics.
Data-entry strategies are generally well implemented. With so few keys, you must insert information by scrolling through the alphabet; the 920 will help out by guessing the last few characters to cut down the number of keystrokes. Also, the waypoints, as they are in all II Morrow GPSs, are segregated by type in a different field from the identifier. (Garmin gets around this by using the K prefix on many U.S. airports where there can be a navaid with the same root identifier.) Though simple to understand and use, the II Morrow nonetheless requires a bit more button jabbing than the Garmin.
And then there's the size. Placed next to the Garmin, the 920 is husky, and in some airplanes, it is a bit ungainly on the yoke mount, like a linebacker in toe shoes. Connecting to airplane power doesn't buy space, either, because the battery compartment (which, unfortunately, requires a small screwdriver for access) remains part of the case. Six AA batteries live under the waterproof cover, giving the II Morrow a claimed 6.5-hours' endurance, a figure we verified during testing. Suggested retail price is $1,595, with going rates around $1,250.
Ultimately, most pilots could find true happiness with either Magellan, Garmin, or II Morrow receivers. They represent the current thinking in a fast-moving industry, and each can be a versatile aid to both the renter-pilot and the gadget nut who will make use of every navigation tool on the planet. With help, of course, from above it.
Trimble Flightmate Pro
Trimble revises the futuristic Flightmate.
Trimble can be counted among the pioneers of satellite navigation, as can its Flightmate hand-held GPS. Offered in aviation, marine, and general- purpose specifications, the Flightmate helped usher in the low-cost group of hand-helds now so common. (It is, alas, not among the newest group of portables with a moving map display.)
Perfect, however, the original Flightmate was not, and Trimble tackled the major shortcomings in the Flightmate Pro. Outwardly, the Pro appears kissing-cousin to the original, but inside, Trimble's engineers made substantial changes.
A more comprehensive database drives the Pro, including the airport and navaid city names. This feature allows the user to search by name as well as standard identifier codes. The worldwide database can be sectioned by region to speed and simplify waypoint searches. In addition, some of the menu items have been shuffled to make room for a flight- planning option (a total of 10 plans of up to 10 legs each). Before, only three waypoints could be preset as "from," "to," and "next." The Pro now also computes vertical navigation information.
Perhaps the most visible change, and in many respects the most useful, involves the external antenna. In the first Flightmate, the remote antenna connected through a slipper over the Flightmate's internal antenna; this required external power and a clumsy jumper cable. Now, however, the puck-shaped antenna connects directly to the Pro, no outside power, no slippers required. Also, the Pro has sprouted a data-output port, so connections to moving-map displays can now be accomplished.
In most respects, the Flightmate Pro is a better GPS than its predecessor. The three-channel receiver locks on quickly, and the displayed navigation information is wonderfully accurate. Relatively few buttons make the Pro go, and minor tweaking of the system logic has improved an already good user interface. The direct-to gateway remains, as do the E-6B calculator functions. Trimble has also expanded and improved the on-screen prompting. The company wisely left the Flightmate's main navigation page alone, so it remains one of the best in the business, with all the necessary information displayed clearly and concisely — no hunting and pecking needed to gain the big picture.
Suggested retail price is $995, with current street prices around $750. It comes packaged with an external antenna, battery eliminator and power cord, data connector and cable, yoke mount, and carrying case. — MEC
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