Anywhere map travel companion GPS - Thoughts?

Just bought one last week because the deal was too good to pass up. It is intuitive, but i wish there were a better manual. Their online manual is sparse as well. I tried signing up for their discussion board and their server crashed (nothing to do with the anywhere map itself of course).

I tried attaching the ATC to the yoke of the CAP plane (172R) the other day and discovered that the arm provided was too short to make it over the metal clip that seems standard on cessnas these days. I called Anywhere map and they are sending me a custom-made longer arm to fit the cessna in the mail...for free. I am impressed so far...we'll see what happens when i actually get to use it for real.
 
I have one.

Agreed about the manual - it's real crap. The discussion forums and your own experimenting will teach you more. Also, calling them helps. They're very nice about helping you do stuff.

It's a good device. I had one of the early buggy ones when they were coming out with new software 2x a week it seemed to fix it, but then things really stabilized nicely.

Overall, it's a nice GPS, very customizable, and real easy to use. They made the buttons bigger on the screen so you can use your finger instead of the stylus on a bumpy day.
 
c172captain said:
Does it have the option for XM Weather?
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The software load is different, but it can be upgraded to XM. I have the XM weather on mine.

It's nice, but I wouldn't use it in place of airborne radar. The NEXRAD images are usually a few minutes old, and at least around here, 5-6 minutes can mean drastic changes. I've actually thought about ditching the XM receiver and cancelling the subscription because I don't use it nearly as much as I thought I would. Maybe I will. Haven't decided.
 
killbilly said:
The software load is different, but it can be upgraded to XM. I have the XM weather on mine.

It's nice, but I wouldn't use it in place of airborne radar. The NEXRAD images are usually a few minutes old, and at least around here, 5-6 minutes can mean drastic changes. I've actually thought about ditching the XM receiver and cancelling the subscription because I don't use it nearly as much as I thought I would. Maybe I will. Haven't decided.
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NEXRAD is more of a strategic planning tool while airborne radar is more of a tactical planning tool.
 
Blackhawk said:
NEXRAD is more of a strategic planning tool while airborne radar is more of a tactical planning tool.
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:yeahthat:

Sums it up nicely.

Oh, couple of other things you get with the XM Subscription, though...

-you get winds aloft displayed, which is kinda nice
-you get METARS/AWOS stuff in real time, I believe

The fuel price downloads are nice, and I really like the automatic taxi diagrams that pop up as well when you land.
 
Does anyone have experience with both the Garmin X96 units and the ATC? I'm thinking about upgrading my 296 for a 496 mostly for the taxi diagrams. Getting an ATC would be way cheaper. Sounds like they fixed a lot of the bugs.

Any advise would be appreciated.
 
Medpilot said:
Does anyone have experience with both the Garmin X96 units and the ATC? I'm thinking about upgrading my 296 for a 496 mostly for the taxi diagrams. Getting an ATC would be way cheaper. Sounds like they fixed a lot of the bugs.

Any advise would be appreciated.
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The ATC has taxi diagrams. When I land, the unit automatically kicks into taxi diagram mode.
 
tried it for real the first time yesterday. Had a bit of trouble finding things like miles to destination and so on (not where I expected them). It SUCKS that the battery is so weak. The plane I fly for CAP has no cig lighter plug anywhere....gotta go make my own adapter....or just fly for less than 1.5 hours (which is where the battery warning kicked in). HP really should have a better battery. But, everything else (having not really read the manual) seemed to work pretty well.

My garmin NUVI can run for 5-6 hours without difficulty on battery alone. HP should work on matching this endurance.
 
ozone said:
tried it for real the first time yesterday. Had a bit of trouble finding things like miles to destination and so on (not where I expected them). It SUCKS that the battery is so weak. The plane I fly for CAP has no cig lighter plug anywhere....gotta go make my own adapter....or just fly for less than 1.5 hours (which is where the battery warning kicked in). HP really should have a better battery. But, everything else (having not really read the manual) seemed to work pretty well.

My garmin NUVI can run for 5-6 hours without difficulty on battery alone. HP should work on matching this endurance.
Click to expand...

Spend some time with it in SIM mode to figure out the stuff you're looking for. It's been a little while since I used mine but I think by default it shows your destination in terms of ETA rather than "miles to."

I set up a couple of different custom views for VFR Day and Night, too. If you don't set the background considerably darker for night flying, the brightness of the screen will completely kill your night vision and ability to see stuff outside.

As for the battery, yeah, it's a bit weak for standalone, but it's a small price to pay. I believe someone (can't remember whom) makes a 3rd-party battery pack for the unit which extends it considerably. You could also get someplace like Batteries Plus to make an external, rechargeable battery pack for you.
 
I am on my second one. They are great for the money. I like the Garmin units but the price on these is hard to beat. They were $495 at Sun & Fun. Everything that the 496 has. My biggest gripe is that the touch screen is hard to use in anything but smooth air. The wheel on the side of the newer ones helps but still isn't great. Overall I am happy. I get almost 5 hours out of one charge. Can't beat it for the money. Let me know if you have any specific questions. JOE
 
38bat said:
I am on my second one... I get almost 5 hours out of one charge. Can't beat it for the money. Let me know if you have any specific questions. JOE
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How do you get 5 hrs off a charge? Can you dim the screen or something like on laptops etc to get better life?

I was/am looking into this but am also very put off by teh battery life.

Also how much does it cost to update teh database?
 
I have one and I LOVE it. It's a nice little handheld for the money.

As far as battery power, by itself you'll get only about 1.5 hours on it. I ran into the problem of not having a 12v power outlet in the cockpit of a couple of planes I fly. I solved the problem by getting a battery pack with a 12v cigarette lighter outlet in it. If you went to somewhere like Batteries Plus, they can probably construct a battery pack for you like that. But here's the link as to what I bought to give you a better idea of what it loks like:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290304290752&ssPageName=MERCOSI_VI_ROSI_PR4_PCN_BIX_Stores&refitem=290272549070&itemcount=4&refwidgetloc=closed_view_item&refwidgettype=osi_widget&_trksid=p284.m263&_trkparms=algo%3DSIC%26its%3DI%252BC%252BP%252BS%252BIA%26itu%3DIA%252BUCI%252BUA%26otn%3D4%26ps%3D10

Sorry for the obnoxious link length. I don't remember how to fancy it up and make it shorter. With this thing I can get up to 6 hours of use out of the ATC, including switching over to its internal battery.

Cheers!

Andy
 
Anyone have any experience with the Bendix-King AV8OR? Just considering different units until I have the spare cash to buy one.
 
Holocene said:
Anyone have any experience with the Bendix-King AV8OR? Just considering different units until I have the spare cash to buy one.
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Seems to be more buck less bang than the ATC, but I have no time spent with either unit.

One thing I like about the AV8OR is the batteries. Even if you have the ext pack or whatever you can buy/have made for the ATC, with the AV8OR you can just swap out batteries from your bag. Seems like with the ATC you might forget to charge the external battery or something like that every now and then.
 
killbilly said:
Spend some time with it in SIM mode to figure out the stuff you're looking for. It's been a little while since I used mine but I think by default it shows your destination in terms of ETA rather than "miles to."

I set up a couple of different custom views for VFR Day and Night, too. If you don't set the background considerably darker for night flying, the brightness of the screen will completely kill your night vision and ability to see stuff outside.

As for the battery, yeah, it's a bit weak for standalone, but it's a small price to pay. I believe someone (can't remember whom) makes a 3rd-party battery pack for the unit which extends it considerably. You could also get someplace like Batteries Plus to make an external, rechargeable battery pack for you.
Click to expand...

I have no experience with this battery, but this should give you twice the life of the origional battery.

http://shop.eten.hu/mugen-power-340...series-gps-with-battery-door-black-p-488.html

I just ordered an ATC from Sporty's. Can wait to try it out.
 
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