GPS for Private Aircraft?
My father is a private pilot who has his own biplane. He has no real avionics to speak of, and I know he'd like a GPS device for his birthday. I want it to be a surprise, so I've been trying to elicit from him what features would be most important. It sounds like he wants one that:
--Tells him where he is in the air;
--Identifies major terrain features, airports, cities, etc.;
--Allows him to plot waypoints and to log a flight plan;
--Bonus: one that identifies other aircraft in the air;
--Bonus: one that mounts somewhere, so he doesn't have to pick it up and fiddle with it.
While leading me to a website to do my own research is helpful, ideally I'd like to get some info from pilots who have used GPS devices they're recommending. Thanks!
Public Comments
- Absolute Best is a garmin 396, handheld and portable and displays real time weather, lighting, storms, forcasts, everything but traffic. Cost is about $2,300 If you're on a budget, check ebay for a garmin 295 or 296, both are great basic tools ---If you really love your dad get the 396 =) no BS, I flew from New York to California this summer and 90% of my navigation was on the Garmin, and I would have never made the trip in 2 days without the weather feature. It also receives XM satelite radio.
- Definitely the Garmins. I would go for the 296. They all have yoke/panel mounts
- Garmin 296. Nothing else will do.
- go to www.sportys.com. they have a good choise of GPS devises there.
- +1 on the Garmin396
- I agree with the others. I personally have a Garmin GPS 196 which is a lot less money than the 396. If you can afford it, the 396 will have about all of the features that you can possibly get in a portable GPS unit. One thing in your wish list that I would be extremely surprised that you could find in ANY GPS unit would be one that can identify other aircraft in the air. What you want there is a radar unit, & there aren't any portable radars for aircraft that I am aware of. One of the features of the Garmin 396 is the ability to receive & display updated weather data to the pilot while in the air. A fabulous feature, that is very new, & unavailable in most portable GPS units. However, it requires a subscription to a satellite weather reporting service, which means an extra fee to operate the unit, where otherwise a GPS operates for free.
- +1 more for the Garmin 396
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