Rounding up the latest GPS moving-map wonders
Bertrand Russell said that "a process which led from the amoeba to man appeared to the philosophers to be obviously a progress — though whether the amoeba would agree with this opinion is not known." As it does for our single-cell friends, so visits the inexorable march of time on our technology. And perhaps with no greater impact has progress exerted a cold, ceaseless thrust than in the realm of our beloved handheld GPS navigators.
Blame competition; blame new technology; blame the market, if you wish. But this morning's great new thing in avionics is soon relegated to yesterday's news; technological mitosis at an alarming rate. All six handheld GPSs featured here are the latest of the breed, featuring now-requisite moving-map displays. (In the space of a few short years, the evolution has relegated non-map handhelds to near- dinosaur status.) A half-dozen units from four manufacturers — Garmin International's GPS 89 and 90; Lowrance Avionics' AirMap; Magellan Systems' Skyblazer LT and XL; and II Morrow's Apollo Precedus — represent the latest of the species. Mapless units were excluded, as was the Garmin 95XL, which will probably become extinct after the company introduces its cartography model, the GPS 195, later this summer.
Competition seems to have bred orthodoxy. All of these units have resident databases — some complex and detailed, others trimmed down. All have useful features like nearest-waypoint search, flight planning, and direct-to gateways. All come with some means of remotely mounting the GPS antenna; the Magellans have a separate amplified antenna, while the others provide patch cables for the normally attached antenna. Despite the variety of GPS engines — some with parallel receivers that listen simultaneously to the satellites in view, and others that scan the signals — all work acceptably well. All of these handhelds have operating systems that are largely menu driven, and all save for the Precedus rely on AA- battery power; the II Morrow product employs a cell-phone nicad but can be used with an optional disposable alkaline pack. All have data- output connections for mating with PC-based moving maps.
Garmin GPS 89 and GPS 90
Set the Garmin twins side by side, and the only obvious difference is the model number emblazoned above the screen. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. Few handheld GPS receivers have enjoyed success like the $699 GPS 90. Combining a svelte package, comprehensive database, intuitive user interface, and class-leading battery conservation, the 90 seems to offer the most goods in the least amount of space.
More than a year after its introduction, the 90 is still competitive. It's easy to use and remarkably well packaged. Now with more recent (and sophisticated) competitors, the 90's screen — with about 2.6 square inches of usable display area — is beginning to look a tad small and somewhat short on pixel count. Even so, for many users the other attributes of the model more than make up for any paucity of pixels. With 10 to 15 hours' battery endurance, finding a working cigarette lighter is just not a concern with the 90 — a real boon to renter pilots flying several different aircraft.
Now Garmin, feeling the heat from cutthroat pricing common to this segment, has unleashed the $449 GPS 89. It's identical in form to the 90 but considerably slimmed down in the database department. While there's still a map on board, it doesn't have much to do — there's no special-use airspace in memory, nor are there intersections present. In fact, the database contains just airports and VORs — though every 89 comes with worldwide coverage, as opposed to the segmented coverage of the 90 — and very little additional information about these waypoints beyond location. You will find no airport or navaid names in the database, no communications frequencies, and nothing to do with runways or facilities.
Reflecting evolution of the 90 software, the 89 has a slightly less cluttered screen — there's no longer a border surrounding the map, and the two lines of information have been deleted from the bottom of the display. These changes help to make sure that every pixel is used for useful information, not cosmetics. Moreover, the 89 has map-configuration functions moved to the main map page. Cursor over to the CFG legend and you gain access to the configuration menu directly; it's less involved and quicker than on the 90.
A wish list for the Garmin products would have just two items: more resolution from the existing screen and, as a corresponding improvement, a few more intermediate screen ranges.
Lowrance AirMap
Well-known in the marine field, Lowrance Avionics has jumped from the high dive into the aviation market with a big splash. Its $899 AirMap sports more features and doodads than a fully optioned recreational vehicle. A high-resolution grayscale map presents the usual aviation items — airports, navaids, intersections, special-use airspace — as well as major roads, rivers, and coastlines.
With 5 square inches of display area, the AirMap's screen is the biggest of this group, and it is used to good effect. Moreover, there's an almost unnerving variety of map configurations — two Nav pages, one with a compass depiction, the other with numbers; four maps, some full screen and others with how-goes-it information also displayed; and 15 ancillary screens with satellite data, split maps (one for current route and the other a look-ahead), myriad alphanumeric information, and combinations of these features. Lowrance pulled out all the stops in giving the user a variety of screens and layouts. If you can't find the setup you want here, you're not looking hard enough.
It would be a disaster if all of the AirMap's sophistication were mated to inscrutable operating software; thankfully, it isn't. Heavily menu driven, the AirMap leads the user by the hand through the various steps and offers helper arrows at every stage. It's among the easiest of all systems to learn, despite its complexity, and the Lowrance programmers deserve a hefty clap on the shoulder for their efforts. That said, the operating scheme requires more button- pushing than competing units and will probably cause some teeth- gnashing for accomplished users. Setting a direct-to waypoint, for example, requires four jabs at the keyboard, exclusive of selecting the waypoint name, compared to two with the Garmin GPS 90.
Coming late to the party gives Lowrance the opportunity of one-upmanship in the nifty-features category. Take the floating north locator, for example; in a map mode a reversed "N" is always visible to help in quick orientation. Having surface details available is a swell feat, too, as are the 5-nm rings drawn around tower- controlled airports. Suffice it to say that this necessarily short rundown of the AirMap's features scarcely scratches the surface. Even more detail can be shown with an optional plug-in cartridge, which we did not try. Expect about six hours' use from the half- dozen AA batteries in the AirMap's slip-on case.
Alas, the AirMap is not perfect. For one thing, it's big — with the battery pack in place, it towers over the others in this comparison. We applauded loudly when II Morrow transmogrified the big-boned 920 handheld into the sleek Precedus, and we'll do the same should Lowrance perform a similar step. In addition, the AirMap's method of removing the hinged antenna for external use is flat-out fussy.
Magellan Skyblazer LT and Skyblazer XL
Magellan Systems has got the bit between its teeth, cranking out revised versions of the Skyblazer at can't-beat-this prices. The Skyblazer XL we reviewed recently represents a new, higher- resolution screen applied to the existing Skyblazer; both Skyblazer screens have about 3.1 square inches of usable display area. A worthy competitor to the Garmin 90 — at the same price — the XL offers a better screen and larger keyboard for those thick of digit.
Last year Magellan also introduced the Skyblazer LT, a mapless version that sold for $499. Now the LT has been upgraded with a map, basically the same software that graced the original Skyblazer. In sharp contrast to the Garmin 89, the LT contains an extensive database with airports, navaids, en route intersections, and special- use airspace; moreover, supplementary airport information remains in the chips.
For the price, we're willing to forgive the LT's thick, blocky map presentation — it just doesn't have the pixels to go head-to-head with the higher-cost units or the Garmin 89. In congested areas you'll find yourself sticking to the smaller screen scales to avoid screen clutter. Magellan deserves credit for not stripping the LT's database of useful information.
Both Skyblazers employ simple controls, and their operating systems are easy to learn and use. In addition, they share three- battery capacity, limiting them to about three hours' total use; the LT, with its slower processor, does a bit better. Comparatively voracious battery consumption means that you'll either be hooking into airplane power or buying a lot of Energizers.
II Morrow Apollo Precedus
Let's get this out in the open right now: The II Morrow Precedus is one marvelous piece of industrial design — substantial feeling but not heavy, stylish but not overstyled, capable but not daunting. It is, at $1,175, the most expensive of the group by almost 25 percent. Its monochrome screen, with 3.4 square inches of usable area, is second largest to the Lowrance's and very well-utilized, showing the usual airports, navaids, intersections, and a full complement of special- use airspace.
II Morrow has been busy tweaking the software and improving the utility of the Precedus. New software (version 5.1) adds some clever features. A map-declutter routine, which enables you to select which database elements are shown at particular screen ranges, has been improved by allowing you to select the size of the identifier text as well. There's also a new way to get information about airspace shown on the screen. To bring up the pan function, punch the Enter button while in the full-screen map mode. Move the cursor to the edge of the special-use airspace of interest and hit the Info key. A page then appears with the name of the SUA and altitudes of coverage, as well as a graphical representation of that airspace. The tiltable and rotatable quasi-3D depiction of the airspace borders on the gimmicky, but the textual data supplied is gratifyingly useful. You can employ this function to retrieve information on airports and navaids in the same way. A revision of the panning function allows changing the screen range without going back to the normal plan- view mode. Other software upgrades include the ability to define waypoints by distance and bearing from a database waypoint.
The Precedus continues to have an expansive list of features — user-customizable navigation screens, a pair of moving map styles, all the requisite E6B functions (as all the units described here include, incidentally), and logical, streamlined operating protocols. The maps have excellent resolution and screen scales right where you want them; between 10 and 50 miles, the ranges come in 10- mile increments, perfect for the pilot plying heavily congested airspace. In addition, the Precedus has one of the easiest flight- planning schemes going.
As good as it is, the Precedus does have a major shortcoming — its battery. Using the standard-capacity cell-phone nicad, the Precedus ekes only three to four hours' use before the screen goes dark. Moreover, you must leave for the airport certain that the pack is fully charged; with the other receivers here, a fresh set of AAs in the flight case is all you need. An optional disposable alkaline pack is available from II Morrow, but it's more for the pilots intending to use the Precedus as a backup-only navigator.
Biology and satellites
Just as amoebas constantly change their body shape — forming pseudopods, or false feet, for feeding and movement — so too does the handheld GPS field. Lowrance's spawning of the cartography AirMap should be a clear signal that natural selection will be knocking at the door of the less-sophisticated displays, save perhaps those in the low-cost clan. As consumers we have come to expect radical metamorphosis from year to year, and the industry shows no signs of lapsing into stasis. Whether the amoeba would appreciate this irresistible motion is not known.
For more information, contact the manufacturers: Garmin International, 1200 E. 151st Street, Olathe, Kansas 66062; telephone 913/599-1515, fax 913/599-2103. Lowrance Avionics, 12000 East Skelly Drive, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74128; telephone 918/437-6881, fax 918/234-1703. Magellan Systems Corporation, 960 Overland Court, San Dimas, California 91773; telephone 909/394-5000, fax 909/394-7050. II Morrow Inc., 2345 Turner Road S.E., Salem, Oregon 97302; telephone 800/525-6726, fax 503/364-2138.
GPS/Coms Go Portable
By Thomas A. Horne
It had to happen. Someone had to figure out that you could merge a handheld communications radio and a handheld GPS in the same compact unit. It turns out that AlliedSignal's Bendix/King KLX 100 was the first to arrive; but after considerable delays, it has arrived just ahead of the similar Garmin GPSCOM 190.
The concept seems to be a sound one. With a handheld GPS/com, you have an all-in-one capability. There's no longer any need to clutter up your flight case with two separate handhelds. For those flying smaller experimental and ultralight aircraft, a GPS/com can serve as a small, VFR-only aircraft's sole avionics "suite."
There is one important caveat about these units — or any type of handheld com radio. Don't expect the standard rubber-duck antenna to transmit reliably from inside an airplane. To assure reception of your transmission with any degree of clarity, invest in an external antenna and connect it to the handheld transceiver.
Bendix/King KLX 100
The KLX 100 — street price $1,400 — contains a whole batch of neat features, offered on four different main display pages. These are the Nav, Com, FPL (flight plan), and Menu pages. You shuttle between the pages with (big surprise) the Page key, and within each main page are other pages that let you work all the set's functions. The keypad's ergonomics and the multifunction softkeys (located directly beneath the display screen) make the unit extremely easy to manipulate.
The communications functions are in no way compromised in their melding with the GPS. You can enter two frequencies of your choice and flip-flop between them. Call up the nearest airport, VOR, ATC, or flight service frequencies using the Nearest format on the COM 2 page. To tune and use one of the listed frequencies, simply highlight it with the cursor, using the up- or down-arrow softkeys; then hit the XFER softkey to make it active. With this feature, which Bendix/King calls "QuickTune," there's no need to enter manually each digit of the frequency in order to call it up.
Volume and squelch controls are on the unit's left side, below the push-to-talk and On/Off/Backlight switches. Bump the volume or squelch up or down and a horizontal tape readout appears at the top of the display to show their strength and status. Headset jacks and a patch cable are provided with the KLX 100 as standard equipment.
The navigation pages include a moving map, which displays the now-obligatory array of groundspeed, distance, and scale information, as well as a course-deviation indicator, around the periphery. Also shown is the current active communications frequency if the unit is being used in GPS/com mode.
This raises an important point. To conserve battery power, be sure to go into the Menu page and select "GPS Only" if you're using the unit solely for navigation. When on battery power in the GPS- only mode, the KLX 100 will provide GPS information for 18 hours, Bendix/King claims. But that duration plummets if you use the unit for both talking and navigating. Then, its eight AA alkaline batteries will be good for only two to seven hours, depending on the amount you transmit, the volume level, and the ambient temperature. Of course, these issues are moot if you plug the unit into the airplane's power supply via the cigarette lighter.
One of the Nav pages is set up to show a "mini-HSI" display. In this mode you see a representation of the top portion of a compass card, complete with bugs showing values for actual and desired track. To make good your course to a fix, you can steer the airplane so as to make the two bugs align, as well as use the horizontal CDI bar beneath the "HSI" for supplemental guidance. Runway diagrams and special use airspace will not be shown on the first units, but Bendix/King swears that upgrades providing these features will be made available to customers — free of charge — in the last quarter of this year.
One potentially vital new feature is the KLX 100's automated SOS. With this, you hit the keypad's Save and Help keys simultaneously. This causes your airplane's latitude and longitude automatically to be broadcast over 121.5 MHz (or any other designated frequency) at repeated intervals — anywhere from three to 99 minutes apart, depending on how you set up your SOS message's repeat rate.
The rest of the KLX 100's attributes closely match those contained in other handheld GPSs. Jeppesen Navdata information is used, available in North American or international database formats.
Any time you try to make one unit do the work of two there's a need to compromise. In the KLX 100's case, the display screen is smallish (but the resolution's exemplary), and the unit is bulky. Although you can't see special use airspace right now, you can define up to eight warning rings of varying radii around various waypoints and, until the software upgrades are available, these can help you steer clear of Class B or C airspace or other sensitive areas.
On several trips, the small, squarish external antenna (there's also a built-in antenna enclosed in the top of the KLX 100) took an hour or so to lock on to enough satellites to provide navigation data. This delay may have been caused by unfavorable satellite geometry, but we don't think so. As for the size and weight, well, the KLX 100 is a handful. Some like its substantial feel, but others think it clunky and overweight. But what do you expect when you put so much in one box?
Garmin's GPSCOM 190
Close on the KLX 100's heels is the GPSCOM 190, Garmin's entry in this new market niche. The 190, with a street price of $1,399, has almost the same roster of capabilities as the KLX 100 and outperforms its competitor in several very important areas. First of all, the Garmin unit is more svelte and, in our brief experience, less battery-hungry. Its GPS antenna (which incorporates an integral signal amplifier) seems to do a much better job of locking on to satellites, and its database comes with SUA and runway diagrams from the get-go.
A nicad battery pack is standard on the GPSCOM 190 (an AA battery pack is optional), and Garmin says that owners can expect six- to eight-hour lifetimes on a single charge. (This assumes that you'll be transmitting five percent of the time.) In our experience, this is a fairly accurate life expectancy. Garmin provides a cigarette lighter power cord and an AC trickle-charge adapter as standard equipment. For an extra $150 or so (prices of some options have yet to be finalized) an optional rapid charge kit is available, which lets you pump up the nicad in just one hour. The trickle-charger takes as long as 14 hours to do the job.
On the communications side, the 190 lets you call up and access airport and navaid frequencies from the database; various communications frequencies can be transferred from the database to the transceiver with a keystroke.
Anyone familiar with Garmin's GPS 90 or GPS 89 units will have no difficulty whatsoever in recognizing or operating the navigation and other features in the GPSCOM 190. The features are exactly the same. You go through setup and navigation pages by using a Page key. You position the cursor and make entries by using the same kind of single, multidirectional cursor as that of the GPS 90, and — except for the communications frequencies at the bottom of the screen — the screen display is identical.
To shuttle between the communications and nav pages you simply hit the GPS/COM button. Hold this same button down for a couple of seconds and the emergency frequency — 121.5 MHz — is automatically tuned and ready to use. Garmin eschews the use of an automatic, position-reporting emergency broadcast, figuring that if the situation is dire enough, either you or the aircraft will activate the ship's ELT.
So far, Bendix/King and Garmin rule the GPS/com market. But we'll soon see how many others come to the party — and how consumer demand and other competitive forces affect this product segment.
For more information, contact AlliedSignal General Aviation Avionics, 400 N. Rogers Road, Olathe, Kansas 66062; telephone 913/768-3000 and Garmin International, 1200 East 151st Street, Olathe, Kansas; telephone 913/599-1515, fax 913/599-2103.
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