Just picked up a Garmin Etreks portable GPS and I gotta say pretty cool and usefull tool. During a few trips looked at the MPH read out on it and it matched exactly what my speedo said. Also used it to track my route to and from work and it was dead on each way. I use it to count down time and distance to get home from work and it factors in everything, like being stopped at a light or the speed you are traveling. Any way, just curious to see if anyone else uses a GPS.

 

I have a Garmin 60cs that I use for hiking mostly,but I use it also to find address's now since it has auto routing. I have a truck camper with an over hang so I put an antenna from GPSGEEK.Com out in front of the hood and fished the cable threw the hood and into firewall.
The antenna is slightly off center because of the hood angle but it recieves very well with the camper on. When the camper is off I have a velcro mount on top of the cab. I just fished the cable threw the rear window.
We did a trip to Fla. from Ma. and found it awesome. Finding fuel,expected time to fuel,etc.

I wish the screen was at least 4x6 in. though. And mounted in the dash like the radio.
Maybe someday........HMMMMMMMMMMMm.

 

I use a Garmin GPSIII+, and I love it. Have used it for 3-4 years with no troubles. I mounted mine with the "industrial" velcro and I can swap it over to my bike and just stick it on. (I put a small bungee on it because I drive like a complete idiot). It has saved me from passing up the last gas station for 20 miles when I was real low. That was worth the purchase in itself. Altitude readings have been interesting many times. I still have not gotten around to buying any software for it or external antenna or power cord. Used it on horseback across the mountain one time, made it real easy to backtrack and find new trails. Used it to calibrate my speedometer.

Summarized answer to your question:

Yes.

 

I have the IQUE from Garmin. It is also a PDA with PalmOS. With the cradle for the car, it'll talk me to wherever I need to go. Pretty cool. Haven't tried geocaching with it yet, but that should be fun too.

 

Garmin Street Pilot, not the newest one, but the 1 yr old color one. Works damn good as long as you have the maps loaded on the memory stick where you are going

 

If you have a laptop, the best (and least expensive) way to go is: www.delorme.com

They sell a map & GPS receiver package that is much better than the "hand held" GPS units.....

 

I have an IPAQ 3800 Pocket PC. Added the NAVMAN navigational sleeve with built in antenna. It came with a suction cup mount for the windshield and the system works great. Maps are in color and destination routing uses voice prompts to tell you when to do what.

 

Use a GPS in my truck? But of course. We've been using one, actually two, for almost 6 years now. We use Lowrance AirMaps, first for the database included and secondly because of the huge screen. I say two because the one in the truck came second, both as a 'tool' for the chase crew and as a backup for the primary unit carried in our hot air balloon.

While these units are pricey, the Jeppesen database includes more data than I usually need as a pilot operating a small commercial ride business. That database woundn't be of value to most of you, i.e., airports, control tower frequencies, obstructions above ground (antennas, buildings, etc.) and their height, etc. And their land mapping software is equal to Garmin's, Magellan's, and Delorme's.

The GPS in the truck sits in a cradle connected via articulated arms to a ball mount on the console, similar to those that hold a mobile phone, only larger. The antenna detaches from the main unit and mounts via a suction cup to the windshield. It's connected via a small cable to the main unit. My chase crew uses this to verify and plan road access to me wherever I've landed. If they don't see where I've landed, due to topographical obstructions, I can give them the lat/long of my landing site and they can then plot their way to us.

Now I'll admit here that I wasn't the first balloonist to decide to not only use a GPS while flying, but to also equip their chase vehicle with one. I'll try to quickly describe the first, and probably best, setup I've ever seen used in this scenario.

First, a GPS in the balloon, along with a two-sided ham radio. One side of the radio is used for communications to the ground crew. The other side is used to send the signal from the Lowrance AirMap to the ground crew as well.

Then in the truck, another GPS and two-sided ham radio. The radio is used for Comms and receiving the track info from the balloon. However, there is a laptop added to the setup in the truck, with a splitter/switch on the cable feeding the two GPS signals to the laptop. The crew can not only chat with the pilot, via radio, they can track their own course as well as that of the balloon by simply switching back and forth between the two GPS signals.

This guy has had this setup for over 8 years. He was way ahead of his time. His balloon crew has chased him on flights that crossed entire states. And this is not one of those millionaires with more money than sense. He's just an average guy. Well, he's a tad more innovative than most of us.

Back to our 'personal use' of a GPS in a vehicle. Most of would admit that we almost never need a GPS when we are driving in our local areas. And we seldom need one when we've ventured off into another state. Most of us can get from Point A to Point B by simply following the road signs.

But when we're not sure, or we've made a wrong turn or exit and need to get back on the highway, or when it's dark and we can't see landmarks that would aid us in our travels. It's these times that the GPS in our vehicle is more valuable than the map in our seatback pocket. I seldom use mine, outside of ballooning, but I turn it on as I'm leaving the driveway should I have the need for information it can provide to me.

 

I have a Garmin V that came with MapSource downloadable maps. It is great to use on road trips and to find addresses. (As long as the correct maps are downloaded from MapSource first.) It is also fun to use on the highway just to watch your exact speed, elevation, location and what is coming up down the road. Wonder if it would be good to use in a disagreement with a state patrol officer if he thought I was going 2-3 miles over the speed limit?

Has anyone used a real good topographic map program that works with the Garmin units? I could use a good mapping program that has more detail than the MapSource program that came with the Garmin V. Need to be able to drIve around rural properties and locate boundaries, etc. It would also be nice to have for finding good fishing and hunting locations.

 

DeLorme, who I referenced in an earlier post has topological maps to use with their GPS receiver...

 

I use a generic setup through my laptop with streetfinder. However, my puppy ate the antenna, (see puppies and GPS thread in general)

You buy topo maps at sams club.

 

rjwood5-
A friend of mine loaded some Delorme topo maps into a Garmin and it worked fine. I don't know the specifics but I know it can be done.

 

We use a Magellan Map 330 which is a small, handheld unit, whenever we travel. We keep the Wally World atlas in the cab and use it for most of our navagation needs. The Magellan comes in handy to make sure we're on the correct highway after having navigated through some small town with less than adequate route markers.

 

Bob Ayers,

Do you use Delorme's topo programs? You mentioned using a laptop, but I have to use the GPS unit to find section corner markers and to mark certain features on a map, sometimes by getting out of the pickup and hoofing it through the rocks and trees. I guess taking that back to a computer would provide a pretty good map. The main thing is it has to be portable and go wherever the F250 PSD 4X4 or my feet can take me. Thanks for the info.

 

No, I don't have their Topo program, I do have the Road Atlas 2004 PLUS program. I use it on an IBM laptop, and I have wired my little ranger pickup so I can place the GPS receiver in the top of my fiberglass cab, which works very
well in receiving the satellite signals. The receiver is made to be placed on the dashboard, but that creates a "blind spot" on receiving signals from satellites behind you.
DeLorme also has software to run on a PDA, which would be even more portable than a laptop.