| by |
Mike Busch |
For nearly a year now, I've been hearing rumors of a
smaller-sized aviation GPS from Lowrance Avionics to supersede the rather hefty AirMap
that they introduced in 1996. I was concerned that Lowrance might be following the lead of
the Garmin GPS III Pilot, a unit that I don't care for one bit. When Lowrance introduced
their 12-channel AirMap 300 in January 1998, I told you that I was very relieved to see
that the rumors were wrong, and that the new Lowrance AirMap was basically just like the
old one but with its 5-channel GPS engine replaced by a 12-channel one.
Well, it turns out that
the rumors weren't completely wrong after all. Lowrance just introduced its long-rumored
smaller-sized handheld: the AirMap 100. It's half the size of the larger model 300, and
costs $200 less ($599 vs $799, "street price").
I was lucky enough to get my hands on an
early pre-production prototype in time to take it on an IFR X-C from California to Iowa,
Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, and back to California. The 4,000 NM trip turned out to be a
particularly interesting one, involving lots of unanticipated weather deviations and
in-flight replanning...the kind where a moving-map GPS can be worth its weight in gold.
Just to make things more interesting, there were three experienced instrument pilots
aboard my Cessna T310R and three different GPS handhelds: the AirMap 100, an AirMap 300,
and a Garmin GPSMAP-195. Each of us had the opportunity to use all three units and compare
notes. You simply couldn't ask for a better test scenario.
The rumors turned out to be wrong in one very important respect, though: Lowrance has
no intention for the AirMap 100 to supersede the AirMap 300. The company says that it
plans to offer both models for the foreseeable future. Presumably the AirMap 100 is
intended to compete with the Garmin GPS III Pilot, while the AirMap 300 competes with the
Garmin GPSMAP-195.
Clean-sheet hardware design
The hardware platform of
the AirMap 100 is a completely new hardware design. New packaging, new display, new power
supply...pretty much new everything. It's a compact package: roughly half the size and
weight of the AirMap 300, and a very attractive one, too — it fits in the hand very
comfortably (unlike its chunkier sibling) and is the nicest-looking aviation handheld
since the II Morrow Precedus. The AirMap 100 is a bit larger than the Garmin GPS III Pilot
— same width and depth, but an inch and a half longer — although the comparison is a bit
misleading since the AirMap 100 has a built-in antenna while the GPS III Pilot doesn't).
The physical layout of the AirMap 100 is much more "conventional" than that
of the AirMap 300. No flip-top antenna. No detachable battery pack. And (a big surprise)
no provision for plug-in cartridges. Database updates for the AirMap 100 are accomplished
via upload from your PC via a serial data cable, just like Brand G.
The display of the AirMap 100 is almost exactly the same size as the one
on the Garmin GPS III Pilot. Pixel-wise, it's the same height and two-thirds the width of
the AirMap 300. I found the display razor-sharp and for the most part easy to read
in-flight (with some exceptions I'll discuss later), and the backlighting very pleasant
during night use.
Unlike the screen on the AirMap 300 (which is recessed), the AirMap 100 screen is flush
with the rest of the case, making it rather vulnerable to scratching if you casually toss
the unit in your flight bag (as I found out the hard way). The AirMap 100 comes with a
protective slip case (unfortunately, the pre-production unit I evaluated didn't), and it's
a good idea to use it to guard against scratches when toting the unit around.
The keypad of the AirMap 100 uses the same user-friendly 12-key layout as the AirMap
300. Although the 100's keypad is somewhat narrower, the keys themselves aren't
significantly smaller. I found the 100's keypad to be very easy to use in-flight, even in
turbulence, and vastly better than those awful buttons on the Garmin GPS III Pilot.
Familiar software
My pre-production AirMap didn't come with a manual, but that was okay. Actually, I make
it a point to avoid reading the manual in the initial stages of evaluating any new piece
of avionics. My theory is that if the unit has a well-designed user interface, then I
should be able to figure out how to use it without the manual...and if it doesn't, I want
to include that fact in my product review.
For anyone familiar with the user interface of the original AirMap or the AirMap 300,
using the AirMap 100 is a piece of cake. The function menus, page selection, and other
features are very similar to those used on other Lowrance handhelds.
There are a few obvious differences. The AirMap 100 has fewer items on the main menu
and more second-level menus. The menus are displayed in a double-sized font that actually
makes them easier to read than those on the larger AirMaps. The satellite status display
has been split out from the "group" pages and automatically appears whenever the
AirMap 100 is first powered up until the unit acquires a nav solution...a welcome feature.
A few features have "moved" to different locations. For example, to request
that the AirMap 100 display a runway centerline extension (a feature I find extremely
useful when executing visual approaches), you press the "Menu" key, then select
"Map Setup" and "Air Map Options." On the original AirMap and AirMap
300, the same function is invoked by pressing the "Wpt" key, then selecting
"Runway Extensions" on the destination airport's waypoint page. I found these
differences mildly perplexing when switching back and forth between the 100 and 300 during
my trip.
The AirMap 100 software has all the features of the 300, plus a few neat new features
of its own. One new addition is the sun/moon calculator that gives you the time of local
sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset, and the phase of the moon. Very useful for night
flying (or for avoiding same if you're not night-current).
Another nifty new feature is the "view destination" option which allows you
to lock a moving map on your destination airport instead of on your present position. An
especially useful way to use this feature is to display a split-screen dual-map display (a
unique AirMap feature) with one map centered on the aircraft's present position and the
other centered on the destination airport. I like to set both maps to "track up"
mode and zoom the airport map in to the 5-mile scale so I can see the runway configuration
clearly, while the aircraft map is typically in auto-zoom mode. This makes it easy to
visualize the runway orientation and configuration at the destination airport while you're
still some distance away...extremely useful for circling approaches and marginal VFR.
Improved mapping
Like the AirMap and AirMap 300, the new AirMap 100 contains a built-in
worldwide "base map" ROM that includes national and state boundaries,
coastlines, cities, lakes, rivers, and highways. The base map in the 100 is even better
than the one in the 300, with more roads and marine features, and improved depiction of
many features. You can see some of the improvements in the side-by-side photo of the 100
and 300 displays.
Also like the other AirMaps, the 100 includes a Jeppesen NavData database plus a
database of man-made obstructions (tall buildings, TV antennas, etc.). But unlike the
AirMap and AirMap 300 (for which the Jepp database comes in plug-in cartridge form), the
database for the 100 comes on a diskette and is uploaded into the unit via a PC and serial
data cable. Lowrance's GPS Data Manager software runs under Windows 3.1, 95/98, or NT 3.51
or 4. (Mac users are presumably out of luck.)
When the AirMap first came out in 1996, there was a great deal of confusion over the
optional "IMS SmartMap" cartridges that can be plugged into the unit. Lowrance
has divided the continental U.S. into 64 regions, and offers a highly-detailed SmartMap
cartridge for each region. Many pilots (and some aviation press reviews) shuddered at the
thought of having to fly around with dozens of these cartridges and switching cartridges
every few hundred miles.
These concerns were all misplaced, as I pointed out in my 1996 review of the original
AirMap. The additional ground mapping detail offered by the SmartMap cartridges appears
only when the map is zoomed in to the 8 NM scale or less. Consequently, the cartridges are
of very little consequence for in-flight use, during which the map is hardly ever zoomed
in that tightly. On the other hand, the cartridges can be extremely useful for terrestrial
use (auto, boat, hiking, etc.).
The AirMap 100 is also designed to accommodate these
supplementary detailed maps, but in a completely different fashion. Instead of all those
cartridges, the AirMap 100 owner may purchase an optional "MapSelect" CDROM
which contains all 64 IMS SmartMaps covering the continental U.S., plus all 35 IMS
WorldMaps covering other countries of the world, plus a database of coastal navaids for
boaters. The GPS Data Manager software on this CDROM allows you to load any of these
supplementary maps into flash memory on the AirMap 100 via the data cable. Best of all,
the entire MapSelect CDROM costs just $49.95, and subsequent updates cost just $29.95.
That's a whole lot cheaper than a sack full of cartridges!
But here's the rub: the 2 megabyte flash memory of the AirMap 100 is big enough to
contain either the Jeppesen NavData aviation database or one of the detailed
SmartMaps or WorldMaps, but not both. So if you upload a SmartMap for terrestrial
use, you'll need to upload the Jepp database again before you take your AirMap 100 flying
again.
In contrast, the AirMap and AirMap 300 have two cartridge slots, so they can
accommodate both the Jeppesen NavData cartridge and one IMS SmartMap
cartridge simultaneously.
Is the smaller display a problem?
The 50% larger display of the AirMap 300 is unquestionably easier to read in-flight,
and the still larger display of the Garmin GPSMAP-195 is even easier to read.
Nevertheless, I found the AirMap 100's smaller 1.5"-by-2.25" display to be
adequate for in-flight use...with a couple of exceptions.
I had some difficulty with data entry on the waypoint page when selecting a particular
airport or navaid by identifier. The font size is quite small, and the cursor causes the
character being entered to appear in reverse video. I found this rather difficult to read
at yoke-mount distance, and sometimes found myself removing the AirMap 100 from its yoke
mount and holding it close to my eyes while entering fixes. I've discussed this problem
with the software gurus at Lowrance, and they've promised to change to a larger font in a
forthcoming software update.
The other problem I had with the AirMap 100 was that it does not display enough flight
parameters simultaneously on the moving map pages for my liking. To my way of thinking, a
pilot needs seven data items alongside the moving map:
- identifier of next fix
- magnetic bearing to next fix
- magnetic track of aircraft
- distance to next fix
- groundspeed of aircraft
- estimated time to next fix
- course deviation indicator (CDI)
The Garmin GPSMAP-195 can display all seven of these items in the upper one-third of
its moving map page, while the lower two-thirds displays the moving map. The AirMap and
AirMap 300 can display all seven items on the right half of the screen and a moving map on
the left half ("Group C" page), and can also display the first six items (but no
CDI) on the right one-third of the screen and a moving map on the left two-thirds
("Map 3" page).
In contrast, the best the
AirMap 100 can do presently is to display four of the seven items on the lower half of the
screen while displaying a moving map on the upper half ("Group B-C-D" pages), or
to display three of the seven items on the lower sixth of the screen while displaying a
moving map on the upper five-sixths ("Map 2-3" pages). As a result, I found
myself having to navigate from one page to another much more frequently with the AirMap
100 than with the other handhelds...a significant inconvenience in my view. Once again,
I've discussed this shortcoming with the software folks at Lowrance and they've promised
to come up with a revised screen layout that displays all seven items plus a moving map on
a single page.
I hasten to add that Lowrance has established an excellent track record of making such
incremental improvements to the AirMap software, and making those improvements available
to all AirMap owners either free or at nominal cost. When the original AirMap first came
out in 1996, I submitted a long laundry list of software squawks to Lowrance. Much to
their credit, Lowrance has upgraded the software repeatedly since then, addressed every
single one of my complaints, and added a whole bunch of additional improvements that I
didn't even think to ask for! So I have no doubt whatsoever that they'll deal with these
few problems in the AirMap 100 software pronto.
Nothing extra to buy (well, almost)
When Garmin introduced the GPS III Pilot
with a "street price" (MAP) of $699, I criticized them sharply for failing to
include the "accessories" that almost every pilot needs: a yoke mount, a
cigarette lighter power cord, provisions for remote-mounting the antenna on the windshield
or glareshield, and a data cable for uploading database updates and software upgrades.
Garmin elected to sell all these items as extra-cost options, making the "true"
price of the GPS III Pilot at least $200 higher. I considered this to be deceptive
marketing, and said so in my product review.
I'm pleased to see that Lowrance has bent over
backwards to include almost everything that an airman could want as standard equipment in
the $599 "street price" of the AirMap 100. The basic package includes a yoke
mount, power cord, data cable, remote-mount antenna with suction cups, protective slip
case, Jeppesen NavData diskette with GPS Data Manager software, user's manual, and even
four AA-size Duracell batteries. (Battery life is easily 10 hours, by the way.)
Speaking of accessories, I was delighted to discover that Lowrance has finally moved
away from that simply horrid Velcro yoke mount that comes with the AirMap and AirMap 300,
and is furnishing a really first-rate yoke mount for the AirMap 100 that holds the unit
securely yet permits very easy insertion and removal. The new remote-mounting suction-cup
antenna is also excellent. (I sure hope that they come up with a similar new-and-improved
mount and antenna for the larger AirMaps, too.)
Basically, there are only two extra-cost options that an AirMap 100 purchaser might
want to consider:
- A $99.95 rechargeable battery kit (part number BR-1B) that includes a rechargeable
nickel metal hydride (NiMH) battery pack, an intelligent quick charger that will fully
recharge the battery in two hours, and an AC wall-transformer power supply. The charger
will also operate on 9-28 VDC, and can recharge the battery in-flight while the AirMap 100
is in use. For in-flight use, however, the AirMap 100 is more cumbersome than the AirMap
300 because the 100 requires a separate charger module while the 300's charger is built
right into the NiMH battery pack.
- The $49.95 MapSelect CDROM that contains all 64 IMS SmartMaps, all 35 IMS WorldMaps, a
coastal navaid database (for boaters), and the GPS Data Manager software. Updates to this
CDROM cost $29.95. (As explained earlier, the AirMap 100's flash memory can accomodate
either the Jeppesen NavData database or a SmartMap or WorldMap, but not both.)
Recommendations
I was prepared to dislike the AirMap 100, based on my
disappointment with the similar-sized Garmin GPS III Pilot. But surprisingly, I found the
AirMap 100 to be an excellent new design with only a few easily-fixable software
shortcomings that may well be history by the time you read this. At its $599 price —
which is $100 to $300 less than the GPS III, depending on whether you count the essential
accessories that Lowrance includes but Garmin leaves out — the AirMap 100 surely
represents the best cost/performance deal in today's aviation handheld market. The only
lower-priced unit is the new Garmin GPS 92 ($499 MAP), which has a low-resolution display
and no ground mapping capabilities at all.
In my view, the only
serious competition for the AirMap 100 is its bigger brother, the AirMap 300. Frankly,
it's a tough choice. I like the 300's half-again-larger display, but dislike its chunky
size (at least with the battery pack attached), its Velcro yoke mount, and its
not-quite-adequate suction-cup antenna bracket. The 300's software, database and
supplementary map updates via cartridge are more convenient than the 100's updates via PC
and serial cable, but the 100's updates are more economical (especially if you need a lot
of SmartMap regions). The 300's built-in worldwide base map is very good, but the 100's is
even better. Both units have 12-channel GPS receivers, very similar features, and a nearly
identical user interface. Given the fact that the AirMap 100's price of $599 does not
include the NiMH rechargeable battery while the AirMap 300's price of $799 does, even the
price difference is not all that compelling one way or the other.
The Garmin GPSMAP-195 still sets the benchmark as the best ground-mapping aviation
handheld GPS on the market, but its $1,199 price is 50% higher than the AirMap 300 and
100% higher than the AirMap 100. If money is no object (lucky you!) and you can tolerate
its brick-like size, I'd opt for the big Garmin. If you're on a budget, both AirMap models
represent simply outstanding value. I guarantee you won't be unhappy with any of these
three terrific handhelds.
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