megamapper

Well, how much are you able to come up with (if you don't mind me asking). Don't forget to tell us what currency. Usually decent starter GPS's go for a little < $100.00 CDN. Also, it never hurts to power up and test this 'new unit' youself, and ignore what your friend has to say about it. Look at it yourself, and make up your own mind. Do this, perhaps with your borrowed unit alonside. You can then compare how each unit works. Keep the borrowed unit powered off, until you actually do your test! If there is alot of trees or tall buildings this can limit the GPS's performance. But if you had been using your borrowed unit just prior, it would already know what birds to look at (they remember this stuff) and hence this could make your borrowed unit look better. If you power both GPS's up cold, then you should get a more accurate performance test. Also, be advised that we have just come through some solar flare activity, which is known to make even the 'best' gps fail to lock. Sunset and Sunrise can also be difficult times. At night, you can expect a little less accuracy. Also, if your friend was standing indoors while testing, it is ENTIRLY POSSIBLE and PROBABLY that the GPS would only see maybe two birds. Walk outside if possible, or hold it near a window, and check them out for yourself. I would also check on the net, see what this unit you are looking at sells new for. Regards, ---- MegaMapper ----

The beasty records my voice on command. But to be honest with you, I didn't REELY check the extension of the the file. It's either Wav or MP3. When I'm back at my computer, I usually play the note back, keypunch the info, then nuke the audio file. If it's really important if the file is MP3, I can check this out fully, and get back to you. It's easy to get the two mixed up. I also really screwed up as to what the top of the line non-color lowrance is. It's actually the iFinder HUNT GPS. The main differences between the Hunt and PhD, is the Hunt has way-more waypoints ( 2000 instead of only 1000 ), and it has extra hunt icons, and is more waterproof than the PhD. Does anyone know if the iFinder Hunt comes with headphones? Regards, ---- Robb ----

Lowrance iFinder Series: 100 track * 10,000 points each track = 1 Million pts 1000 Waypoints. 20 character waypoint name 14 Character name 6 character waypoint name =================== 20 chars, hmmm, looks like a match. Runs on AA batteries. SD card, you can use an SD reader on USB to move data back and forth. - This is cumbersome, but does work. - When I go to re-load the gps track/waypoint data from SD, you have to . clear out the gps first. Items to do this are scattered all over the friggen . place. It's annoying, but workable! No USB connectivity between GPS and computer. You can get an RS232 NMEA adaptor to run you fishfinder. POI's are built into the MapCreate base maps. No storage of POI's per say. 1000 Icons / Event storage over and above Waypoints. Icons are like waypoints minus text name. I don't know about the 50 MB of 'internal GPS storage'. The above is what mine does internally. The background maps are read in realtime off the SD card. My background map is around 200 MB (using mapcreate 6.3 Topo) and the GPS loads only what it needs as I move from there. My track/waypoint/icon data is about 100 KB so far. MapCreate 6.3 topo is 'semi functional', it does not let you edit tracks. It does a reasonable job with Routes, Waypoints and Icons. You sound like you would not be very happy with MapCreate 6.3 editing features. It's nice having the topo maps, but I suspect you'll be VERY dissapointed with it's editing capabilities. You might be able to import the USR file into something that your other software might like using GSAK or GPSBABEL. So if you buy the Topo Maps, do not expect to be editing tracks with it. That's what I know about Lowrance if it helps. Regards, ---- MegaMapper ----

Me: I did an exausting comparison between Garmon, Magellan, and Lowrance. I had a set of conditions that I wanted. These conditions were: 1. Cost - My budget was around 300-400 bucks cdn 2. Mapping / Computer Connectivity - Wanted to add this on. 3. External Antenna Connector - Did not want to be stuck to internal ant only, being able to upgrade the antenna is a must for me. 4. Power must be standard, no proprietary battery packs. - Out in woods, battery dead, do not have 120 V or 14 hours to recharge. 5. Waterproof IPX7 - Not a huge issue, but nice to have in the rain. 6. Internal track, waypoint storage capacity. 7. Non Color was OK, but if I could get color cheaply, I'd look at it. - I figured for $300-400 there would be no way I could afford color. Besides that, a color screen ain't going to do me any good if the GPS is missing the above basic stuff. That was about it. I then compiled a reely big spreadsheet that knew the prices and features of all the GPS's. Initially I never even heard of Lowrance GPS's. I had it narrowed down to one or two that would barely meet my needs. Usually I had issues with poorly designed power supplies, or no ext antenna port. I was looking at around $400.00 cdn for a GPS. About 2 weeks in, I then found some data about Lowrance GPS's buried on a website. I located the features list. They came in at around $245.00 CDN for a GPS that met all my pre-thought out wants (the iFinder H2O I think). I thought that I struck gold since there was an obvious price advantage. I then looked at the 'top of the line' iFinder PhD which came in at $314.00. Ok, so for about $70 bucks I can upgrade to the top of the line GPS that give me: MP3 player MP3 recorder Compass Barometric Altimeter etc etc etc I then was a little worried about this deal being 'too good to be true', after looking at the PhD. It has alot of stuff, is dirt cheap, "what's the catch"? I figured the GPS had to be a pile of "JUNK". Well, lowrance has been around a bazillion years. I then started looking on the net and heard people talking about how well their iFinder xxx GPS's worked. People were happy with their iFinder GPS! Hmm. I stood on the fence about another week thinking. So I lept on the PhD. Is the Lowrance PhD 'perfect', well, I'd have to say, NO. There are issues. My PhD is not IPX7 waterproof like the literature says (all ruber seals closed, slow submerge in 1-3 inches of water, YOU GET WATER IN THE UNIT, {took 6 hours with my foodsaver and hair dryer to get the water out}). I would imagine it's because of the Barometer or MP3 player. It is clumbsy to use (so many menus settings and gadgets). I would expect the H2O to be the more IPX7 model than the Hunt / PhD or MP3 models. But over all, I am very very happy with the unit. There are alot of Plus's and for the $314 cdn, I really can't complain. Regards, ---- Robb ----

I find it 'difficult' the see the logic of buying a unit that uses a proprietery rechargable battery pack. When the batteries go dead, and you don't have: 1. - No 120V power source 2. - You don't want to stop what your doing, and wait 14 hours to recharge. Of course you could always contact the manufacturer, order up a spare set of batteries (they're cheap $50 - $70 bucks for ONE set). Now you at least if your one set goes dead, you can pop in the second set and keep going. Then there's the issue of what happens when eventually the built in batteries fail due to age. Then it's going to be $120-140 (they don't make the unit anymore, hence the jacked up price) for another set of batteries. A GPS that uses standard batteries (such as AA cells) run great, have long life (8-20 hours) and when they die, you can grab another set of batteries out of your pack, and away you go. Now the kinds of AA's you use is up to you. You can use regular alkaline batteries and throw them away. Heading over to Wallmart (the China Slave Goods that De-industrialize North America store), you can usually pick up a pack of 20 batteries for around 10-14 CDN. Or you can use NiHM AA's, and the unit works quite happily on these as well. If you're using your unit quite a-lot, then the NiHM idea makes sense. So I would say 'NOOOOOOO!!!!!' to getting a GPS with a proprietary rechargable battery system. It's a big drawback in my own humble opinion. Regards, ---- Robb ----

If I am travelling long distances ( > 1 day, trip is fully pre-planned ) then a route is not a bad way to go, since it can warn you when you need to make turns and such. On my GPS, I can turn tracks into routes, but then you end up with a big pile of numerically named icons all over my GPSr's display creating clutter and annoyances. So I generally manually compose my routes which reduces the amount of clutter and makes a usable route. I do not travel very far, and hence the routing hasn't been overly useful to me. For really very short trips, or trips where you may end up 'winging it', and you pretty much know the area, then routes can be a little bit of a pain in the $^#! On my GPS, it has a nutty huge capacity for storing tracks (it stores only points, no altitute or time, or speed) so I can actually create my own maps and store them in the GPS. At this time, most of my trips are generally very short ones where I know the area. As a result, I'm generally am using tracks. I use more icons/events (they have differing names depending on the GPS brand) and very few waypoints. I like icons, because they use less screen space. Kindest Regards, ---- Robb ----

Me, I paid $20.00 for Google Earth plus, and using the various FREE conversion utilities, I convert my Lowrance.USR files into GPX files that Google Earth reads. Now I virtually 'FLY' over my tracks/waypoints/icon maps rendered in 3D with satellite pictures. Just my 2 cents worth. Regards, ---- Robb ----

If have the Lowrance PhD. GPSMAP Water resistant, IEC-529, IPX7 (Submersible 1 meter @ 30 minutes) and it floats Lowrance PhD Water resistant, IPX7 (Submersible 1 meter ) - Mine sinks, does not float! - If GENTALLY lowered in water 3 inches I get water inside the unit. - Is very rain proof, but not to IPX7 as advertised!! What does this mean to you? So if you are doing alot of Marine, the GPSMAP might be a better choice. GPSMAP 5000 point automatic track log; 10 saved tracks let you retrace your path in both directions LOWRANCE 10,000 max point capacity in 100 saved tracks. (yeah that's 1 million points) - I've only managed to fill *ONE* track after 3 months. What does this mean to you? If you are planning on doing any kind of making your own maps, the Lowrance kicks serious butt over the Garmon. GPSMAP Battery life: 10 to 12 hours (typical use), two AA alkaline batteries LOWRANCE Battery life: 12 to 20 hours (typical use), two AA alkaline batteries - I regularly run the GPS with no power saving, backlight on two AA's and see at least 8 hours. - With no backlighting, 12 to 20 hours easily. What does this mean to you? You won't be swapping batteries as often. Both units have a great power souce! GPSMAP Display: 1.6''W x 2.2''H, high resolution FSTN, 4 level grayscale (180 x 240 pixels) 2.7" diagonal display size Lowrance 240V x 180H pixel resolution, 3" (7.6 cm) diagonal display size,16-level grayscale What does this mean to you Lowrance has a slightly bigger screen with higher resolution with more contrast levels. Lowrance obviously has a better quality screen. GPSMAP 500 user waypoints with name Lowrance 1000 user waypoints with name More waypoints with the lowrance. If you are planning on using routes, you'll want as many waypoints as you can get your paws on. GPSMAP 50 reversible routes LOWRANCE 100 routes, I haven't played with reversing routes dunno about this? GPSMAP 0 or ??? Icons/Events (not specified, I would suspect 500) LOWRANCE 1000 user icons/events More icons/events with lowrance. Icons/Events are simply waypoints with no name tag. These can also be used with routes (at least with the lowrance). GPSMAP Where's the SD memory card? LOWRANCE Takes SD cards. I'm running 512 MB, but wanna upgrade to 1 GIG. Terrific MAP storage available. You'll want all this. My map is only 200 MB in size LOL! never mind 24 MB! GPSMAP Where's the MP3 player? LOWRANCE I've well used the MP3 player in my PhD, it's cumbersome to figure out, but once you get it sorted out, it's awsome! GPSMAP Where the MP3 recorder? LOWRANCE I hate typing stuff about waypoints into my GPS. I simply stop, create a waypoint, tell it I want to attach an audio not to the waypoint, and it will record whatever I say, in my own words. No more remembering and long typing sessions. I've also been impressed with the lowrance antenna as well. So the PhD is not going to like being submerged, and it's menus are not overly well arranged so it can be cumbersome/frusterating to use. The extra features, data storage capacity internally, the SD card capability, and better quality screen, better battery life make this unit worthwhile. But if you are going alot of boating, then maybe the Garmin is a better choice for you. If you really want the features then spend $10.00 and get a waterproof baggy for your PhD! One more thing... You need to be aware that the plus version of the GPS will only do mapping for the USA. If you are primarily in Canada, this may not be a good fit for you. You look like you're kinda close to the border, at which point, you'll probably want the TOPO Canada and TOPO USA mapcreates. Just be aware of exactly what mapping software is coming with your unit. Kindest Regards, ---- Robb ----

Quite often I am out dirt biking I always take my ARMY Surplus webbing, which contains the following items. Bear spray Water jar & Ceramic water purificaiton unit (no beaver tail disease for me ) Cell Phone Amateur Radio Mosquito Net Emergency Blankets (the thin silver ones, light and take up very little room) Ligher, portable stove and Stove fuel (solid) Small Hatchet that doubles as a hammer. Folding sweed saw (looks like a small Red pipe when folder) 1-2 cans of Ravioli, 5 Food bars. Vice grips, and cresent wrench, screwdriver. Electrical Tape, and String. Screwdrivers + Full set of extra spark plugs + wenches for all bikes. 20 AA batteries & 3 mini flashlights + Extra Headlight Bulbs. Slingshot, knife, spoon. First Aid kit, extra 4 stroke oil. On each bike we pack an extra tank of fuel, warm cloths. Sounds kind of extreeme, boy do I ever get looks when I head out. Small dirt bike with the GREEN ugly vest on. The vest is best because it 'distributes' the weight evenly around my body. Some park rangers are actually 'scared' when they see me? OK, so maybe I'm not as 'fashonable' as I should be? I'd probably make a great fill in for the movie "Deliverance"!! Tis better to be ugly and ready, than a ditz and dead? On a one day trip I do around 50 miles, starting at 5 PM - 5 AM. Maybe being ready is not so strange? I can sure attest that when that Throttle Cable broke, it was sure nice to be able to fix it in 30 mins, have a hot meal and continue merrily along! I also have a large map with very detailed roads shown (1/6 of the wall) hanging on my wall at home, and in my GPS. I also like to point out where we're headed to on the wall map to folks back home. Regards, ---- MegaMapper ----

The H2O is pretty darn good, I have the PhD, which I love. Other threads about the H2O The GPS can be a little difficult to figure out (complicated menus with stuff all over). Other then that, it's an awsome GPS that is over-all well thought out (2AA's for power, low power consumption, SD card capable). You'll find that once you figure it out, you'll be very happy. You may curse it as you fight with the poor menu setup initially. The stock antenna is quite good in forest canopy, steep mountains etc. Later I added the RAA-3 amplified antenna. Experimentation with the ifinder GPS and RAA-3 in the same location +/- 3 inches, simply hooking up the RAA-3 causes a 25-50% gain in signal strengths. The GPS turns into 'super GPS'. Storage on these units is like nutty huge! With one hundred tracks, and each track storing up to Ten Thousand data points, well, you aren't going to be running out of track storage space anytime in this lifetime. I've been out dirt biking for weeks, and I've only recently manage to get one track semi-close to full. So for backwoods mapping the unit is 'amazing'. My PhD is not as water proof as they say, only rain proof, not submercable even 3 inches! I would hope the H2O fairs better. I don't think you'll go wrong for this one. Regards, ---- Robb ----

I'm running a Kodak SD 512 MB with Mapcreate 6 Topo, no problems detected. Just happyness! Regards, ---- Robb ----

I have the Black-N-White PhD, Mapcreate 6, and Oziexplorer. I have been overlaying all my tracks to produce maps of all the trails I ride on my Dirtbikes. Here is the 'lowdown'. Mapcreate 6 - Ability to download Topo Maps to the GPS and have them display on the GPS screen. Detail is pretty good, some backwoods roads are shown. Basic waypoint, Route and Icon editing is all possible. Track editing is not possible with this software. I have noticed some bugs in the editing side of software. City, Steet locations, and Business location and telephone listings were 'better' than expected. Query capabilities of the GPS's information is also quite nice. Mapcreate 6 is therefore great if you want to have a topo map visible on your GPS's screen, Highly detailed street names, business location & address info are all available on your GPS. But for editing tracks, it sucks. Is it worth the $125.00 CDN, I would have to say YES. OziExplorer - Ability to edit all GPS data is possible. I find it a little cumbersome, but at least it gets the job done. It can produce a lowrance PhD readable USR file (Waypoints, Tracks, and Icons/Events). But it cannot download TOPO or BASE maps into the Newer Lowrance iFinder GPS's. So the Ozi Explorer is what I use for editing tracks, waypoints, and icons/events. Regards, ---- MegaMapper ----

But if he's willing to spend $139.00 on a GPS. Why not get the Lowrance iFinder $120.00 Or what about the iFinder GO2 $ 86.00 Both these units 'DO IT ALL'! They both have SD card support. They both have in memory base maps. They both will read and write Lowrance USR files onto SD memory sticks. There are free Computer utilities that allow you to use a computer to access these USR files. (computer needs an SD cardreader to do this). Hmmm, wonder what the differences are between the GO2 and iFinder are? If you can't affort the SD cardreader for your computer, the unit would work exactly like the GO. Later when / if you decide to get a cardreader (if you don't have one already for something else) you'll start to get into mapping. It's worth the $20.00 bucks to get this capability. As well, later on, if you want to get more into GeoCaching and mapping, you can spend the $125 CDN to get the optional mapping software. This also comes with a SD cardreader. This will give you a more detailed TOPO map, roads & streets in various cities that displays ON THE GPS as well as in the software. On my PhD, I can use my GPS's search routines to located places, streets, Address's & phone numbers of businesses (it's out of date, but generally not bad). I suspect the GO2 would have this capability, since it's a simple software search routine. So IMHO, spend the extra $20.00 and get the iFinder GO2. It's way more powerful, and has more features than $200.00 - $300.00 GPS's made my other manufacturers. For $86.00 ya can't go wrong IMHO. Regards, ---- Robb ----

Sure count me in on this. I could use the GPX file export utility. Regards, ------ MegaMapper -------

Looks like my Ozi supports: Export of Tracks to: IGC files, Text Files - File Datum = Nad83 datum or many others Record Format (DMX), MDSX, D, etc etc etc. ESRI shape files (polylines, polygons) PLT files. Any ideas? I could also probably select a Garmin / Magellin GPS in the configuration and export some other kinds of files there as well. Regards, --- MegaMapper -------

I've been looking at Google Earth and I have a Lowrance GPS. It looks like Google Earth has no support for Lowrance GPS. Is there any way to get track information into Google Earth via some kind of a file import? Any Ideas? I have many file formats that I can produce: Lowrance.USR files. Any file that can be created from OziExplorer. Regards, ---- Robb -----

I think we need to shoot all deer, bears and cougars. They walk through the bush, creating trails and "environmental damage" as well! All animals need to start paying park user fees (like the rest of the animals) or else be jailed, shot on sight, and or subject to some other form of prosecution. Sometimes, I think we can get a little bit 'too mental' about environ-mental-ism. Regard, --- Robb ---

Dang, that speedometer function is gonna be like killer handy for me. I can't tell you how many times, I've been driving the bike, wondering exactly how fast I'm moving. Thanks! Regards, ---- Robb ----

I have a PhD, and I use it all the time while out Dirt Biking in the backwoods. Deep valleys, thick forest canopy etc. Reception wise, it works pretty good, but heavy thick forest canopy can cause the unit to drift a bit. A few times I have had some problems getting a good satellite lock with the internal antenna. Usually in conditions of heavy rain, and or thick forest canopy. It is workable for geocaching in most conditions. Later, I added their external amplified ( the RAA-3) and that has greatly improved the GPS's workability. That is one really nice feature is their external antenna feature! I almost never lose my position, and it's position jitter is almost not detectable. Water and the PhD. The whole thing about the GPS being waterproof to IPX7 standards is a pile of BULL. If it gets fully immersed in water (even 1 inch under) your gonna have a water problem. No the unit does not float! I found this out the hard way. Had to use a hair dryer to heat the water that got in my unit, and then use a foodsaver to suck the water vapour out. BTW: foodsaver takes the air pressure from 29 HG down to around 8 Hg! The unit survived and worked awsome after the ordeal. I've used the unit out in very heavy rain, the unit works fine, no issues. Track storage in this unit is like nutty huge. 100 tracks or 10,000 points each. Thats like nutty huge! The MP3 recorder is kinda nice as you can store audio notes about each waypoint. The MP3 player is a nice touch for the person that like to jog. Bottom Line: It's worthy. Awsome bang for the buck! Just don't submerge it under water! Regards, ---- Robb ----

I have an Lowrance iFinder PHD with the Top Maps for Canada. I found the maps to be very detailed, showing many of the 'backwoods roads'. I was impressed with that part of the program. The only thing that is 'missing' is the names of the mountains. It would have been nice to have the 'peaks' of the mountains named. All of the 'major' lakes, and rivers are named. I was amazed that the TOPO version has 'most streets' being displayed and fully named and displayed when you zoom in onto a community. In some major cities it will even display the 'house numbers' as you pass the cursor over the street. There is also a 'queryable' database in both the GPS and in the PC software to located places. EG: Where's "Spider Lake". or Where's Douglas St in Victoria. Using the query, you can find out where you want to go. The GPS is also able to display the locations and phone numbers of most business's in a community. I have punched in "Panago", the GPS shows me the nearest Panago, the phone number, and all relevent contact information. Zoomed in, driving down the road, I see ICONs showing up that identify a large portion of the local business on the screen while I travel. Not bad for a Topographical Map of Canada. The lowrance iFinder GPS's have TOTALLY NUTTY track storage capacity. ( 100 named tracks each storing up to 10,000 points - THAT'S CRAZY! ). So what I do is use this storage to store tracks of all roads that I'm interested in on the GPS. Looks like one 10,000 point track will do about 50 sq miles. The issue is that the software provided by Lowrance has NO TRACK EDITING CAPABILITY WHAT SO EVER!!! And that seriously sucks. About the only thing you can do with their software is DELETE and RENAME tracks. The GPS can store up to 1000 waypoints divied up in up to 100 routes. The software will let you convert a track into a series of waypoints formatted as a route. The software they provide has full editing of waypoints and icons. Me Personally, I think it's a little buggey in that as you delete points, it seems to want to convert the erased waypoints into "MAN OVERBOARD" points. Not sure on this. I got frusterated. I suppose you could use it to create a few waypoints and routes, and it would work reasonably well. So if you are not trying to make your own maps, or doing massive stuff with waypoints, then you can make due with the package. Myself, I often use their software for displaying my Lowrance USR data files, and maps. But I do not use it for editing, too many bugs, and capabilities are limited. The software and card reader cost $125.00 CDN, and I am happy with it just for the maps it provided. For editing my Track based maps and USR files, I use OziExplorer. It's awsome, provides full features. But it cannot download Base Maps into the GPS. I also like it's ability to work with various other brands of GPS's. So I can mix and match information from all brands into my mega mapping fun. The Lowrance GPS's have great antennas, but if reception is an issue (VERY THICK FOREST CANOPY) then it can be hooked up to an external amplified antenna. It boots the incoming signals quite a bit. I have one of these little beasties. I am also happy with the battery life. Mine runs on 2 AA's for 8 to 12 hours (backlight on, no power saving). When the batteries die, I simply slap another set in. I'm not locked into some 'wierd' nonstandard battery pack. Regards, ---- Robb -----

My Lowrance PhD (IPX7) fell in a puddle, and that was enough to almost lose the unit. It started steaming up from inside, and the display board was doin the 'funky chicken'. I suspect it's because it has the barometer. In your example, you have air that is 'very hot' (hot stuff expands) and then you submerge the unit in 50 degree water to cool it. Now the 'hot air' is cooling, so now it contracts back. When it contracts back, it would be 'trying like hell' to bring water into the GPS. So not only do you have water pressure of submerging the gps, you also create even more pressure difference by cooling the air in the GPS. Not the greatest way of doing it, IMHO. Regards, ---- Robb -----

I actually had water in my Lowrance PhD. It's spoze to be waterproof (IPX7) as well... ***NOT**** I used a hair dryer on low fan, high heat to heat the GPS up so that no more condensation was visible. Next I put it into a foodsaver jar (a jar with a hose that hooks up to a foodsaver) and sucked the air out of the jar and GPS. I had quite a bit of water in my GPS, so it took me about 5 hours. The GPS works great again. The Foodsaver took the pressure from 29 HG down to 8 HG. Yeah the PhD has a barometer, which works fine too ! ! Regards, ---- Robb --- Or you could take your GPS back.

I have the iFinder PHD. The only iFinder unit that I would not purchase would be the GO due to no PC connectivity. So now that that's been said, lets totally forget about the *ONE* model of iFinder that's a DUD, and move on. The iFinders are upgradable, so as you progress, you can add stuff slowly as you have cash. The GO2, and every other version of iFinder has PC connectivity through the use of SD cards and USB card readers. The iFinder will simply dump a USR file containing all waypoints, trails, routes, and icons. Due to this GPS using standard SD cards, we can get around 1 GB of SD cards for around $120 CDN. Usually the GPS comes with a 32 MB SD stick. One of the things I found out about the ifinder, is the amount of track storage in these little rigs is generally, well, in a word, CRAZY. The GPS can work with 100 tracks, and each track can store 10,000 points. I've been mapping a 50-100 Sq Mile mountain range and expect it all to fit in only 2 out of the 100 tracks. For my mapping activities, track storage is EVERYTHING because you cannot modify the base maps. That's every spur, and every main road. Most (if not all) of the iFinder GPS's all have external antenna jacks. If you do have a reception problem, you can plug in an external amplified antenna and seriously boost the reception and accuracy. This is something that IMHO is seriously lacking with the other GPS lines. Power was also one of my concerns. I did not want to be locked into some non-standard rechargable battery pack. If the vender specific batteries go dead, you have to recharge them, unless you've spend $50 or more on an extra battery pack. If the vendor specific battery pack fails, your down until your replacement pack arrives (assuming they're still being made). I wanted something that will run on readily available batteries. The iFinders all use 2 AA batteries. I get good 'real world' running times from the 2 AA batteries. Usually 8 - 12 hours. I run the GPS at night (backlights on) and with NO POWER SAVING features because I want accuracy as I map. If god forbid the battery goes dead, NO PROBLEMO, I slap another set in and go. I could extend this to up to 20 hours depending on how I enable powersaving, and if I do not use the backlight. The mapping software isn't bad, I use Ozi Explorer and the Lowrance Mapcreate 6.0 Topographical. The Mapcreate lets me 'upgrade' the GPS to use a much more detailed Topo basemap. Mapcreate is lacking in edit capabilities. I found Ozi great for editing my iFinder USR data files. Internal Antenna - I haven't had all that much problems while dirt biking through the forest canopy. The antenna issue, at least for me appears to be during sunset. At night and during the day, the satellite locks are great! Poor weather also seems to effect the reception as well. My GPS is not all that waterproof. Even with the seals on, if it drops into a small puddle, water will get into the GPS. THIS RIG IS NOT WATERPROOF like they say. The screen is fairly small. For a car ONLY GPS, a bigger screen would be great. For out in the woods, the iFinder screen is fine. I've also used the iFinder in the car, and it worked well. Ifinder PhD and MP3 version let you record audio descriptions when you're setting a waypoint. I found this feature especially handy when you get home, and are trying to figure out why a waypoint was placed 'there'. You can take 5 mins to rename the waypoint as well, but I found it easier just to speak what was on my mind. Lowrance is a very old company that makes Avionics, and Fishing / ship gear. I don't think their stuff is junk. I am trying to figure out why it's so cheap as well. Bottom line, I've been very impressed with my GPS. Regards, ---- Robb ----

I am currently at work, but a few ideas have popped into my head on this. 1, My PC does not have a built in card reader. I did run into some problems with the reader, to do with drive letters. EG: Drives A,B,C,D,E,F are CDROMS and local disk drives. The Lowrance card reader came up as drive G. Later (using a removable hard disk bay) I installed a second hard disk, which came up as G. This clashed with the Lowrance card reader (it was still on G: as well). I ended up moving the lowrance cardreader over to drive K: so as to stop it clashing with device changes. 2) 3) and 4) - I'll have to check when I'm back home. Is your cardreader a USB device, or is your cardreader a Parallel Port device? Regards, ---- Robb -----

I have the following setup: A lowrance PhD GPS MapCreate 6 Topo for Canada. Ozi Explorer. Well, needless to say it took me quite a while to figure out how to use all this stuff. So far I must say that I'm reasonably happy with all of it, but there are some issues to be noted. MapCreate 6 Topo. There is lots of copy protection with this product, both hardware and software. The product will 'lock itself' to a max of 5 SD cards. You can read/write to these SD cards as often as you like. But you are limited to a max of specific 5 SD cards. The SD (64 MB) card that came with the MapCreate 6, I gave away (I purchased a 512 MB Kodak). The CD#1 must be installed in the drive in order for the software to run. The Maps are 'encryped' so that you cannot edit, or copy them easily. The GPS itself will not allow you to load your own map into it (as far as I can tell), so you are pretty much locked into the MapCreate 6 software. Yeah, that sounds pretty darn ugly . I knew all this walking in to get the stuff. Being a MegaMapper, I want to be able to map stuff, and being UNABLE to edit the maps would 'appear to be a serious issue'. Well turns out that my GPS can store 100 tracks, and each track can have up to 10,000 points. Yeah, one @$ of alot of storage there. What I do is on the GPS My Trails, is turn on/off the update trails. I have 2 trails. One is named "Hike" trails, the other is named "Mt XXX roads". As I drive around, I have Mt XXX roads" active (remember to up the points to 10,000 when you make it active). I then exit back to the map. Next I go back into the trail, and you'll see that the "Make Active" has been swapped out for "Update Trails". I simply turn Update trails On / Off for each unmapped leg one direction of travel only. This way I only store the tack in without storing my track out. If I end up doing a hike, I make Hike Trails active (see above) and then do my hike. When I get back to the vehicle, I switch the active trail back to Mt XXX Roads and continue mapping away. The GPS along with the topo map, shows me the tracks, and I can have the GPS use different line styles for each line type. Some of my tracks are approaching the 10,000 Pt limit, and I'm thinking of splitting the track into Mt XXX Roads and Mt XXX Spurs. I can then have the GPS display spurs as dotted lines. The only problem is the MapCreate 6 will not let you edit tracks (at least I haven't found a way to do it). I have tracks with over 7,000 Points, and no way to get rid of GPS jitter or editing the tracks. The software lets one edit Routes, and Waypoints. I found that converting tracks into routes and waypoints to be a disaster, and very limited as to how much can be stored. I found that editing waypoints in Mapcreate kinda buggey. Especially when deleting low numbered waypoints, and then adding in new ones. Anyways, I got real frustereded with the program in this dept. If you are a person that just uses your GPS for a trip in the woods, and your not planning on keeping your GPS data around very long, your not editing tracks, but need to do a few small things with routes and waypoints, then Mapcreate 6 would be fine for you. I was VERY VERY VERY 'impressed' with the quality of the maps provided by MapCreate 6. The backwoods road detail is quite good, and I am happy with the topo information. Best still, it's "reasonably priced" ( $125.00 Cdn ) and has most street names, house numbers, and businesses names, locations, phone numbers all stored in the map. Pretty darn good IMHO! The GPS and map software has a query system, where you can punch in what you want to find, and it will locate it for you on the map. So is it worth the $125.00, in a word, yes! It makes my GPS a heck of alot more useful to me when I'm tring to find some place. But, If you are like me, a MegaMapper. A person that likes to create maps of all the backwoods roads, and merge your data into one big 'Mega Map' of your area, then MapCreate 6 will not totally cut it. IMHO. As a result, I use MapCreate for is viewing and 'some' printing of maps with my data on it. And I download maps into the GPS with it. But I have a 70 MB map that encompases about 1000 sq miles around my area, I don't do this very often. Ozi Explorer Ozi will not upload maps into newer Lowrance GPS's. It will for some older ones with an addon, but for my brand new PhD, you MUST use MapCreate 6. When it comes to working with the data files that come out of the GPS (Tracks/routes/waypoints), I turn to Ozi Explorer. Ozi lets me edit tracks, waypoints, routes, etc fairly easily (there is a learning curve), and the PhD loads the Ozi edited data back in NO PROBLEM. I also usually print from Ozi because I find the maps look better. I find it usuful to compare roads shown on the Ozi maps with those on Mapcreate. Some things are different, and this has helped me out on a few things that I've been doing. Ozi Explorer is a very feature rich editing program for your GPS data. I also like it because it is not GPS brand specific. That means it can process information from most other brands of GPSs. Once the data is in the Ozi, I can then put it into my Lowrance GPS. As well I can take tracks and other data from the Lowrance, and upload it into some other brand of GPS. So it's not a perfect world, but with both packages, I'm doin pretty good. Regards, ---- Robb ----