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First Generation GPS


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Has anybody ever seen one of these GPS Units?

 

I purchased this unit NEW in the box about 5 years ago at a yard sale!

 

IPS360.jpg

 

SonyGPS.jpg

 

To the best of my knowledge, this Sony GPS was one of the first "consumer" handheld GPS units on the market! (circa 1990) It does not have all the bells and wistles of todays GPS units, but it is an extreemly well built unit. IMO

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Wow! There's a blast from the past. :)

 

I had the opportunity to use a military hand-held GPS, probably around the same time - c.1990-1992 - made by Magellan. It was a chunky, olive-drab, primitive device by today's standards but did provide an accurate position.

 

Very cool find Xlobsterman. Good conversation piece or just a backup unit.

Edited by af895
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The Pyxis was my first GPS unit. Don't remember exactly when I bought it; I think in 1989 or 1990. It was mostly a marine GPS, but I used mine exclusively in the Mojave Desert.

 

The antenna could come unscrewed, and you could bolt it on top of the truck (or your boat) and attach a cable to the handheld part.

 

I have no idea where mine is; probably out in the garage somewhere. I never did know if the "Y2K Bug" was the death knell for it.

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The company I was working for in ~'91 had me buy a Pyxis while I was on a business trip in Japan. It wasn't available in the US yet. With the exchange rate it was about $US 1700.

 

We were providing some GPS technology to Humminbird for what I think was their first receiver and wanted to check out the Pyxis. I only played with it for an hour or so, which used up about half the power of the 4 (or was it 6?) AA's.

 

The detachable, swivel mounted (weighted to stay upright on a boat) was kind of clever.

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We had one of those for sale at the flight school I worked at in 1990, I remember walking across the parking lot amazed that it could tell you the direction and speed you walked.

 

Remember, Loran was the big thing back then, it told you that you were 13.1 miles from a waypoint, GPS told you you were 13.12 miles.

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Hey Gang,

thanks for the replies.

 

The prices of "NEW" technology has always amazed me! Now you can by a much faster GPS, with so many more features, including mapping, etc , for over half the price of my old Sony unit when it first hit the retail market!!

 

I guess it's just like our computers...........................I remember all of the hoopla (and prices) when Windows 95 first hit the market!!! I purchased my first computer back then. Windows 95, with a pentium processor, a whopping 1.2 Gig hard drive, & 16 megs of ram for a thousand bucks!!! :laughing: Now you can get cpu's with "HUGE" hard drives, and tones of ram for well under a thousand!!! :laughing:

Edited by Xlobsterman
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