External Antenna

[+GPSOkie]

I was reading on this forum about external antennas and someone recommended Gilsson. On a lark, I went to their website and ended up buying and external active antenna for my Lowrance H2Oc because they cost next to nothing ($19.95 or so). I ordered on Sunday and it arrived in my mailbox on Wednesday. I was quite excited and immediately hooked up the antenna and walked outside. I turned on the H2Oc and about the time I got the standard "Do no use for official navigation" warning, I got my "position acquired" notification. I'm talking seconds within turning on the unit!! I have been playing with the antenna for the last 24 hours and though I have been using GPS since 1998, I can't believe that it took me this long to acquire an external antenna! I have used pretty much every brand of available GPS (Magellan, Garmin, Lowrance) through the years and I cannot stress enough how much of a difference that these external antennas make. Lock ons are nearly instantaneous and EPE is narrowed greatly. I don't think I will ever be without one beyond today. I also can highly recommend Gilsson as they deliver quickly and seem to have a great product. I was alway very happy with my Lowrance products, but this inexpensive add-on has really added the icing to the cake.

[cohocarl]

I recently sold my Garmin Legend and bought an Expedition C and also picked up a 28db Gilsson external antenna ($23 including shipping on Ebay) and I agree, the quick sat. fix is remarkable.

 

But the main thing I like about the external antenna is that in my car, I had to leave my old Legend way up on the dash for it to stay fixed on the sats., and if I took it off it's mount to get a better view of the screen, I'd lose the sat. fix. Now with the external antenna on top of the car, I can have the Lowrance anywhere in the car without worrying about dropping the sats.

 

P.S. I'm loving my Lowrance so far.

Edited May 16, 2007 by cohocarl