New GPS

[+T & G's Adventures]

I just got my new "Standard Horizon Magnum NAV-40", and took it out for the first time this morning. I gotta tall ya, I LOVE this thing. My old Magellan 2000 XL gave up the ghost last week and I was forced to buy something new.

 

Never heard of this thing? Neither did I. I was searching the web looking for 'stuff' and prices and just happened on this unit. I got it from a place called the "GPS STORE", which had the best price on it ($164.95) I could find. There might be a less expensive place but I didn't find it (and now I don't want to know - ha).

 

http://www.thegpsstore.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/site/standard40.htm?L+thegpsstore+snjz3499+1031417284

 

Anyway, once I got used to the new way to do stuff (read that 'different than the 2000 XL'), it was a dream. To my surprise, it locks in the WAAS signals here in the Eagle Valley where I live in Carson City, NV. My understanding was that WAAS was only accessable in open country or out on the water. This is an added bonus. The amount of information this thing hands out is incredible (but then, all the new units are incredible...). I especially like the red glow to the panel light. Reminds me of a fighter jet instrument panel.

 

Does anyone else have any experience with this unit, or am I the guinae pig here?

 

"Nobody cares what you REALLY do,

as long as the paperwork looks good"

[+Jamie Z]

Looks like a good unit with an emphasis on marine use. I'm sure someone else around here is familiar with it, but with it's specialized functions, it's not going to be the most popular unit around.

 

Jamie

[+SecretSpy]

Details are slim on the web site.

Does it have a PC download/upload cable? Free lifetime software updates? Magnetic compass?

 

LowlyWorm Says Gig 'em Aggies

[Alphawolf]

I wonder about it's compatability with all the different mapping software programs around....

[+T & G's Adventures]

Well, I've had a few days to play with this NAV-40. I'm a truck driver, and I stuck it on the dash so I could see how it works 'on the road'. Didn't get much WAAS use out there but that's no doubt due to the route I drive, which is mostly mountainous. But it always stayed locked in in 3-D mode so I got elevation info.

 

To answer a few questions, yes it comes with a PC cable, and while it won't work with Magellan or Garmin software (I don't think anyway), it WILL work with the DeLorme and Fugawa (sp?) offerings. Anything that is NMEA compatible (which itself is some sort of marine application standard). It has built in info on bouy and light locations (useless to me - especially in Nevada!), but it also has thousands of world-wide cities and airport data bases, and a list of hotels, airlines, and car rental agencies with their phone numbers and web addresses. This stuff is also of little use to me. I use my GPS primarily when we're out camping or RV'ing (and now geocaching). I notice most of these GPS manufacturers like to cram as much stuff into them as they can to make it sound like more for the buck. Microchips - ya gotta love 'em.

 

I does not have a magnetic compass (but I have one in my pocket), and it doesn't have a barometer. It has the ability to download software upgrades when they come available. And while it doesn't float, it will withstand submersion to three meters for 30 minutes. Frankly, here in Nevada I'm more likely to drop it down a mineshaft than drop it in water of any depth. Maybe a thin 150 ft fishing line attached to it would be better - ha.

 

Looking at many of the other units from the "big two", it doesn't seem to have anything that they don't (including the lists of bouys and lights, cities, airports, and 'points of interest'). What it does have that I also don't need is the ability to hook to a marine VHF radio and send location data with a broadcast. I might be able to do something with that and my VHF ham radio though. I'll have to talk to someone who knows more about that stuff than I.

 

The battery saving functions seem to work as advertised. I've got a 12 volt plug for it though because it's easy to burn up batteries just driving down the road, no matter what kind of battery conservation you practice.

 

Taking it out for the REAL test, my wife and I found our first cache yesterday. We are both satisfied with the performance and are now hooked on geocaching. And since Magellan has offered to allow us to trade in the 'dead' 2000 XL on a number of new ones, we just may do that so my wife can wield her own.

 

The Magellan 315 or the Sport Track Map? Any suggestions? There are others on the list they sent but these look like the two we might use.

 

"Nobody cares what you REALLY do,

as long as the paperwork looks good"