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Lowrance, You Are Unbelievable!


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I just received my iFinder today and I can't believe how great this thing is!!! :lol:

 

From a software standpoint, it blows Garmin and Magellan out of the water! Every menu is logical, there are little popup windows that tell you what things stand for, and it is just advanced enough so that you can't get bored of it, YET it is simple enough for anyone to use.

 

Like Garmin, you can also customize all of the pages too with different fields of info. And the power saver feature is by far the best one out there. Not only is there a measly "battery saver" mode, but there are 5 selections of battery saving options you can choose from and it gives a detailed description of each. Basically though, you can choose how long of an update rate you want, from 1 second, to 10 seconds. There are also sun and moon charts on this thing too.

 

The hardware itself is very well made, minus the cover on it, but who cares, at least it doesn't move around or feel loose when I use the unit. It's a dead solid GPS.

 

Honestly though.... I love this thing! It's nearly flawless in every way. And at $119.00 for a GPS that has WAAS and a nice basemap, I'm speechless.

 

In fact.... this GPS is so nice, I'm buying another one. :lol:

 

Just wanted to share the info.

Edited by vw_ev
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I just received my iFinder today and I can't believe how great this thing is!!! :lol:

 

From a software standpoint, it blows Garmin and Magellan out of the water! Every menu is logical, there are little popup windows that tell you what things stand for, and it is just advanced enough so that you can't get bored of it, YET it is simple enough for anyone to use!

 

Like Garmin, you can also customize all of the pages too with different fields of info. And the power saver feature is by far the best one out there! Not only is there a measly "battery saver" mode, but there are 5 selections of battery saving options you can choose from and it gives a detailed description of each. Basically though, you can choose how long of an update rate you want, from 1 second, to 10 seconds. There are also sun and moon charts on this thing too.

 

The hardware itself is very well made, minus the cover on it, but who cares, at least it doesn't move around or feel loose when I use the unit. It's a dead solid GPS.

 

Honestly though.... I love this thing! It's nearly flawless in every way. And at $119.00 for a GPS that has WAAS and a nice basemap, I'm speechless.

 

In fact.... this GPS is so nice, I'm buying another one. :lol:

 

Just wanted to share the info.

Funny how ubiqutious Garmin is in this forum. I was a lowrance owner (airmap 100) and now own a GPS V.

 

I love my garmin but I do miss my airmap and the "Lowrance" feel.

 

Although you dont see much Lowrance info on here, people would do themselves a favor by considering them. Compair price/feature set and I think for GPS's that have the features of the IFINDER you wont find a better value.

 

I would probably have one if I didn't decide I "had" to have autorouting.

 

If Lowrance sold something to compete with the 76CS (and didnt' use lithium batteries for memory back up) I would be right there.

 

Just my 2 cents and my honest opinion so no flaming please.

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This thing gains a satellite lock unbelievably quick! I turn on the GPS and in no more than 3 seconds, it says that my position has been found. :lol:

 

WAAS corrections also happen in less than 30 seconds usually. Lightning fast satellite processing system on this thing. :lol:

 

The only thing I have yet to figure out is a way to download mass geocaches on it like I did with my Garmins. If I could find a program that converts GPX or LOC files to USR files, I could do it, but...

Edited by vw_ev
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Recently got an Lowrance iFinder Pro as my first GPSr. At first was a bit intimidated by all the features but the Instruction Manual is well written and complete and would rate this GPSr as user friendly. Found 3 geocaches in 3 days and am looking forward to hiding one of my own soon.

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We just started geocasheing and are currently borrowing my father's GPS. We have been looking at GPS's to purchase and so far the Lowrance iFinder and iFinder H20 seem to be what we are going to settle on. Glad to hear so many positive things about them. If any one has any other helpful info, please let me know. Ma Sizemore :laughing:

Edited by the size-woods
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The only thing I have yet to figure out is a way to download mass geocaches on it like I did with my Garmins. If I could find a program that converts GPX or LOC files to USR files, I could do it, but...

This is a deal breaker for me. If gpsbabel doesn't talk to it, then I'm not interested in it. They must not be open with their communication protocol, or it would already be in gpsbabel.

 

--Marky

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The only thing I have yet to figure out is a way to download mass geocaches on it like I did with my Garmins. If I could find a program that converts GPX or LOC files to USR files, I could do it, but...

This is a deal breaker for me. If gpsbabel doesn't talk to it, then I'm not interested in it. They must not be open with their communication protocol, or it would already be in gpsbabel.

 

--Marky

Actually there is a way! :laughing:

 

It's a bit complicated, but once you get started, its pretty automatic from there.

 

1. Download the LOC file from Geocaching.com

2. Convert that file with GPSbabel to a (CSV txt file)

3. Using Mapcreate or their free waypoint software "GDM6", import that converted text file.

4. The waypoints will then be displayed with the correct coordinates on the map.

5. You can then add more waypoints by doing the same procedure above until you get the amount you want to load to the GPS.

6. When you're ready to load to GPS, just do a "File/save as" to the card reader.

 

Like I said, its kinda complicated (compared to Garmin), but it still works well. What I did was to store 800 geocaching waypoints of my nearby area so that I wont have to transfer again for a long time.

 

It has worked out well.

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I haven't tried it yet, but the new GSAK 3.05 has a new GPSBabel dialogue which I suspect will allow the creation of the CSV file directly from GSAK. It's still not the .usr directly, but it should save a step. Also, the import/save in Lowrance GDM 6 is very fast, so what looks like a bunch of complicated steps actually takes only a few moments.

 

I've been keeping only a few waypoints on my iFinder at a time, and from the time I select the points I want in GSAK to when I have the SD card back in the iFinder is only about a minute or so.

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I haven't tried it yet, but the new GSAK 3.05 has a new GPSBabel dialogue which I suspect will allow the creation of the CSV file directly from GSAK. It's still not the .usr directly, but it should save a step. Also, the import/save in Lowrance GDM 6 is very fast, so what looks like a bunch of complicated steps actually takes only a few moments.

 

I've been keeping only a few waypoints on my iFinder at a time, and from the time I select the points I want in GSAK to when I have the SD card back in the iFinder is only about a minute or so.

The CSV option for exporting waypoints in GSAK is an actual ".CSV" file format.... This format isn't recognized by GDM6. GPSbabel has a separate conversion format that creates a .txt file and uses CSV formatted waypoints for that .txt file.

 

How are you doing this?

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Yes, I had discovered this too when I installed GSAK version 3.04. I emailed Clyde and asked about this and he indicated that he was planning a more general GPSBabel. Version 3.05, which came out a few days ago, and which I have not installed, claims:

 

"There are a few fixes and some new features. The big news in this build is the addition of the new GPSBabel custom dialog. This effectively gives GSAK instant access to all GPSBabel supported formats. The new custom dialog may not be as user friendly as the other supported formats, but the sheer power of this feature more than makes up for it. I suspect there may be some issues with users trying to get the syntax correct, but I am sure experienced GPSBabel users will be able to help out in the forums in this regard."

 

I'm planning to try this tomorrow, but I assume if you have GPSBabel installed, GSAK will now call GPSBabel directly and create the CSV file we want without having to open up GPSBabel separately. I'm only speculating, though.

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Yes, I had discovered this too when I installed GSAK version 3.04. I emailed Clyde and asked about this and he indicated that he was planning a more general GPSBabel. Version 3.05, which came out a few days ago, and which I have not installed, claims:

 

"There are a few fixes and some new features. The big news in this build is the addition of the new GPSBabel custom dialog. This effectively gives GSAK instant access to all GPSBabel supported formats. The new custom dialog may not be as user friendly as the other supported formats, but the sheer power of this feature more than makes up for it. I suspect there may be some issues with users trying to get the syntax correct, but I am sure experienced GPSBabel users will be able to help out in the forums in this regard."

 

I'm planning to try this tomorrow, but I assume if you have GPSBabel installed, GSAK will now call GPSBabel directly and create the CSV file we want without having to open up GPSBabel separately. I'm only speculating, though.

Yes, you are correct, except for one thing - you don't have to have GPSBabel installed if you have GSAK. The GSAK installation automatically comes with GPSBabel and it is this version it uses "under the hood".

 

The new Babel custom dialog does indeed enable you to run any GPSBabel command - the tough part (as with most command line utilities) is getting the syntax correct.

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I installed GSAK 3.05 today and the GPSBabel Custom Dialogue worked without a hitch. Once you select the GPSBabel Custom Export you need to type a correctly formatted statement into the GPSBabel Statement field. Mine looked like this:

 

"C:\Program Files\GSAK\GPSBabel.exe" -i gpx -f "C:\Program Files\GSAK\temp\babel.gpx" -o csv -F "C:\Program Files\Lowrance Electronics\GDM6\data\test.txt"

 

The first half of this line is the default and I don't think it should be changed. Starting with -o, csv means to use the comma separated values format, and -F (needs to be capitalized I believe) identifies the output file. You can put this anywhere you want, but I had it place the file in the directory GDM6 looks at by default. I hit generate and it created the file.

 

I then opened up GDM6 and imported the waypoint list and got what I expected... THANK YOU ClydE!!!!! (Now, if we can just figure out the Lowrance .usr format and get that directly... [:)] )

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I installed GSAK 3.05 today and the GPSBabel Custom Dialogue worked without a hitch. Once you select the GPSBabel Custom Export you need to type a correctly formatted statement into the GPSBabel Statement field. Mine looked like this:

 

"C:\Program Files\GSAK\GPSBabel.exe" -i gpx -f "C:\Program Files\GSAK\temp\babel.gpx" -o csv -F "C:\Program Files\Lowrance Electronics\GDM6\data\test.txt"

 

The first half of this line is the default and I don't think it should be changed. Starting with -o, csv means to use the comma separated values format, and -F (needs to be capitalized I believe) identifies the output file. You can put this anywhere you want, but I had it place the file in the directory GDM6 looks at by default. I hit generate and it created the file.

 

I then opened up GDM6 and imported the waypoint list and got what I expected... THANK YOU ClydE!!!!! (Now, if we can just figure out the Lowrance .usr format and get that directly... [:)] )

Good deal. It worked! That removes one step. Thanks B)

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First of all, THANKS! Simple enough for non-programmers? I've been a programmer for many years, and I was struggling. The GPSBabel documentation is pretty poor. :tired: Now for my real question...

 

I've got a new iFinder H2O (love it!), and I'm using MapCreate6 to build maps for it. When I import the waypoints created using the GPSBabel csv export explained above, all of the waypoint names are truncated to 11 characters. :tired: The export file contains the full names, and I can edit the waypoint names in MapCreate6 to be longer than 11 characters, but I'm losing the full length of the names during the import for some reason. Anyone else have this problem using MapCreate6?

 

Jeff Carey

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I have an iFinder Pro Plus.

Anyone know how I can get my waypoints and tracks into USA Photomaps?

All this program will do is take them from a com port.

 

I love my iFinder. I Got a great unit, expandable memory, & external antenna support. I feel expandable memory is a must when making custom maps!! Get a few cards, make a few maps, throw them in you pocket and go. Oh yeah!!!! Best part is, most units in this price range(I paid $250) DO NOT include the $100 mapping CD. Want a good price check (gpscity.com)

 

Sorry to sound like a spammer there.

Just like to share a good deal with others.

 

Chris

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I ordered my iFinder H2O today. I cannot wait to get it into my hands. I sold my SporTrak Pro to get it. I only had the SporTrak for 2 1/2 months and it was okay, but I wasnt real happy with it. This unit looks great. My only regret is that I had to get just the unit and not the Plus pack. Now I wish I had ordered the bundle after reading the posts. :blink:

 

ScottB

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