
I am a newbie to GPS and there is definitely a learning curve. The Lowrance manual that comes with the unit is excellent to getting you started quickly, but you absolutely must get the advanced manual, available on-line at lowrance.com, to really enjoy the features. It does take some study and practice, but it is worth the effort, it is not that bad and the unit is (to me) impressive. It does not have street-by-street navigation, and it doesn’t talk to me, but units that do cost $hundreds more. When I am in my car, it is quite usable; otherwise, street-by-street navigation is unnecessary anyway. I have recommended this unit to family, and feature-for-feature, I thought it was the best value of all the units I found in its price range. It quickly locates the satellites, often faster than the documentation would suggest, and I have found it remarkable that it has maintained the signals in very improbable situations. It is much more sensitive and reliable than I expected after reading another review that complained about signal acquisition and maintenance; I have no comlaints whatsoever about that.
I do admit that when I get the extra available $$ I may get a color street-by-street unit that talks to me; it would be safer in an urban environment while driving, but I really don’t need it. I would also like a slightly larger screen for when I don’t have my glasses.
A couple of words about service. It is a truism that modern solid-state electronics either fails very quickly or lasts a long long time. I had a defective unitand it failed during the first couple of weeks. (This also underscores the importance ofputting it to a lot of use, testing out its features etc., to give it a good burn-in). Call to service was easy, the technicians clearly knowledgeable and when it was discovered that the problem couldn’t be handled over the phone authorization to return the unit was readily provided; and they sent me a replacement unit within 24 hours of receiving it. About the only complaint was I had to pay the cost of sending it to the factory which wasn’t too bad, except the post office raised its fee for insuring the parcel.
In any case, I unreservedly recommend this product.
Product Description
The most compact, full-featured, highly-detailed 16-channel compact GPS+WAAS handheld – with 64MB of built-in memory packed full of mapping detail – for such a low price! Dont wait to give it a GO! – Display 200V x 140H pixel resolution 2″ (5 cm) diagonal display size High contrast Film SuperTwist Amber LED backlit screen16-level grayscale- GPS/Mapping Precision 16- parallel channel GPS + WAAS receiverBuilt-in, 64MB of memory preloaded with a background map of the continental U.S. and Hawaii, including enhanced shoreline detail, coastal nav aids, and wrecks and obstructions1,000 waypoints /1,000 event markers /100 routesUp to 100 retraceable plot trails, with up to 10,000 points in any trail40 map zoom ranges, 0.02-4,000 miles42 graphic icons to mark special spotsInternal back-up memory Specifications Weight: 5.36 oz/151.9g with 2 AA batteries loaded (batteries not included) Dimensions:5.15×2.12×1.24 inches / 13.1×5.4×3.15 cm pocket-sized Includes Items: Wrist-strap accessory Waterproof up to IPX7 standard Runs on two AA batteries for over 48 hours
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