Steven Johnson wrote:NZcaver wrote:Steven - for a good combination trail/vehicle GPS, check out the Lowrance Globalmap iFinder
Lowrance seems to be a distant third in handhelds, at least judging from Google... Garmin and Magellan get most of the coverage. How does Lowrance compare?
Steven - Lowrance may be "a distant third" in it's sales and marketing to all the usual consumer schmucks out there, but as far as I'm concerned it's definitely not a distant third in quality.
As I mentioned in my post on the previous page, my last one survived 7 years of hard use before I replaced it. Technically it still works, but the old rubber keypad recently peeled off making it tough to operate. I don't believe this is a known problem with the current models - it's probably just that mine got abused a bit over the years.
Until someone proves me wrong, I think they make functional, reliable units with great receive sensitivity (12 parallel channel, like many current models) and fast signal processing (I believe they use the same Rockwell chip that the military ones use, without the Selective Availability decryption of course). This means quicker accurate fixes under the tree canopy, down in ravines, and even inside some buildings. (Haven't tried them in caves, though!)
The reason I spoke up about the Lowrance units is precisely because they get little main-stream marketing, although they are a main-stream product. I'm happy with mine, others I know are happy with theirs, and I'm just passing on the news.