I have been looking for a GPS for a little extra situational awareness when flying cross countries especially around the SoCal mountains and I think I have decided on the anywhere map. Ok you got me 80% SA and 20% because I am a gadget junky and like to splurge every so often, but who doesnt?

heres why

Screen size on the Dell Axim X51V is larger than the Garmin 296/396
Terrain Alerts
Airspace alerts
Huge database with many private airports and all navaids
Alot of information regarding freqs, hours, and runway info
Nice moving map with HSI (same with almost all handhelds)
Upgradable (it can never be totally obselete)
Bluetooth (the only cords are the power cord if needed)
I can use the PDA for a PDA base logbook and scheduler while CFI'ing
Price $695.00 cheaper then any other GPS in its category
Able to add pocket plates or upgrade to XM weather if wanted
http://www.anywheremap.com/aviation-gps.aspx

I am choosing this over my final choices which were the:

AvMap EKP IV- $1400.00 no terrain alerts
Garmin 296- $1400 same features as AWM more expensive, more bulky, is it upgradable?
Lowrance Airmap 2000C- can be found for $700 nice unit, not much I can say bad about it except, is it upgradable? and is it as versatile as the AWM would be?
Mountain Scope- I do not know much about it, i do like it but it is annoying that I can not find a way to buy it online. I want to buy a ready to use package and be done with it. From what I hear it is priced around $900 complete though.

Tell me what you think? Does anybody have any input? This is a good amount of money to spend and I would like to make a smart decision.

note: most of the airplanes I fly do not contain a GPS and if they do, their database is outdated most of the time. I spend alot of time in a Citabria with no GPS

note2: I understand GPS is not a crutch and I am proficient on pilotage, dead reckoning and instrument navigation, I am just interested in a little extra info available to me in flight.

That, actually, looks pretty bad ass. Will be perfect for those single pilot IFR Part 135 nights.

Till MS Windows crashes...

-LAFF

lol LAFF. . . touche.

I use anywhere map in My Bellacca Viking and love it. Never a minute's trouble. A lot of bang for the buck and so easy to use. I highly recommend it!

Thanks gents..I think I have made up my mind and will buy it. I contacted the owner of the company with some questions and he even said he would like to work out a great deal/military discount type of deal. I never ask for it, but I am certainly glad to accept any form of discount!

As for Laffs comment, i agree that it would certainly be a pain if the software crashed but this is just going to be for a little extra SA and will be redundant to my aircraft guages. If it crashes I will still have my charts and aquired navigational skills to help out. In a sense it is a plus, meaning that anything can crash, at least with this the entire system will never be junk. If the pda crashes I can replace it and still have the software. If the software crashes and the PDA lives I will still have the PDA and can replace the software.

food for thought.

Anyone else have comments / last minute thoughts?

Shawn, if / when you talk with him again, ask him if he would be willing to do the military discount for anyone else. Perhaps even, you could refer me to him and save yourself a couple more bones.

I'm just wondering how easy it would be to move everything from one plane to another. It looks to be fairly simple.

Surreal,
For the email address, just go to their website and in the contact options they have an option for TTTB (talk to the boss) it is an email that goes directly to him. Or if you would like just PM me your email address and I will pass it forward, although I dont think it would make a difference, because I do not know him personally, just a CEO willing to help. I am not sure if they love getting emails directly to them, but then again they wouldnt offer it on their website if it was not an option. As I read the email again I dont believe it is a "military discount" it was more

**:While there isn't much margin left in the new lower price GPS systems, we'll be happy to work with you to sweeten the deal in any way we can.
Thanks for selecting Anywhere Map and thank for your service. Please call me directly upon your return and we'll see what we can do."**

Those were the words of the email. It is a large bonus for me that a company is willing to work direct with its potential customers like that, it is a nice change from talking to a customer service representative (read: $7.00/hr person who answers the phones and reads out of a company manual)

As for being able to transfer it in and out of airplanes it is effortless. All it is, is a PDA with a wireless bluetooth GPS and a ciggarette power adapter and clamp style yoke mount. So when you leave the airplane you unplug the ciggarette power adapter, unclamp the yoke mount with PDA attached and grab the GPS reciever off of the dashboard. I usually fly with a few things and a bag, so unplugging a power adapter and unclamping a yoke mount is a non issue for me.

Hope this helps,
Shawn