Thought I might take the plunge and give it a try...



Purchased one of these:



http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120662496014&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT



Had to get my head around a couple of little bits and bobs but nothing to technical and it works fine. Seems a little slow when using any of the functions but nothing that stops its doing to the job. Not had a chance to fly with it yet but did have a drive with it from Basingstoke to Reading. That was interesting seeing I was at 200ft. Really good alerts etc.



Love it



If you do the same and need any help just ask. The unit cost on £110 and for the price I cant grumble. Had the unit on with GPS running on full brightness and it lasted from first full charge to turn off for about 1.30. Charges fine with my power monkey so having battery backup or top up to the ready make it even more useful.



Darren

Hi Darren,



I had bought one of these



http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/7-Inch-Touch-Screen-GPS-Navigator-bluetooth-FM-HD_W0QQitemZ290460831499QQcategoryZ156955QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4340.m263QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DDLSL%252BSIC%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BFICS%252BUFI%252BDDSIC%26otn%3D8%26pmod%3D120662496014%252B120662496014%26po%3D%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D6486306442617378434



a year ago and have only been using memory map and IGO 9 but would like to purchase and use SD, unfortunately when I installed SD onto an SD card the device was unable to find any navigation software even though I point the program at the exe file. Any help would be gratefully appreciated.



Kevin

Hi Kevin and Darren

Both these units look identical to the one I bought in December http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290453879665&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT   It cost me 88 quid, but I bought it from China and had to wait a bit for it to be delivered. I was looking for a unit with 800 x 480 resolution and a large screen, because I had already been experimenting with a 5" unit at lower resolution for some time.
The larger unit is much better and was very easy to set up, but be careful with the holder; the bit that actually attaches to the GPS unit. It is very flimsy and I have broken mine already. It had a 2GB SD card already installed but would work with a 4GB card which I bought from Amazon  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Platinum-177106-Secure-Digital-Card/dp/B000BR9ZRG/ref=sr_1_5?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1295605026&sr=1-5  for 8:69 plus postage. I installed the Sky Demon In Flight software to this new SD card using the facility on the new Sky Demon Plan, together with maps for UK, Ireland and France. I know what you mean about slow to load, but when using the unit it seems to be OK. I transferred the routes folder containing flight plans that I had already done on my PC and it works like a dream.

Kevin. Just make sure that your SD card that you bought is a bog standard "SD" and not the "SDHC" card because that coule be your problem with the GPS unit not reading the card.

With my older 5" GPS (which I also bought from China through Ebay) I found that it came with IGO8, the widely used car navigation software pre-installed. It would not run the Sky Demon software, because the operating system was looking for the IGO8 "exe" file on the SD card (not the SkyDemon exe file). So after loading the Sky Demon In Flight software onto this card, I simply renamed the SkyDemon.exe file to IGO8.exe and it worked fine.

I have been using the 5" unit in my Piper Arrow III for some time and it is absolutely fantastic. Every time Tim comes out with an update it gets even better and I'm constantly amazed at all the punters that are shelling out six or sevenhundred quid, if not more, on well know hardware that isn't a patch on the Sky Demon.

My plan from now on is to use the 7" GPS in the Piper Arrow and use the 5" unit in an open cockpit biplane that I have a share in which doesn't really have any navaids to speak of. I just need to get, or make, a decent holder to prevent the thing from getting away at the top of a loop or something

Best of luck.
BTF