Palm-Powered Unit Combines Best Features Of Handheld PDA
Computing, Garmin GPS Technology
By ANN Associate Editor Juan Jimenez
In the previous
installment of this review, we talked about the major features of
the Garmin iQue 3600a, including hardware features and software
installation.
The next step is the obvious one -- let's see the mapping
functions! A tap on the home icon brings up the main display, and a
tap on the Map icons brings up the QueMap application. The Map
program has two modes -- aviation or land. There is a map with
overlay mode, a full screen map, two aviation display modes -- 2
rows of data or an HSI with data on the right, and two automotive
modes where the difference is a bit more information.
The big difference between the aviation and automotive map
renderings is the addition of terrain level information. In
aviation mode, as you zoom in and out the rendering engine adds
obstruction symbols onto the map. All of these features and many
more can be configured to a fine level of detail through the
Preferences screen. For example, SUA (special use airspace)
rendering can be controlled for restricted areas, MOA's, Mode C
veils and other SUA's. Each one can be set to be shown or removed
at a certain zoom level, which is selected either automatically or
at the bottom right of the map.
The level of detail that the unit can display is impressive.
With City Select maps installed -- I'll cover this in the
remaining portions of the review -- and the 800 foot
zoom mode selected, you can clearly distinguish individual streets,
avenues, points of interest and even the tiny fork and knife icons
that indicate a restaurant. I can't emphasize this enough -- Garmin
has very obviously devoted quite a bit of thought
and effort into the design of the unit's screen rendering.
Paying a lot of attention to the user interface has paid off with
screens that are easy to read and interpret. I wear glasses, and
have trouble reading very small print, but this unit's display is
so clear and crisp, and the layouts so well thought out, that
I don't strain my eyesight like I do with other similar
products.
In order to navigate from one place to another, you need to pick
your starting point and destination. In it simplest form, you start
from your current position and pick where you want to go. On the
3600a, you tap on the Find icon and a series of icons are displayed
with various categories of destinations, all tied to the basic and
user-defined databases installed in the unit. You can define
navigation points by:
- Airports
- Navaids
- Cities (within the base map)
- Aviation points
- Aviation nearest
With optional City Select and other maps installed, you can also
select from:
- Physical address (with City Select maps)
- Intersections (with City Select maps)
- Food and Drink
- Lodging
- Attractions
- Entertainment
- Shopping
- Services
- Transportation
- Emergency and Govt.
- Manmade places
- Water features
- Land features
- Anchorage
- Facilities
- Fishing sites
- Marine services
- Restricted areas
- Wrecks and obstructions
- Tides
Take a good look at this list. How many times have you arrived
at an unfamiliar airport and had no idea where to eat, where to
stay and what to do while you waited for the mechanic to fix
something, your boss to attend the meeting or the cargo to arrive?
At the tap of an icon, you are presented with a list of
restaurants, hotels and even the list of closest music stores and
supermarkets?
The FBO attendant went home and left the keys to the courtesy
car? No problem! My sister owns a small family-oriented Italian
restaurant in San Juan called "La Buona Lasagna." Stuck in San Juan
and hungry? Look it up, it's on the database. That gets my vote,
and you get a chance to eat some of the best Italian food in the
Caribbean.
The next question we asked ourselves is "How does it fly?" I
took the boxful of components out to the local airport, and after
suitably impressing the crowd of bums sitting on the makeshift
porch, scoring the landings of the Islanders and
Caravans, I board a friend's Navajo Panther and
installed the yoke mount. It took me a couple of tries before I
found a position I was happy with, and then I put the iQue into the
mount. It looked like it belonged there.
After that I decided to go fly a C172 with the iQue and
some friends. I set up a route to X63, the field next to the city
of Humacao, the island's home to ultralights and people who just
can't seem to want to stay in the aircraft, loaded a couple
of buddies and went flying. The internal antenna had some
trouble getting through the aluminum and plastic, but I had set up
the remote and it picked up the satellites immediately. In fact,
the unit almost always achieved 3D position lock within 30
seconds on a warm start. A cold start, from a full reset, takes a
bit longer, but not by much -- a minute or so at most.
In the next installment, ANN flies and drives the
Garmin iQue 3600a.