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Lowrance has announced that the new iWAY 600c, in addition to being the first 5" touch-screen unit with both automotive maps and marine charts, will also feature SATELLITE PHOTO IMAGERY for major metropolitan areas. While this doesn't make a huge difference in the navigation itself, anyone who's used this feature on Google maps or Google Earth knows that it's hella cool, as this iWAY sample screen attests to:
Tiger GPS has finally added a tracking unit to its catalog: the Wherify Wherifone. There have been calls to add tracking GPS to the site, but until now there wasn't anything cost-effective enough and low-maintenance enough for us to carry. Why does one need a special unit to use GPS for tracking? Let's get into it, with some help from GPS for Dummies:
A GPS satellite contains three main pieces of hardware: the onboard computer, an atomic clock, and a radio transmitter. It keeps itself in orbit, it keeps precise time, and it can transmit to a receiver on earth.
What does the satellite transmit? The GPS receiver uses two pieces of data to determine location: The Almanac (where the satellites expect themselves to be at a given time) and the Ephemeris (the distance the receiver computes itself to be from a satellite a given time) data. Once it has data from enough satellites, the receiver can figure out what its correct position is. The GPS unit computes its location by measuring its distance to the satellite - the satellite, then, does NOT compute or track any data for the receiver on Earth. The principle is similar to using triangulation to find a radio broadcaster.
Therefore, in order to track with GPS, one must have a way of relaying the coordinates to a base station computer. Products such as Wherifone accomplish this by using a GSM (wireless phone data) frequency to collect and transfer the data.
Also check out the new ACR TerraFix receivers, which are vital survival tools in the outdoors: pop the top, press two buttons simultaneously, and a distress code along with your GPS coordinates go out to all available rescue channels!
Well, Lowrance has finally explained why they're discontinuing all of their current marine units: new ones are on the way (click here)! Not many changes, except that the new stuff will be more network-friendly with multiple ports in their backs. They're also adding a new 8.4" diagonal screen size.
The unbelievable part is the timing. Many of the new units are due in "the week of December 18th." Given Lowrance's, and most manufacturer's, history of failing to meet release dates and then being woefully understocked, there's close to no chance in hell that the new items will be out for Christmas 2006. As a colleague pointed out, "marine season" doesn't begin until after the boat shows in January and February - but if that was the case, they should have run closeout specials on the old units. Plenty of people buy marine electronics for the holiday season, even though their boats aren't usually available for a few more months.
The new stuff, particularly the top end like the LCX-113C HD, looks damn spiffy though. Pre-loaded with all the marine detail one should need for the United States, as well as topo and basic road info as well, these high-resolution units offer a cheaper alternative to Raymarine and Furuno systems that can end up costing twice as much in the end. To see everything out there, check out the Lowrance Winter 2006-7 New Product Guide by clicking here.
