Should you buy this?
- NO. This product needs so much work, look towards any other
aviation GPS on the market today before buying this one. I truly
wanted to like this Aviation GPS because Garmin has such a large market
share. However, there is a reason why Garmin has such a large market
share....
Why shouldn't you buy it?
- The system DOES NOT run on portable batteries. The batteries that
you install in the GPS unit itself are emergency only batteries and last as
little as 45 minutes
- The only portable battery that is available is the size of a small lunch
box. Not something I look for in a portable GPS device
- The Display is 'Cartoonish' with clutter that makes it difficult to
understand anything displayed
- De-clutter doesn't exist. You can indeed add/remove what is displayed on
the screen, but only by using menus which will take you away from your task
at hand - flying.
- The product came installed with an old navigation database and Lowrance
wouldn't update it to the most current database. Competitors allow at
least 1 free update considering their product may sit on the shelf a few
months before it is sold.
The Details
 The Display
The display is nice and large with vivid colors.
 The brightness of the screen
seems very pleasant when indoors, but gets easily washed out in direct sunlight.
The quality of the graphics leaves much to be desired and at times, they look
like they were drawn with crayons.
As you can see to the left, it's a very complicated display with very little
ability to quickly de-clutter.
The display is one of the biggest problem with this product.
 Processing/Drawing Speed
The system is fast, but the speed of the drawing doesn't take away from the
poor quality of graphics.
GPS
Satellite Acquisition
The 2000c acquires the necessary GPS satellites very quickly. After
powering down the unit and then powering back up, the unit acquired my current
position faster than any other GPS I have ever used.
The
User Interface/Menu
If you like early versions of Microsoft Windows (like version 2.x), you'll
love the user interface of the Lowrance 2000c GPS unit. The resolution of
the menus are not very high and like the display, look almost crayon-drawn.
The organization of the menus looks pretty good and I was able to find
everything I needed to find.
The biggest problem with the User Interface is that it looks childish and a
lot like Windows. I fly to get away from computers and the last thing I
want to see is Windows on my Aviation GPS.
Navigation
Keys
The keys used to navigate menus and operate the unit were well thought out.
They are very intuitive and easy to see when in the plane.
Portable Power
There is none. Lowrance has a portable power pack (PPP-AM) that isn't
actually all that portable (pictured here).
 I
actually own one of these battery packs as a backup for long cross-country
flights (I use it for a backup in case something happens to my plane's
batter/alternator during flight) and they are not portable. These packs
weigh almost 10 pounds but do last quite a long time. If you are going to
be using your GPS unit for short trips and don't want to lug around a 10 pound
battery, this GPS device is not for you.
External Power
Lowrance provides a cigarette adapter with this unit. No AC adapter is
provided
Mounts
The mounts are one of the strongest aspects of this GPS device. The
mounts are solid and very versatile.
 You
get a Yoke mount and a suction mount that can be used on your dash or
windshield. One very strange thing that Lowrance did was provide some sort
of magnetic mount with the unit. I couldn't figure out how to use this and
wouldn't want to inside of an aircraft considering the implications to the
magnetic compass.
I liked these mounts and found them very useful in the plane giving me many
angles and orientations for the GPS device
GPS
Antenna
An external GPS antenna is required to operate this unit. The antenna
is provided with a number of different mounting options but with a cable that is
just too short.
Cost
List is $999.00, but you can find it for about $749.00.
More Information
http://www.lowrance.com/Aviation/Products/AM2000C.asp
GPS Review Page
Note: All images were taken directly from the Lowrance web site.
This page was last modified on
08/22/2009
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