Lowrance 2000c

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 12/03/2006