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Outside Magazine June 2003

Review: Adventure Electronics
Rising and Converging
Navigation

By Bob Parks

Intro | Navigation | Communication


	(Photographs by Nigel Cox)

1.) Marine GPS powerhouse LOWRANCE crafted the sleek iFINDER with sailors and divers in mind. Chart software keeps tabs on 60,000 navigation aids in the Great Lakes and U.S. coastal waters, and can even pinpoint 10,000 submerged wrecks and obstructions. The glare-free LCD screen is remarkably crisp, even under blinding open-ocean sunlight. ($159; 800-324-1356, www.lowrance.com)

2.) Perfect for sailboat racers, the SUUNTO M9 GPS wristwatch is accurate to ten feet and tracks speed and bearing. And its man-overboard function can instantly tag the spot where your grinder plunged into the drink. ($725; 800-543-9124, www.suunto.com)

3.) With 18 parallel satellite signal receivers, the waterproof COBRA GPS 500 pegs your coordinates quickly enough to satisfy even the most impatient backpacker. The customizable display shows compass heading, time, altitude, and other vital data. ($199; 773-889-3087, www.cobraelectronics.com)

4.) The TIMEX BODYLINK SYSTEM gathers data from a heart-rate monitor and an armband-mounted GPS unit that records speed and distance. Finish your run and plug the recorder into a PC to update your training log and create graphs of your performance. ($300; 800-448-4639, www.timex.com

5.) The road-trip-ready MAGELLAN MERIDIAN COLOR comes packed with 16MB of maps that display highways in red and waterways in blue on a 2.2-by-1.5-inch screen. When you're ready to hit the trail, add software ($150) to upload U.S. topographic maps from your PC. ($499; 800-669-4477, www.magellangps.com)

Next Page: Communication

Intro | Navigation | Communication