Bushnell 363500 Onix 350 GPS with sensors Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I got the Onix350 during a wootoff for about $65. The hardware is excellent.The software is incredibly bad.The pros and cons are below:

Pros:

The GPS system is extremely sensitive and unlike the majority of GPS systems, can acquire satellite signals below deep forest canopies.I had read about this capability before I bought the unit, and choose it for that reason.I live in the middle of the woods and wanted a unit that would work while hiking in the heavily wooded areas near my home.In fact, the unit acquires signals inside my house which is surrounded by trees.I am writing this review in my living room, and the unit has acquired seven satellites with three in the green (strong signal).My garmin unit cannot acquire a single satellite when I am inside the house.I do not know whether this is due to the electronics or a good antennae, but it matters not ... this unit has superb signal acquisition.

The display is very good but not outstanding.It is plenty bright, but the resolution is only medium.But the color is excellent and the ability to overlay either topographic maps or aerial maps is a very nice feature.But you will have to pay for these maps, and you should count on adding at least another $20 to collect enough maps to make this unit useful (see below).

Cons:

The web software is terrible.The Bushnell web site is disorganized and seemingly designed to prevent the user from getting to where they want to be.For simply registering the product, you get four free downloads which is enough to get you around your neighborhood, and thats it.The maps are small in area coverage, and hard to download. You will need to use trial and error to get what you want, so only having four free downloads is a tease and an insult.

If you are running Vista, then I recommend you buy another GPS.The combination of Vista paranoia and the Bushnell web site makes it nearly impossible to download maps.There is no Mac support, so forget about that as well.But I was able to download maps using Windows XP, although the process was convoluted and tiresome.The instructions are obscure, and often incorrect.Downloading maps to the GPS is a three or four step process, involves multiple windows, great patience and adequate karma.You will be cussing out the software engineers who designed this junk well before you have achieved success.I am guessing the software development was farmed out to Siberian potato farmers without access to computers or heat.

Summary:

Great hardware, terrible software.Count on adding another $20 for map downloads.This will give you unlimited downloads for 90 days.I paid $30 for one year of "free" map downloads, but in retrospect, the extra $10 may have been a mistake.I will lose patience long before 90 days are up.Nevertheless, after you suffer the indignation of dealing with the obscure and obscenely incompetent map download system, you will have an excellent GPS that works well in the deep forest.I know of no other GPS with comparable signal acquisition capabilities.

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Product Description:
Combining satellite photography and navigational aids on a single screen, the Bushnell Onix 350 GPS navigator lets you plot your course by comparing your surroundings with the pictures in your palm. As a result, you can easily find your way back to the car whether you're hunting or hiking in the woods. The Onix 350 works by layering a satellite photo, topographical map, compass, and other navigational aids on the extra-large, 3.5-inch full-color LCD display. Because you see all the images and aids on the same screen, you eliminate all of the guesswork of GPS navigation. This means you don't have to worry about taking a wrong turn or making an "educated" guess that the tree patch on the left is supposed to be there. The Onix 350 also includes barometric pressure and temperature sensors, helping you predict changing weather conditions. In general, lower pressure brings inclement weather, while high pressure brings stability and clear skies. And fishermen will love the unit's Solunar Edge technology, which provides sun and moon tables to determine optimal animal and fish activity times.
Other details include a SafeTrack battery conservation mode that helps the Onix 350 run for up to 30 hours; a user-friendly interface that provides easy access to all of the features and controls; a self-calibrating three-axis digital compass; an embedded 512 MB microSD card; and a rugged, waterproof rubber armor.
Specifications:

Receiver: SiRF Star III 20-channel GPS
Navigation type: TruView screen layering
Screen type: Full-color LCD
Display size: 3.5 inches
Display resolution: 320 x 240
Battery type: Lithium ion
Battery life: Up to 30 hours
Waterproof standard: IPX7
Dimensions: 3.1 by 7 by 0.55 inches (W x H x D)

About Bushnell
Bushnell has been the industry leader in high-performance sports optics for more than 50 years. The company's guiding principle is to provide the highest quality, most reliable, and most affordable sports optics products on the market. Bushnell product lines enhance the enjoyment of every outdoor pursuit, including nature study, hunting, fishing, birding, and stargazing. Indoors, the company's binoculars bring the audience closer to the action in fast-moving sports or the fine arts at theaters and concerts.

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Bushnell Yardage Pro 800 Compact Rangefinder Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Purchased this unit new for $160.Good performance - with a little practice, was getting readings well over 800 yards, even in bright sunlight.Also like the fact that it uses standard AAA cells.

The housing design leaves a bit to be desired - it's bulky, and the battery cover is not very secure.Can see losing the cover easily.Not as ergonomic as more recent models.

Overall, $160 for a rangefinder that has genuine 800 yard performance, is a good deal.

Update 2009:My Yardage Pro is still going strong.Yes, I did end up losing the battery cover, but Bushnell sent me a replacement for a small fee.A few wraps of black friction tape keep it in place, and the batteries last long enough that replacing the tape isn't a big deal.

It's pretty durable - I lost it out in the field last November, and returned and luckily found it the next day.Covered in frost, it was good to go after a short drying-off period.

Took it out the other day, and was getting readings off buildings as far as 840 yards distant.Got my money's worth for sure.

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Product Description:
Take your best shot with confidence with help from a Bushnell<< Yardage Pro<< laser rangefinder. Using advanced digital technology, Yardage Pro takes the guesswork out of measuring distances. Delivers superb range performance to targets from 5 to 1500 yards away at the touch of a button. The Bushnell Yardage Pro is accurate to within one yard even if you're measuring in rain, snow or through foreground clutter like brush and branches.

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Bushnell Onix400 Waterproof Hiking GPS Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is one of those products that can either be a great thing or can be a great disappointment...All dependent on actual need / intended use.

For me, it has been a great product that met my needs.I like to do a lot of camping and hiking in the middle of the woods and all I need from a portable GPS is just the basics.Let me mark locations, get me from the car to the camping site or marked locations and get me back.For this, I don't really need advanced features such as street routing, a POI database filled with restaurants, gas stations, etc. For that, I use the navigation system on my car.

Having said that, pretty much, any of the portable GPS devices meet my requirements but what attracted me to the Onix 400 was the addition of the XM Weather receiver. That extra feature, for me was worth the price as it does come in handy to be able to see when storms are coming, their severity and to be able to estimate roughly when it will be on top of you and how long it will be before it passes once is on top of you.

While the GPS with the Weather feature has been great on my outings, I do have a few complaints, which I did make sure Bushnell knew so that they can improve the product.

1. While XM does seem to work during bad weather provided the device is out on the open, it is useless when one is stuck inside a tent while waiting for the rain to stop.The GPS does have a connector to allow peripheral devices to be connected, including an external antenna, but Bushnell does not offer such an antenna.The closest they have is a headset with an antenna, but is not designed to take the role of a real external antenna. Cable is short and because of it being a headset, I don't believe it will be a good idea to leave it out on the rain for any extended periods of time.

2. The cost of extra batteries.Only Bushnell batteries can be used due to their design.These batteries are not cheap to be able to buy a couple of spares, so one has to trade real time info for battery life. Pretty much, to extend battery life, once you get to where you need to be (Camping Ground),turn the unit off and if the sky shows signs of bad weather approaching, turn it on, wait for the XM signal to update the Weather info, then turn it off again.

For me, this has not been a major issue, as turning the device off is what I would have done anyway with any other portable GPS without XM and turned it back on when on the move.Just thought other users may want to be aware of this.

In summary, if you are looking for a portable GPS specific to outdoor activities and would like to keep an eye on severe weather, this is a GPS for you.

If you want to use it as an MP3 player or for urban door to door navigation...

Have you looked at Tom Tom or Garmin?

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Product Description:
Introducing the world-s first handheld GPS to combine navigational aids, satellite photography and XM weather on a single screen. It shows you the perfect pinchpoint for this wind. And how you should dress for the day. NEXRAD weather data downlinked via XM Weather, layered over a georeferenced satellite map of your location keeps you prepared. It-s all housed in a rubberized defensive armor built to XPX7 waterproof standards, with a high gain SIRF GPS receiver. In your palm.Features: Layer a satellite photo, topo map, compass, navigational aids and XM services on a single screen with TruView Navigation Extra-large 3.5- full color LCD Downloads and displays georeferenced satellite photography Displays XM weather data on the GPS map* XM Satellite radio entertainment including XM sports* SafeTrack battery conservation mode SiRF® GPS receiver Digital compass Embedded 128 micro SD card Rugged rubber armor Waterproof (IPX7 rated) *With XM Satellite subscription

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Bushnell Neo Golf GPS Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The most important issue when selecting a golf GPS unit is the availability and accuracy of course data. Many of the more advanced (and more expensive) units (e.g. uPro Golf GPS by Callaway Golf and iGolf GPS Caddie II) require a much more detailed level of course data in order for you to benefit from the expense. I found that this level of data was available for none of the courses I play regularly, so I decided to go for a simpler solution.

The next most important consideration is whether (and how easily) you can "map" your own points on a course. Not all of even the more expensive units allow this and while it is somewhat less likely that you will need to do so with these units, I can assure you that even the best mapping data will occasionally be inaccurate or missing altogether. This can really reduce the value of a GPS unit on courses that you play frequently.

I very nearly returned the Neo because of some short-comings in this area - specifically, you cannot "delete" a custom point if they provide it in their data download. This is truly a silly restriction. You can "override" an existing point by registering a different point, but why not allow a simple deletion? One of the holes I downloaded had a "pre-programmed" custom point for a creek that did not exist ! Another annoyance is that, while they provide the ability to define your own "names" (labels) for your custom points, this must be done as part of the procedure for registering the point on the course. Creating a label is a cumbersome process which simply takes too long while actually playing a hole. It would be so much easier if you could use their "default" label to do the initial mapping on the course and then edit the label back at home after the round.

In the end, I decided to keep the unit as it is mostly accurate (+/- 5 yards), it is very compact but with a legible display (even for us older folks), it is fast to start up and the battery is rechargeable with a very good life. Mainly though, I kept it because the price is very reasonable.

My final comment is that you really need both a simple GPS unit like the Neo AND a simple rangefinder to get the precise distance to the pin location. If your course has large greens, the pin location "indicator" for the day is usually not precise enough for the final approach shot. Maybe one day someone will come out with a combination unit !

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