In general, readers planted sloppy kisses on whatever portable GPS they owned. Issues with updates and battery replacements topped the complaints.

By Jeff Van West

Portable GPS devices are arguably the most useful cockpit tool since the invention of the E6B. Or aeronautical charts.

So it was no surprise when our reader survey on portable GPS generated well over 1000 responses. There were comments from pilots still flying trusty, monochrome Magellans to ones using the newest Garmin aera. We saw dozens of poetic waxings about most every major supplier and surprisingly few complaints. …