Scott, Thanks for the response. I'll be very interested in the results of your test in powering the Raymarine unit with NiMH and alkaline AA batteries. I too feel the Raymarine RC-400 has a desirable list of features, and if AA battery use is acceptable, it will be my next GPS unit. Like you, I plan to use the unit while traveling in my car (where AA battery consumption is not a problem) and while cruising in my engineless Falmouth Cutter and canoeing. Best, Jerry -----Original Message----- From: montgomery_boats-bounces+jerry.kovach=neustar.biz@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:montgomery_boats-bounces+jerry.kovach=neustar.biz@mailman.xmissi on.com]On Behalf Of Wilsometer@aol.com Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2005 2:17 AM To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Subject: M_Boats: Re: Re: New Questions on GPS (mac related) Jerry, RE the Raymarine RC-400 battery life: 1) The unit came with (4) 'AA' Nickel Metal Hydride batteries (NiMH). At first use, the battery life was truly dismal (something like three hours). With each additional recharge/cycling, this time seemed to improve substantially. Apparently this is typical of NiMH-type batteries--I know I had a similar experience with the 'AA' batteries for my digital camera. 2) There are several selectable menu items such as brightness, display sleep, etc., that will effect battery life. 3) Most of my use to date has been with the unit plugged into the 12 volt cigarette lighter, so I have yet to arrive at a useful range for the 'AA' batteries. I will be doing a lot of driving this week, so I will experiment and get back to you with a more reasonable estimate. 4) I am going to guess something like 6-7 hours on the NiMH's, and perhaps more on really good Alkaline 'AA's. My intent was to carry several sets of NiMH's (charged) as well as a few sets of Alkalines. The one drawback of the NiMH's is their tendency to self-discharge during storage. This would not be a problem for a week trip, but I have noted substantial discharges when they sit three or more weeks. The alkalines are not subject to this kind of self-discharge. Anyway, I will update you with actual results as I am able. In my case, the RC-400 was the best choice even though power consumption might be high. I wanted to be able to re-power with off-the-shelf batteries for use on the M-15 and/or kayaking. All the other units I looked at (again, I am on a Mac, so this ruled out those with PC-only support) had some kind of proprietary battery, and it did not seem like it would be cost effective to purchase/charge/carry a sufficient number of what were very expensive batteries. Best, Scott In a message dated 6/13/05 7:29:32 AM, montgomery_boats-request@mailman.xmission.com writes:
I too have been impressed with the Raymarine RC-400 unit but have heard that the usable battery life is only 3 to 4 hours. What has been your experience in this regard?
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