The GPS I bought last night seems to work — I had a window seat on the flight from Dallas to Richmond, and I was able to maintain a fix almost the entire way. So now, if I ever want to fly myself on that route, I’ll be able to figure out where to turn; it definitely wasn’t a straight shot.
And I enjoyed being able to look out the window and when I saw something, looking at the GPS and finding out what it was (rivers, for example, or towns).
I wanted to play with connecting the GPS to the PC so I could get a better display, but I never bothered to take out the PC. I could tell that this was not a “regular” business-type flight — I walked through all of coach, and there were only two computers out, and they were both playing games instead of doing spreadsheets or presentations. I think that’s a much healthier use of the PC, anyway.
I also cheated a little bit and kept the GPS on through the landing (they never asked for stuff to be turned off), and so I was able to figure out where I was on the way in to Richmond. I’ve never flown in to Richmond enough to figure out the approach route, unlike San Jose, where I know it well enough that on a recent flight, I knew we were going to have a wave-off about three minutes out, just based on our height.
A fun toy!