Lowrance Endura Out&Back GPS

Author: josh

Category: Safety & navigation

Created on Wednesday, 18 January 2012 15:24

Written by Josh

When it comes to electronics accessories for kayaks, typically I'm only really likely to upgrade when something breaks or fails and needs to be replaced. That wasn't the case when I replaced my Lowrance i-Finder H20 GPS with a Lowrance Endura Out&Back recently, because despite having used that i-Finder for over 3 years - in all sorts of abusive environments - it still works just fine. It's served me pretty well in that time to, though it's obvious limitations (greyscale display, as well as relatively poor battery performance) eventually started to wear a little thin and the Endura gets around both these issues nicely. I figured it's larger display and touchscreen capability wouldn't be lost on me either. The fact that the unit is smaller, lighter and (in my opinion) manufactured to a superior build quality helps matters to.

That I would replace my old Lowrance GPS with a new Lowrance GPS should tell you how I feel about their gear and to be completely honest, I didn't even bother looking around to see what else was available and how it might compare. I've only used the unit a couple of times so far, ergo it's too early for me to be reviewing it but I can say that thus far I'm suitably impressed - it is a neater and more user-friendly unit than the i-Finder.

My only dissapointment in the Endura so far is that it only supports micro SD cards, and I wasn't aware of that until after I bought it, which means that the Navionics SD card in my i-Finder isn't compatible. I was pretty annoyed by this at first but then I went ahead and switched the unit on and discovered that this has Oceana maps stored on it's internal memory anyway. While not as detailed as some of the Navionics maps, it's certainly better than nothing. I might look into picking up a Navionics maps Micro SD card in the near future. 

I'll follow up with a full review after a few months of use, but until then here's the official description that inspired me to upgrade:

Smartly designed for easy, out-of-the-box use, the Out&Back’s straightforward menu makes navigation simple. Its large color transflective touch-screen allows for easy viewing and operation, and its pre-loaded mapping content with key land features such as lakes, rivers, primary roads and key Points of Interest (POI) provides accurate situational awareness. Out&Back is also easy to customize, including a recording option that saves trails and routes allowing quick recall or sharing, a geocaching application providing paperless geocaching with Geocaching.com and power standby to conserve battery life as well as provide quick restart.  The Out&Back supports a wide range of optional mapping content.  Like all Endura handhelds, the Out&Back accepts public domain files and community-based content such as GPX trails, routes and general outdoor POIs.