Display and output of a GPS receiver

GPS receivers have three choices for information display or data output:

• Monochrome LCD screen: Most GPS receivers have a monochrome liquid crystal display (LCD) screen.
• Color screen: These are especially useful for displaying maps. Color screens usually have shorter battery lives than monochrome ones.
• No screen: Some GPS receivers only transmit data through an expansion slot or a cable; a receiver with a cable is often called a mouse GPS receiver because it resembles a computer mouse. All GPS data can be sent to the laptop and processed there with mapping software.

Most GPS receivers that have screens can output data to a PC or PDA. A GPS receiver’s screen size depends on the receiver’s size. Smaller, lighter models have small screens; larger units sport bigger screens. Generally, a bigger screen is easier to read. Different models of GPS receiver also have different pixel resolutions; the higher the screen resolution, the more crisp the display will be. For night use, all screens can be backlit.