SF
If the ONLY diff between a 296 and 396 is the XM weather (which I didn't know) then you are right; there is no airborne weather service in Europe that I am aware of. I thought there was some difference in the map database.
I know one can get the VHF modem which receives the satellite data but I don't think there is European coverage.
To be honest, if you really really want airborne weather you can do it with a normal mobile phone, and use one of those services that send you TAFs/METARs over SMS. Just make sure it's a decent one that sends the current ones. I have also done it with a phone set up as a plain old 9.6k GSM modem, or even GPRS (though my experience of GPRS is that it doesn't really work airborne) dialling up for normal internet access, and if you go to a very bare website then you can get it that way. Low altitudes only, say a few k feet max.
The American flying mags are indeed cheaper than the UK ones, even fater paying for airmail, which is pretty amazing. As for the old argument about material, I suspect a lot of the UK readers don't actually fly at all. That would distort the readership profile somewhat.... there is no obvious reason for the UK mags to be quite so backward as they are.
To be fair though, it's one thing to see a nice bit of avionics in some American mag and another to get it approved for installation in a G plane. You've then got to find an avionics shop that knows how to read the installation manual. Last time I had something fitted, I had to pull back the panel and stick a hoover in there to get out the swarf which they left in there, between all the connectors and the wiring. And this was a well respected avionics shop. The last two jobs they did left loose screws, and neither worked fully as it should, and never will unless I throw a lot of my money at it.
The UK has a little way to go when it comes to handling modern GA stuff, and it's not just the mags
