Originally Posted by SKYYACHT
Just seen your reference to battery life.... If you are using the external anttena, this is powered, so it may eat batteries a bit. I always load fresh ones before doing a cross country. A friend of mine has bought rechargeables, and these seem to do the trick as well. I have used mine for about 2.0 hours since putting in the latest set of Duracells.
Also, on another note, even if you dont fly much, its a good idea to get the unit out one a week or so, and allow it to capture satellites so that it can "fix" its position.
Otherwise, it will take AGES to acquire all the satellites and fix it position when you have the engine and Hobbs meter running!
Cheers
I have a 196 and it is a wonderful piece of kit. Just a point on the startup times, if you fly from the same place, there is no need to do the regular startups as described above.
From the user manual, it should take 15s for a warm start, 45s for a cold start and a maximum of 2 minutes for an autolocate/first fix. Also battery life is quoted at 16 hours, but I seem to get about 10 in mixed night/day use, but I also use the cigarette lighter adapter in the 172. Best mounting mechanism is a RAM windshield mount. I have had one problem with it overheating, but this was after I left it in the baking sun on a texas summer day, and the thing was too hot to touch. It seemed to be working but the display was screwed up. Again the spec says max temp is 70C, so it was toasty!
Finally, I'm not sure about the UK, but in the US, a major feature I use as a backup in case of power loss is the approach mode. Basically all IAP's from the FAF are in the database (without stepdown alts), and this is very useful. Also all IFR waypoints are in there, again as a backup. The WAAS feature meant that I got <5ft accuracy last week on an XC.
Of course there are fancier 296/396/496 units with color, but the 196 does a good job, has excellent battery life and has a great set of features for a good price. In the US you can get a refurb for $499 if you look, I believe you should be able to load the European database onto it, but I haven't tried this (I know I can swap US/UK charts on my old trusty GPS-92).
- Tim