the 496 et al. Are no substitue for the airfield data that is provided with Bottlang and the VFR/IFR charts. One big Gotcha is the lack of Gliding site data.
I fly with the G1000 (same basic info as the 496) which is GREAT for knowing where you are and sometime more importantly where controlled airspace is etc.
The basic "plates" for airfields are good for appraoches but they give no details about VRP's approach "rules" , noise abatement etc.etc.
You can get a lot of the plates and info from the online AIP's (including the UK CAA) but they can be awkward to access and are not always available. So I subscribe to the Bottlang manuals for Europe - consistent always availble information.
However I agree with IO the weight is ridiculous - so I now subscribe to NavSuite IFR (+Bottlang VFR package) which gives me all the information on my PC (Mac
) and have a printer that weights about 1 volume of Bottlang! But this is actually quite an expensive option (2000+ Euros). I am waiting for an upgrade on the G1000 to take to plates from the Jepp MFD package so they can display the actual data whilst flying - now that will save paper!
Whilst Jepp is not perfect, nor is any other system - including the AIP websites. I do find that it gives the best / most consitent info for European travel (certainly VFR) so would recommend it.
I would also recommend equipment like the 496 whilst flying - but also remember you will need to subscribe to keep the navdata up to date.
It is good to see countries like Estonia putting all of there info in an easily accessible form on their websites (I am flying to Morroco next week so have hand download the entire AIP (in french) page by page and then put them into a single PDF whilst travelling - very painful)
Hopfully websites like Estonia will drive the Jepp prices down.
Hope your trip goes well..