look at the market
Hey All,
The 'pop up' said I should contribute more so here we go.
Garmin 296 is the current top spec for our southern region, the 396 and 496 only offer features that are not supported here (weather etc). The Garmin product is very good and if you are already Garmin 'brained' then it makes sense. The 296 has much better graphics in daylight readable colour than the 196 in its monochrome. The 196 is good but not as intuative as the colour display of the 296, but most importantly its lithium ion battery is the deal maker. (Forget the road or marine features, they are basic at best and downright incorrect most of the time). Don't buy the Ebay US version, the data is locked into the circuit boards and CANNOT be re loaded for Pacific region.
Have a good look at Lowrance - the 600c. It is full of sensible stuff and in a usable size. (Both Garmin and Lowrance use the Jepp database so the information is the same. It is the extrapilation of that data into usefull information where they differ).
The 600c kit has as standard all the extras that Garmin only supply as optional extras (and all rather expensive).
The AvMap is very nice (a real aviation device, it does not look like a modified phone). Very basic and true to its cause, not claiming to be multi purpose, it is what it says it is 'An aviation GPS'.
In the smaller format (96c v 600c) the winner is 600c on cost and basic standard kit equipment level.
Large format (296 v 2000c v AvMap EKP-IV) if money no object then the AvMap wins though if cost is an issue the 2000c has to be a contender.
Lots of people bag out Lowrance for tech support. The company has changed hands and this seems to no longer be an issue, in fact Garmin is possibly moving up the ranks with problems, though this could be a case of the one percent of Garmin units out there that have issues reflects a bigger number than the one percent of Lowrance units.
Ok, so now onto terrain features.
If you rate terrain awareness as a worthy feature, then it may be time to reconsider how you fly.
Don't start me on the 'fake' panel display on the Garmin, which is esentially a battery powered law suit.
You seem to pay a bit extra for the Garmin, as in if you pay $900.00 for a unit you get $750 worth of kit and the balance in branding. Lowrance you seem to get about $895.76 worth of kit.
Re VFR flying.
As an ex roulette said to me "Get your eyes outside, all the answers are out there. There are only questions in here".
I have played with all of these units.
Just My Thoughts.
cheers,
Solocmv.