I have owned the Garmin 96, Lowrance 500 and now have the 600c. I would buy a lowrance over the Garmin any day simply because I think you get more bang for your buck. The 600c I have is probably the equivalent of the 96c but has more features (like terrain etc), comes with way more gear (e.g. a whole lot of different RAM mount type stuff), isn't as big and bulky, is the right way up and it is heaps cheaper ! In saying that I have had some issues with reception. For some reason it decided I was doing 300kts (in a C185) still heading in the same direction but about 20 miles north of where I was when it was in an area of poor reception. That was probably just a fault with mine because I have never heard of it happening to others and I never had the problem with my 500 that I had. I would rather it just give me no information than false information.
I also use a garmin 296 (as part of the aircraft I fly but not mine) which is great but just a bit too expensive for me. I also use the good old garmin pilot 3 which is a fantastic little unit but is getting a bit dated now. It would be good if they updated it with all the current bells and whistles but kept it in the same small handy unit.
Last edited by Corkey McFuz; 5th Mar 2008 at 08:35.