I too reckon that although the screen is a little small, the Garmin 296/496 family of gps's are really terrific. Whichever you buy, you may care to get one of these to mount it
G-Force Mount
They come either as a permanent fixing (for which you will need the owner of the a/c's permission and a mod from the CAA) or with a sucker pad. The sucker pad is so effective that you can tow the a/c with it (we tried with it near the centre of the prop...) and is a darned sight more effective than the yoke mount which Garmin sell.
Whatever the legalities of GPS usage in this country, the broad distinction between the 2 and the 4 is that the 296 comes with most of the info that you need for VFR flight and the 495 comes with what you need for IFR, as well as airfield info etc. The 496 has the road database too.
As IO540 rightly says, these aren't devices which you stare at all flight long - they are a very sophisticated navigational aid which I, for one, am very grateful for.
I haven't much experience with other brands so, as ever, opinions on this subject are a bit like ar*%4oles - everyone has one.
Suffice to say that Garmin's after-sales care has, in my instance, been impeccable (replaced my 296 without a murmer which, well out of warrantee, went tech after hard use) and this alone buys my vote. Oh, Harry Mendelsohnns were great too.....
