but I'm not sure if you would be able to have the XM Weather in Europe & the UK?
Fernytickles - just to confirm, there is no XM weather availability in Europe and they have no plans to offer this service in the foreseeable future. Pity. That is why only the 695 is offered in the UK (same as the 696 you were looking at in the US but without XM satellite aerial).
Pilot comment: "it effectively emulated the right hand side of his G1000"
. . . . . except in one critical way - the GPS derived attitude indicator on the 695 is only the equivalent of a turn co-ordinator and not a full artificial horizon with pitch ! It is useable in cloud, however, but I wouldn't be keen to try it in turbulent conditions though
You also have to be sure not to yoke mount the GPS as it is very difficult to keep level if your horizon reference is rotating with the bank inputs to the yoke (at least I found it very hard work !)
By the way (just to sidetrack) - don't try to use the Garmin 196 or 296 on the panel page because the the turn indicator only updates once per second from the satellite which is NBG for maintaining level with even the slightest turbulence. The 695, 495/6 update the signal 5 times per second which is good enough to keep you out of trouble in an emergency (unless, as mentioned, it is v .rough).
The other spec items on the 695 that we don't get in the UK are airfield plates and approach charts. Perhaps Jeppesen will release these some time but there's no indication they will be along any time soon.
But we do get an 'obstacle' and VRP database which is very handy.
I want one
Drambuster