Regarding> If you have flown in the mountains in bad weather, and had a chance to see the terrain detail and size on the 696 display, you will never want to fly behind a 496 again.
I totally agree. The display on the 696 is simply amazing. Also, to find small towns etc. I typically look up their coordinates with Google Earth and type the value into my Garmin. That takes me right there. <gr>
Finally, I also bought a very simple, hand held automotive Garmin GPS for about $100 and it does the cities and roads very well. It complements the 696 nicely.
Chuck