Garmin versus Garmin
Like, I suspect most of us these days, I owned or used a selection of GPS units for various purposes. By now I've come to the conclusion that I've sooner or later regretted buying anything that wasn't made by Garmin.
So, I'm going to replace my deeply unimpressive pocket flymap. I fly various aeroplanes, mostly VFR, and am looking to simplify nav, reduce workload and enhance my situational awareness - the usual stuff, plus I'll probably link to something like NavBox ProPlan to flight plan and to download flight data . I have a perfectly good Garmin Nuvi in my car, so don't care about driving functions. The 695 is gorgeous, but I don't think I can justify the price to myself.
So, this seems to come down to the Aera 500, Aera 550, or the GPS495. On the face of it, they're all pretty similar - the 550, has apparently better terrrain mapping whilst the 495 apparently has better a much better battery life.
Has anybody got any experience of flying with these, especially comparing them? I'd appreciate any informed opinions.
G