Backup handheld GPS -- recommendations?
Dear all,
My stone-age Garmin GPS 55 AVD having finally gone belly-up (all right, ladies and gentlemen, suppress your giggles), I'm looking for a replacement basic handheld machine that I can stuff in a flight bag and haul out in the unlikely event of everything connected in my panel simultaneously going "pffftt." I don't want to spend a ton of money on it -- EUR 700/USD 1,000 would be my upper limit. I've been considering two possibilities, both Garmins: the Aera 500, and the GPSMap 196, each of which goes for USD 600 or so. Pros and cons about both:-
Aera 500
+ Modern-looking machine; internal antenna that apparently works quite well regardless; colour display; lots of bells and whistles.
- According to some reviewers, cranky touch-screen data input that's a nightmare to fiddle with in the cockpit; questions about whether the screen is readable in bright sunlight.
GPSMap 196
+ Easy data input (substantially the same as my panel-mounted GPSMap 396).
- Ancient-looking black-and-white display; external antenna; gives the impression of already being obsolete (raising questions of continued support by the manufacturer).
What do you all think? Are there viable alternatives that I'm overlooking?