I am with
WYSIWYG and agree with what he says.
I have had a GPS Pilot III for about 9 months. It is fine and very reliable for aviation features and I've used it in the UK, Tenerife and Crete without any trouble.
I don't like the rocking button for the cursor though, as it always sets off at 45 degress to the direction I want.
I am not sure that I would be happy without the "gross error" check that the mapping gives if I only had a GPS that said "Its over there"
It's most irritating factor is that the Non Aviation map (i.e the ground features, as opposed to the airfields, nav aids and airspace boundaries which I've found very accurate) is pretty rough and ready and
AFAIK there isn't an update available.
I first got to use my Pilot III on a boat on the Thames last autumn and it consistently plotted me as about 1/4 mile away from the river. Last week I had it in the car while journeying to work From Guildford to Ashford on the M25 and M20 and the M20 is about a mile out of place near Maidstone .... it isn't even on the right side of the railway line !!!
IMHO that isn't too clever for the major line features you follow VFR.
However at £390 ish to give a good indication of where you are .... you can always insert your own accurate waypoints from the GPS guide or your own "on the ground" knowledge .... it is very good and does all the things I need as a backup source of navigation.
I haven't updated the database yet - since last October - after all I only buy a 1/4 and 1/2 mil chart once a year and reckon if I update the GPS 6 months after the charts come out I am OK and getting a cross check.
Anybody know how good the land database is on the Garmin 196 ??? Is it an improvement from an accuracy point of view ????