Which Handheld Aviation GPS
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: UK,Twighlight Zone
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well......
I have worked my way through a fair number of GPS units. I had 196 then a 296 and now a 496 as well as a couple of the PDA solutions on the way.
The 196 is a cracking unit, clear display and good battery life but not rechargeable. The 296 is another league compared to the 196, crytsal clear display and fantastic battery life. I did home to Menorca and back in the twin without recharge 13hrs flying. The 496 is a great bit of kit, faster screen draws and nice presentation of airspace using the smart airspace feature. Is it better than the 296? Well to be honest probably not, I bought mine on a bit of a whim and to be honest it does little more than the 296. Now if I was in the USA it would be a cracking bit of kit with the XM weather.
I have tried a couple of the PDA solutions and not of them had the reliability or ease of mounting that the Garmin kit offers, I don't like Yokemount stuff the garmins sit on the dash and the PDA's were unreadable at that distance. Also the battery life really sucked, OK for a bacon butty run but 5hrs to Perpignan and they were flat. I also found in the airways they misbehaved, uncommanded shutdowns etc which may have been pressure related.
My view is buy a 296 if you can afford colour or a 196 if not.
I have worked my way through a fair number of GPS units. I had 196 then a 296 and now a 496 as well as a couple of the PDA solutions on the way.
The 196 is a cracking unit, clear display and good battery life but not rechargeable. The 296 is another league compared to the 196, crytsal clear display and fantastic battery life. I did home to Menorca and back in the twin without recharge 13hrs flying. The 496 is a great bit of kit, faster screen draws and nice presentation of airspace using the smart airspace feature. Is it better than the 296? Well to be honest probably not, I bought mine on a bit of a whim and to be honest it does little more than the 296. Now if I was in the USA it would be a cracking bit of kit with the XM weather.
I have tried a couple of the PDA solutions and not of them had the reliability or ease of mounting that the Garmin kit offers, I don't like Yokemount stuff the garmins sit on the dash and the PDA's were unreadable at that distance. Also the battery life really sucked, OK for a bacon butty run but 5hrs to Perpignan and they were flat. I also found in the airways they misbehaved, uncommanded shutdowns etc which may have been pressure related.
My view is buy a 296 if you can afford colour or a 196 if not.
Join Date: May 2001
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Having reread this thread, and I accept being biased in favour of the PDA solution, I have to conclude that PDAs are less reliable. If you want a guaranteed solution any of the better dedicated aviation products are likely to be sound.
However, to defend my original position, PDAs can be as reliable or nearly as reliable. Their problem is that you need to do some research before buying and have an understanding of PDAs potential gotchas to achieve equivalent reliability.
In short if you read the specialist forums such as PocketFms you will find there are certain PDAs that are favoured and certain combinations of PDAs and receivers that work well.
Personally, I have used an HX4700 with an extended battery and SD card with a great deal of success. I have yet to have a failure or have the unit “hang” in operation. Battery life is in excess of three and a half hours from a full charge and most bluetooth GPS receivers will run for considerably longer.
I agree with Bose in disliking yoke mounted GPSs. However, infact that is another reason for favouring a PDA. With a couple of bits of velcro they can be mounted on any yoke or convenient spot on the panel without being cumbersome.
Finally, with PDAs becoming so cheap in the second hand unit, carry a couple with you, so if one fails or runs out of power for any reason you have a backup!
However, to defend my original position, PDAs can be as reliable or nearly as reliable. Their problem is that you need to do some research before buying and have an understanding of PDAs potential gotchas to achieve equivalent reliability.
In short if you read the specialist forums such as PocketFms you will find there are certain PDAs that are favoured and certain combinations of PDAs and receivers that work well.
Personally, I have used an HX4700 with an extended battery and SD card with a great deal of success. I have yet to have a failure or have the unit “hang” in operation. Battery life is in excess of three and a half hours from a full charge and most bluetooth GPS receivers will run for considerably longer.
I agree with Bose in disliking yoke mounted GPSs. However, infact that is another reason for favouring a PDA. With a couple of bits of velcro they can be mounted on any yoke or convenient spot on the panel without being cumbersome.
Finally, with PDAs becoming so cheap in the second hand unit, carry a couple with you, so if one fails or runs out of power for any reason you have a backup!
Join Date: Jun 2003
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The subject of PDA pluses and minuses was done in the Pprune computer forum a short while ago.
In the flying context, PDAs are a solution crying out for being usable. Garmin etc are taking an absolute mickey with their pricing. Look at the cost of a Garmin 496; for a fraction of that you could have a PDA with a much better screen, which does everything the Garmin does, and which can be used for loads of other stuff.
One problem is that PDAs have been designed to be primarily corporate executive daily work aids, and their rafts of drawbacks (like short and uncertain battery life, constant power drain resulting in a battery draw-down within weeks if not less, ease of accidental turn-on, inability to disable the touch screen and/or buttons, varying sunlight readibility, flimsy buttons, flimsy connectors) don't matter much in that application.
There are ruggedised PDAs (specifically, ARM based pocket/pc devices) and you can find them by googling for "ruggedised computer" etc. They tend to be £1000 & upwards though.
The other problem is the databases. PocketFMS does its own, but otherwise every other product uses Jeppesen data, and Jepp charge a lot for this; this in turn keeps the end product prices well up.
Jepp have never made their aviation database available in a purely-software product which also supports moving map operation, other than locked inside pricey PC applications like the £500 Flitemap IFR (recently discontinued) or the ~ £1500 (for European coverage) eppview3/FliteDeck, and none of these run under pocket/pc anyway.
There is a product (advertised in the LOOP magazine I think) running on a PDA which quite obviously runs the Jepp Raster Charts. They must have licensed them. Two problems: very pricey (Jepp reportedly charge the manufacturer a 3-digit price for the data license) and the screen is far too small to show the relevant airspace labels. In fact these raster charts are only marginally usable (as a moving map) on a bigger tablet computer.
The last comment above is also why Memory Map (running the CAA charts) doesn't work well on a PDA, even a 640x480 one. One often can't see the label for the relevant bit of airspace. One needs a bigger screen.
For Europe, the nearest you can get to a "PDA moving map GPS" using Jepp data is on a tablet computer (e.g. the Motion LS800) running WinXP and running either an old copy of Flitemap, or Flitedeck. And, IMHO, the result is not as usable (but is a lot more expensive than) as a £1000+ dedicated aviation unit.
However, a tablet computer (800x600 or bigger) makes an excellent UK-only GPS running Memory Map and the CAA VFR charts. This has to be seen to be believed (I have it, see picture) and if this was standard issue in flying we should see zero CAS infringements. The hardware is pricey (roughly the cost of a Garmin 496) and the MM charts are also pricey (£150 for the UK) but they can be "shared"
IMHO the quality and usability of this solution really shows up how counterproductive the CAA data policy is; al the while they moan about airspace infringements.
There are a lot of holy grails in this business but (in Europe) they aren't getting any nearer because of cash cows and data copyrights
In the USA there are great PDA solutions, because the enroute charts are free in digital form. Try to suggest that to the CAA
Edited for spelling errors etc, prune keeps bombing with "server too busy"
In the flying context, PDAs are a solution crying out for being usable. Garmin etc are taking an absolute mickey with their pricing. Look at the cost of a Garmin 496; for a fraction of that you could have a PDA with a much better screen, which does everything the Garmin does, and which can be used for loads of other stuff.
One problem is that PDAs have been designed to be primarily corporate executive daily work aids, and their rafts of drawbacks (like short and uncertain battery life, constant power drain resulting in a battery draw-down within weeks if not less, ease of accidental turn-on, inability to disable the touch screen and/or buttons, varying sunlight readibility, flimsy buttons, flimsy connectors) don't matter much in that application.
There are ruggedised PDAs (specifically, ARM based pocket/pc devices) and you can find them by googling for "ruggedised computer" etc. They tend to be £1000 & upwards though.
The other problem is the databases. PocketFMS does its own, but otherwise every other product uses Jeppesen data, and Jepp charge a lot for this; this in turn keeps the end product prices well up.
Jepp have never made their aviation database available in a purely-software product which also supports moving map operation, other than locked inside pricey PC applications like the £500 Flitemap IFR (recently discontinued) or the ~ £1500 (for European coverage) eppview3/FliteDeck, and none of these run under pocket/pc anyway.
There is a product (advertised in the LOOP magazine I think) running on a PDA which quite obviously runs the Jepp Raster Charts. They must have licensed them. Two problems: very pricey (Jepp reportedly charge the manufacturer a 3-digit price for the data license) and the screen is far too small to show the relevant airspace labels. In fact these raster charts are only marginally usable (as a moving map) on a bigger tablet computer.
The last comment above is also why Memory Map (running the CAA charts) doesn't work well on a PDA, even a 640x480 one. One often can't see the label for the relevant bit of airspace. One needs a bigger screen.
For Europe, the nearest you can get to a "PDA moving map GPS" using Jepp data is on a tablet computer (e.g. the Motion LS800) running WinXP and running either an old copy of Flitemap, or Flitedeck. And, IMHO, the result is not as usable (but is a lot more expensive than) as a £1000+ dedicated aviation unit.
However, a tablet computer (800x600 or bigger) makes an excellent UK-only GPS running Memory Map and the CAA VFR charts. This has to be seen to be believed (I have it, see picture) and if this was standard issue in flying we should see zero CAS infringements. The hardware is pricey (roughly the cost of a Garmin 496) and the MM charts are also pricey (£150 for the UK) but they can be "shared"
IMHO the quality and usability of this solution really shows up how counterproductive the CAA data policy is; al the while they moan about airspace infringements.There are a lot of holy grails in this business but (in Europe) they aren't getting any nearer because of cash cows and data copyrights
In the USA there are great PDA solutions, because the enroute charts are free in digital form. Try to suggest that to the CAA
Edited for spelling errors etc, prune keeps bombing with "server too busy"
Last edited by IO540; 14th Nov 2006 at 09:52.
jakerr,
lots of advice above, but as you asked about the garmin 96C, here is some feedback from a user.
have owned one for 9 months. has been 100% reliable. i plug it into the cigarette lighter and dont have to use an external ariel. it does everything i want it to do for local flights and short distance touring.
my previous aircraft had a 430 panel system, and although the 96C screen is small, it is perfectly acceptable as a back up to DR and is good value for money.
why not try to borrow one, or fly with somebody who has one so you can judge for yourself.
lots of advice above, but as you asked about the garmin 96C, here is some feedback from a user.
have owned one for 9 months. has been 100% reliable. i plug it into the cigarette lighter and dont have to use an external ariel. it does everything i want it to do for local flights and short distance touring.
my previous aircraft had a 430 panel system, and although the 96C screen is small, it is perfectly acceptable as a back up to DR and is good value for money.
why not try to borrow one, or fly with somebody who has one so you can judge for yourself.
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Join Date: Nov 2006
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Nice to see such an intresting debate.
I guess every one will have their own views on which is best to go for based on their own experiences. I have considered the PDA option but keep coming back to the Garmin units.
I've also been looking at the Lowrence airmap 500 and 600, although the graphics quality doesn't appear to look as good as the Garmin units, mind you they tend to be a bit cheaper.
I was hoping to pick up a mates second hand unit for about £280 but he now wants to hang on to it till the spring as the 486 unit is a bit pricy at the moment and is waiting for the pricies to drop a little befre he splashes out.
I don't want to spent a fortune on the unit really as I can't justify the oultayt for the amount of flying I do per year. I was hoping to spend under £300 if possible either on a new Garmin 96 or a second hand Garmin 196
Does anyone have a 196 they want to sell on?
JK
I guess every one will have their own views on which is best to go for based on their own experiences. I have considered the PDA option but keep coming back to the Garmin units.
I've also been looking at the Lowrence airmap 500 and 600, although the graphics quality doesn't appear to look as good as the Garmin units, mind you they tend to be a bit cheaper.
I was hoping to pick up a mates second hand unit for about £280 but he now wants to hang on to it till the spring as the 486 unit is a bit pricy at the moment and is waiting for the pricies to drop a little befre he splashes out.
I don't want to spent a fortune on the unit really as I can't justify the oultayt for the amount of flying I do per year. I was hoping to spend under £300 if possible either on a new Garmin 96 or a second hand Garmin 196
Does anyone have a 196 they want to sell on?
JK
