Partial Panel on a Garmin 296?
 

On a well-known auction site there's a claim you can fly partial panel on a Garmin if your vacuum packs up. I've seen the new Dynon gadget and that would certainly work - but is very expensive as a back-up. I guess there's enough info on a Garmin to give you an equivalent of partial panel - but has anyone tried it? If I get an affirmative, I guess it works? :O

Yes, it should be possible but subject to usual caveats.
No (direct) pitch information.
Bank information predicated on rate of turn.
Speed is groundspeed not airspeed.

There are no gyros in the Garmin. Rate of turn indication is based on measured track changes and is pretty coarse.

I think it would be pretty challenging to fly partial panel using that, but I haven't tried.

I've seen a battery powered turn coordinator using electronic gyros for about $200, which would probably be a better bet

The 296 processor is too slow so there is a lot of lag. However the 496 has a completely flyable panel page. If you turn with 30 deg of bank the heading only lags about 5 degs from actual. :ok: