I bought a new 196 about 9 months ago and have flown with it for 95 hours of
VFR day, night, mountain flying. I works great! I don't regret getting the
less expensive unit at all. Visibility is great in sun, instrument red, or
internal illumination. I love uploading my track log to a topo map program
and reliving my flight. It also works fine for use in the car.

tom



"Mike W." wrote in message
...
I know I am a couple of models behind as far as the portables go, I would
LOVE to buy a 396 but just can't justify it right now.
I rent from a flying club where every plane has a different combination of
ADF/VOR/LORAN/GPS , and they all work differently, no manuals for the GPS
or
LORAN units (if they are working at all that day) so I never know what I
will have available for VFR navigation.
SO, I thought it might be a good investment. For anyone that has owned or
used one of these, what are the opinions out there? Easy to use? Reliable?
What don't you like about it? Is the 296 worth twice the cash for VFR
flight
in the Midwest (no mountains)?

--
Hello, my name is Mike, and I am an airplane addict....