"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ups.com...
The reality is that--while not perfect--the 396/496 are pretty darn good
already. Screen size would seem to be the most obvious improvement.

I've flown around 5 hours with the unit since OSH, and am extremely
happy with it. Every feature you could want (and a few I hadn't
considered) are there -- except for the screen size and the
landscape-only display.

Today I used it in "automotive" mode for the first time, and found it
to be absolutely the coolest thing I've seen. I selected my airport
(while sitting in the driveway at my home), and it gave me turn-by-turn
VERBAL instructions, complete with warnings 0.1 miles ahead of each
turn, right to the terminal building. Very slick and easy.


Speaking of automotive use, a really neat feature would be live traffic
updates, showing traffic jams and suggesting alternate routes. This could
really help commuters in the larger cities which have active traffic
management systems. Also, it would be a safety feature because it would
alert you to traffic jams before you ran up on them doing 80 on the
interstate...

KB


I now know why they use the dinky little screen on the 496 -- anything
bigger won't fit on the dashboard of most cars. Garmin is trying to
make the unit do double (or, with marine, triple) duty, to the
detriment of the aviation mode.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"