Newps wrote:

I'm going to buy a 296 this week. Is there any reason not to buy a used
unit from these discount houses like JA Air Center? Did Garmin
improve the processor or make any changes that would make a new unit
preferable to a used unit?

They changed the LCD panel about April 06 on the 276C, did the same
happen on the 296 (same hardware). The new one is much brighter. They
made no noise about this, and you can only tell by the MPN. For a 276C
this is 010-00331-01 for the old one, and 010-00331-51 for the new.