I got an email today from air power, inc ( www.factoryengines.com)
announcing that they have a program to allow pilots to buy, rent or
try (for free for 30 days) Garmin GPSs. The rental fee for Garmin
396 is $35/month and 496 is $45/month with the first 3 rental payments
applied toward purchase the purchase prices ($1795 for 396 and $2395
for the 496). I'm curious on whether there are other outfits who also
offer GPS rental and how do they stack up in comparison to air power's
offer.

I have seen recent ads for the Avmap GeoPilot II Plus mentioning an
optional XMweather antenna but with no price and/or availability. I
hope to hear Sun-n-Fun's report of its sighting. If I have to wait
for a while for a GPS with bigger XM weather display than the Garmin's
option, I may consider renting the Garmin for long cross country trips
this summer. $35/month for the Garmin 396 is a bargain. The Jeppesen
database update for my Lowrance 1000 cost about the same!

Hai Longworth