Just wanted to add a correction after doing a little experimenting and
researching.

About the Routing Issues:

The problem with poor turn-by-turn routing detail in Automotive Mode
probably has to do with the MapSource MetroGuide version I'm using.
Apparently Garmin has hobbled this software so that it will only let you
route on the PC, and the routing data is not sent to the GPS itself (I love
the logic of this). So what I was seeing was the unit trying to route with
its "Routable Base-Map" only.

Anyway, a different version of MapSource will probably do the trick; I'm
going to pick up City Select tomorrow (although I hate having to go through
the process of calling them to unlock the thing after I already paid for it
in the first place).

As a side note, while the Map Source MetroGuide USA I have will generate a
decent route on the PC and send it to the GPS, some of the info is lost,
including the street names. So you end up with directions like "Turn Left
on 041" instead of the street name. I'm not sure if this is expected or
not (still on 2.40 of the firmware). Anyway, don't buy MetroGuide for this
unit.

So, basically my last real complaint about the thing is just me being
ignorant. Finally they put out a unit that really is both aviation and
automotive - though it should be able to do that and make a cup of coffee
for $1800.


Other Side Notes:

The new anti-reflective screen seems REALLY easy to damage. They put a
note inside the box basically warning you, but it seems a lot worse than
they say. I've really babied mine, always wrapping it in bubble wrap
before putting it in its case, and it STILL has a couple of light scratches
on it after a week. Oh well.

I also wanted to comment on Garmin's service. I just sent my GPSMAP 295
back because it stopped running off batteries. It was way out of
warrantee, but they still fixed it for free AND updated the Jepp database.
Although it was a flaw in the unit, you've still got to give them credit.



Rhett wrote in
. 198:

Amateur Review of the Garmin GPSMAP 296 GPS

I've been using the GPSMAP 296 for about a week now, and since there's
really not that much detailed info available about it (even on the
Garmin site), I figured it might help some people to get a little idea
of how it works. Maybe other owners can expand upon this and fill in
the gaps and correct my errors. I threw this together pretty fast, so
take it with a grain of salt…

[Disclaimer: I don't claim to know what I'm talking about; these are
just my first impressions from the unit. I could be wrong about any
opinion expressed here, and probably am. I just wanted to give some
info to try to help out others thinking about buying the thing. You
mileage may vary. Also I'm posting the GPS groups as well as the
aviation group, since the automotive and marine features should
ideally make this a universal unit]

-------------------------------------------

OK, my GPSMAP 296 is replacing the 295, which replaced the III+, which
replaced the 45. I also have played with the 196 in the air. So this
is the frame of reference here. Since these units aren't
automotive-only, most of my auto-GPS experience comes from the
commercial PC programs on a laptop. Although the 296 is intended for
use in the air, I'm intentionally reviewing the automotive features,
since I feel this should be a part of a box that costs $1800.

GENERAL FEATURES:

The GPSMAP 296 is small, and as such the screen seems a little small
too. But it has a very decent resolution, and the shading capability
of the 256 color display make it very readable. The screen is very
bright and readable, and the CPU is fast enough to provide pretty fast
updating, much faster than the 295, and probably something on par with
the 196. This makes scrolling around the maps relatively fast, and is
a big improvement over the 295.

The GPS receiver itself is very good, and a definite improvement over
the 295, which was on par with other parallel 12 channels I've seen,
like the III+. I'm not sure what they're doing differently, but
acquisition seems much faster, at least when "warm."

Power is provided via a lithium ion battery pack, which is recharged
through the unit. I'm not sure what the real lifetime is, since I
haven't had to charge it yet. But it seems that it will be an
improvement over the 295 screen (i.e. StreetPilot Color), which could
really cut through some AA's. I haven't seen an option for normal
battery operation, which could be a downside.

Menu navigation is ok, and if you're used to older Garmin units you'll
be able to get around, although you'll notice some changes. There are
a whole lot of nice things hidden in there, which I'll mention more of
later.

The manual is typical of that from the 295, with ok description of the
aviation features, and basically nothing about the automotive and
marine features. Yes I know that there are physically pages in the
manual covering these features, but how much information is really
there? There are lots of questions I still have, after reading the
thing cover-to-cover. Like the 295 I'm sure I'll have to figure stuff
out by trail and error.

The 296 package comes with all sorts of stuff you can read about on
the Garmin page, including mounts for the yolk and dash,
power/data/charging cables, and remote antenna. It's basically the
same nice complete package as the 295, although it specifically does
not try to provide a "car kit" (save for the dash mount), which
eliminates some features (see below).

The unit takes the same datacards as the 295 (and StreetPilot?), and
seems to work fine with lots of Garmin data, even with my super-old
Topo dataset that I bought with the III+.

AVIATION FEATURES:

Like the 196? Then you'll like the 296. Except this has color to
help unclutter things (not that the 196 was bad), and has terrain
avoidance. Sorry if that doesn't sound like much information, but I
in a way I think this says a lot!

Terrain and "virtual instrument" pages the biggest differences the
295, along with the general ease of use that comes from a faster
processor, in tasks such as using the map or programming routes.
Actually, this is a big improvement when trying to use it in the air,
since some tasks such as editing a route were just too difficult to do
while flying (in my opinion) due to the time it would take to scroll
the map or text identifiers.

It is still very much a VFR unit, with approaches basically only
containing the FAF and MAP. But it has all the fixes you need to
throw together your approach. And besides, you're only supposed to be
using this as non-navigational supplement to situational awareness.

I'm still a little foggy about the terrain page. There is a dedicated
terrain page, which I understand, but the manual talks about a pop-up
page that will come up on all other pages (eg the panel or map) when
in danger. But the manual doesn't explain how this happens, or what
setup parameters there are to make it happen. I haven't paid
attention at low enough altitudes to see if it happens or not. Still,
I'm sure that this could be a really great aid for situational
awareness, especially when some controller is pushing you around in
areas and altitudes you're not comfortable with.

One missing detail from the new terrain information is information
about glide capability in an engine-out situation. There are some
software-only GPS solutions that have a "cones of safety" feature,
graphically showing you which airports are within safe gliding
distance at any given time. This is a great feature, although I've
only played with it a little. While the Garmin has all of the
information inside of it to make such a rough calculation, it is not
provided. And yes, I know that you should be able to make this type
of calculation yourself, but in the heat of the moment during an true
engine-out in a single, the more information you can have at your
fingertips the better!

AUTOMOTIVE FEATURES:

[I'll apologize in advance about any errors in this section. The
manual isn't all that clear about some things, and maybe I'm a little
ignorant about what to expect from turn-by- turn routing with what I
have, so maybe my complaints are just B.S.]

The big improvement over the 295 for automotive use is the
turn-by-turn routing. Although it was basically the same package as
the StreetPilot Color, in typical Garmin fashion they chose to
"differentiate the products" by hobbling the 295 so it would only let
you look up addresses, which you could only "go to" directly, as the
crow flies. Now the 296 has corrected this by trying to route you
along streets, with directions given at each turn.

But with the basic unit these directions will be text only, since the
unit DOES NOT HAVE VOICE PROMPTS without the addition of optional
equipment. Expect the same Garmin beep you've been hearing. The
manual doesn't explain what these voice prompts say, and when you'll
hear them, other than to tell you how to change the language. So I
have no idea whether they work at all, or in what modes, with the
optional car speaker.

One big problem I've had with the routing so far is the routing
detail. I'd love to hear what other owners have to say about this,
because maybe I'm just stupid and doing something wrong. Don't know.
I'm using an older version of MapSource MetroGuide US (can't find the
box or instructions for the past week, so I don't know the version
off-hand) that I bought with my 295, so I've never had a chance to
play with the turn-by-turn routing. The streets themselves are fairly
accurate in location detail. On the Mapsource PC software, routing
works great, with nice tracks swooping around clover-leafs - generally
the route follows the road. Not so on the 296. The routes the unit
comes up with generally go from turn to turn in mostly straight lines,
mostly missing the (detailed Mapsource data) road entirely when it's
winding. I'm not sure if this is intentional, or just my screw-up,
but it makes using it for driving difficult, because the road you
should be on is not highlighted (like I'm used to from PC programs),
but instead there's a line offroad somewhere telling you the general
direction you want to go. Since details like offramps are missed in
this crude routing, important turning points can be missed (which has
already been really annoying when traveling in unfamiliar territory).

Anyway, I'm hoping that this is a screw-up on my part or Garmin's,
since this really limits the functionality of the unit for automotive
use. I'm certainly hoping this isn't another attempt by Garmin for
product differentiation. I know that there are newer versions of
MapSource than I own, but I will not buy something newer unless I know
it would solve this problem.

With other screens, the automotive functions are pretty much
bare-bones. The "3-D" Highway Page, which has been around on the
Garmin's forever, could have been really useful. But it only contains
the jagged route I described above, with no cross-streets or other
helpful information, as is available on some auto-only GPSs. With
this much CPU power, this is a real shame. Garmin even hides this
screen away now - you have to manually activate it from a setup menu.

MARINE AND OTHER STUFF:

I'm not much of a sailor, so I can't comment well on these things, but
this Garmin offers everything that was on the older basic marine units
with new features such as a tide calculator and a "best times for
fishing or hunting" calculator. The tide/moon calculator is fun, even
for land-lovers, and pretty complete, with lots of tide stations.
Like most non-aviation features, the manual doesn't really explain how
it figures out the best times to fish and hunt, but apparently it's
smart enough it know.

There seems to be some sort of connectivity for marine sonar, but I
kind of glanced over this, so you'll have to read whatever the manual
bothers to tell you for yourself.

OVERALL CONCLUSION:

The 296 isn't perfect, but it's pretty darned good, and does pretty
much what you're expecting from an aviation unit. Save for going with
some of the "Pocket PC" software GPS solutions, I'm not sure your
going to get much better in a VFR GPS.

While I'm disappointed so far in the automotive functionality, I'll
freely admit that this could be due to the fact that I'm an idiot.
And I'll certainly have to admit that it's better than the
intentionally dumbed-down 295.

Overall I'm happy that I bought it, save for the $1800 it cost. I
hope this provided at least some information for prospective buyers.
Maybe my comments (and errors) will spark more detailed responses from
other owners. And I'm sure that in coming months the flying magazines
will have their own infomercial style write-ups.



[PS: I'd like to take the time to thank all of the contributors to
alt.satellite.gps and sci.geo.satellite-nav for contributing to my
knowledge over the years. Although I haven't had time to keep up with
it in recent years, they've been a great resource!]