John Taylor wrote:
I'd like to buy a portable uplink weather display for single-engine
piston aircraft I fly recreationally along the east coast. I'm
impressed with VistaNav by Mercury, but it's expensive and large. I've
been looking at Garmin's 396 and 496. I see another solution is
Anywhere Map, but I've been told PDAs just crash too much.

Does anyone with extensive experience on the Anywhere Map have
performance comments to pass on?

Also, what's the deal with the uniformity of Garmin pricing? Isn't
there anyone who sells a new 496 below $2795? If so, I won't tell! In
olden days, when Head skis were at a fixed price, the way to get a
discount was to buy other items of indeterminate cost at the same time.
The only concession I've found with the 496 is shipping below cost.

There are lots of threads in the archives of rec.aviation.* about PDAs
for weather. I don't have personal experience.

Contact JA Air and propose to them that you might be interested in a new
Garmin if they sold you something else along with it for a really low
price.

Also ask JA Air about used 396s. I think that will get the price down in
the PDA range, you have a reputable dealer to stand behind it, and you
have the benefits of a purpose-built piece of hardware.

I have a 396 on my yoke. It's not ideal with loose wires going to two
antennas. It would be better if I owned by myself and could have it more
or less permanent so I could have a better solution for the loose wires.
It's wired to the GNS480 in the panel so gets its flight plan from the
480. I'm very happy with it, despite knowing it could be better.

Dave