Victor J. Osborne, Jr. wrote:

Just got off the phone w/ Garmin 530 'expert support' line. WAAS next
year
(3-4th qtr) Terrain data, no fixed time frame. Maybe late next year.

I knew I made a mistake in buying Garmin! They said they were putting my
weather (WX Works) and the terrain data on the 530. So I bought Garmin
instead of the competition. Opps.

Here's what I've put together after a dialog with Garmin.

First of all, a question suggested by someone else in the club was whether
Garmin would have any type of trade-in program from the 430/530 to the UPS
GPS (480?). Alas, it appears that the answer is "no".

Terrain:

TAWS-B should be available for the 530 in October (ie. later this
month).

Uncertified terrain awareness will be available for the 430 perhaps
a month later.

This update will involve new software and a database (with an upgrade
cycle?), but should not require a trip to the factory.

WAAS:

6-12 months out, date unspecified.

This will require shipping the unit to the Factory.

WxWorks:

GDL 69 will be in production "in the coming months". This will
provide WxWorx capability. It will be interfaced initially with
the G-1000. It *may* be interfaced with the 430 some time after
the 430 gets WAAS.

Airways:

Unknown. The concern is that this would make the User Interface
too complex.

Finally, a question suggested by someone else in the club was whether Garmin
would have any type of trade-in program from the 430/530 to the UPS GPS
(480?). Alas, it appears that the answer is "no".

- Andrew