RD wrote:

Can someone give me an opinion on what type of GPS unit is good enough for
me. I'm a GA pilot, very low time, looking for a decent GPS to take along
for some X/C flying in the rentals.

I just bought a Garmin 196, and it's an astoundingly good unit (and easy to
mount in different planes).

If you want to pay a lot less, though, you can try a non-aviation Magellan
315; I've used one for a while, and since it's so small, I'm keeping it as a
backup. Here are some of the benefits:

1. Cheap.
2. Small and light enough to carry in a jacket pocket.
3. Waterproof (and it floats).
4. Free, up-to-date U.S. aviation database available from
http://home.stny.rr.com/bkw/315/

Here are the drawbacks:

1. Map display includes points only, no lines (i.e. no highways, coastlines,
or SUA).
2. Does not inform you when it loses satellite lock.
3. No support for an external antenna (though the internal one works well).
4. You have to buy the PC cable/cigar-lighter adapter separately.

If I were starting from scratch, and didn't want to spend USD 800-900 on a
Garmin 196, I'd probably buy a snap-on GPS for a wireless PDA. I think
there's some clever software that can also download weather over a wireless
connection and show it on the PDA along with the aviation data.


All the best,


David