I don't want to have to poke the GPS dozens of times to find out
where I am relative to something else
(poke-poke-twist/twist-'K'-twist/twist-'P'
-twist/twist-'S'-twist/twist-'K'-twist/twist-enter). I like the simplicity of
dialing
'116.8' and seeing a DME.


This has less to do with the GPS than it has to do with the idea of putting as
many functions as possible into as few buttons as possible. With all that
computing power, it's got to be fairly simple to have a dedicated knob that
just cycles through the "nearest" identefiers. Chances are whatever you are
looking for is contextually near something you just did, and cycling
alphabetically through the fifteen choices would be much quicker.

For example, in a flight plan, it would cycle through the nearest identifiers
to the previous entry. The knob would pull out to include (or omit)
intersections. The Apollo unit in our aircraft does something like this
already, but with less smarts.

I tend to use the #2 nav/comm because the knobs always do the same thing. On
the Garmin, I have to be sure I'm in the right mode and have selected NAV or
COMM before twisting. I'd rather just have another knob. In the cockpit that
is more important than geeky button efficiency.

Jose

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