It's Official, the GPSMAP 496

Jay Honeck wrote:

$600 more -- and it's still got that same dinky screen?

I don't think Garmin will ever come out with a portable that has a
bigger screen than your AvMap so you'll be perpetually satisfied

To me the biggest 486 improvements over the 396 are the "integrated"
GXM antenna (as in no cables), AOPA directory and the taxiways.
Probably worth $600 to many pilots--especially the ones who are used to
dealing in the AMU scale. "Hey, it's only a fraction of single AMU!"

Marco

Jay and others,

Again, maybe I'm missiong something here, but we are in the cost realm of
VustaNav. No I don't have it and probably cannot afford it, but we are
talking Motion LS 800 sun readable tablet PC (or any other tablet PC to 16"
screen) with weather, synthetic vision etc etc. This seems generationally
better than the Garmin offerings and in the same price ball park.
According to the website this is what you get:
a.. WAAS GPS
b.. Solid State Gyros
c.. Barometric Pressure
d.. Sensor
e.. Battery Backup
Inertial Navigation Unit
a.. Wireless Interface Among All Components
b.. 3D HITS Navigation w/ precision approaches
c.. 2D Moving Map
d.. XM Weather
e.. IFR Approach Plates
f.. Airport Diagrams
g.. Exclusive 'Radar Vectors' Feature*
h.. Training Simulator
Unlike the 396/496 upgrade, I can see a huge amount of difference in
an'upgrade' to the vistnave system, assuming:

a. it works
b. it's supported
c. it's stable

I note that in a recent aviation magazine, there was several A3 pages on
synthetic vision systems, typical airliner price US$120,000 and up.

Again, I have no connection with the company, but if I were in the $3K-$4K
market there is a clear winner here and it doesn't begin with'G' (or 'A' for
that matter Jay).

YMMV,
Kevin

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ups.com...
http://www.aero-news.net
just in time for Oshkosh.

$600 more -- and it's still got that same dinky screen?

Too bad.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Marco Leon wrote:

To me the biggest 486 improvements over
the 396 are the "integrated" GXM antenna
(as in no cables)

Not sure that's true. The Garmin website lists the package as including
the "GXM 30A smart antenna" which sounds like the same USB-based device
as before.

In article .com,
"Marco Leon" wrote:

Jay Honeck wrote:

$600 more -- and it's still got that same dinky screen?

I don't think Garmin will ever come out with a portable that has a
bigger screen than your AvMap so you'll be perpetually satisfied

To me the biggest 486 improvements over the 396 are the "integrated"
GXM antenna (as in no cables), AOPA directory and the taxiways.
Probably worth $600 to many pilots--especially the ones who are used to
dealing in the AMU scale. "Hey, it's only a fraction of single AMU!"


The 496 does not have an integrated XM antenna. Personally, I wouldn't
want it to, as reception would be terrible when yoke-mounted.

With Garmin 396s for sale at around $2000, the $600 is really $800 right
now, which is pretty darn close to a 1 AMU difference in price.

Those of us who purchased the 396 with the free auto kit (and use it for
auto navigation) actually still have a pretty good deal with the 396.
With the 496, it looks like Garmin includes the auto kit, plus
pre-loaded City Select data for the entire country, which would cost a
few hundred dollars if you purchased those capabilities for the 396.



JKG

In a previous article, "Jay Beckman" said:
wrote in message
oups.com...

Brock Boss wrote:
http://www.aero-news.net
just in time for Oshkosh.

Good Pictures of the new 496: http://jaair.com/496/

All that and it finds fish too...amazing...

My 296 does that as well. The car kit on the 296 has impressed two people
enough that both of them are buying car-only GPSes.


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
"He's overweight, uninformed, and litigious. That's an American
hat-trick" - Lewis Black

Paul,

My guess is
that the $600 you save for the Atlantic version gets you half the
database.


It gets you no XM capability.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

JA Air Center offers top value for used portable GPS units -
800-323-5966.



Mike Granby wrote:
If Garmin don't offer an upgrade route, this will be pretty crappy
behavior. I guess all's fair in love, war and commerce, but I'll be a
bit PO-ed if I can't get up to the better platform without simply
selling the 396 and buying a new unit, especially since a lot of the
other bits and pieces are common. Of course, selling the 396 won't be
as easy now Garmin have cut the list price! Sigh. I guess on the scale
of airplane ownership costs, eating $1K to get up to the 496 won't be
too bad, but still...

In a previous article, said:
Paul,
My guess is
that the $600 you save for the Atlantic version gets you half the
database.


It gets you no XM capability.

In that case, you should be comparing it with the 296 not the 396!


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
Graffiti has merely machine-gunned the surviving handwriting ability
clinging to the upturned lifeboats of the good ship 'Cursive'.
-- Saundo, on Palm Pilots

"Jay Honeck" wrote:

just in time for Oshkosh.

$600 more -- and it's still got that same dinky screen?

Too bad.

The good news--for anyone who's been sitting on the fence--is that used,
like-new 396s will now be available at a considerable saving over the price
of a new unit.

Don't forget that Garmin is very Microsoft-like in its pricing...A
vendor (Pacific Coast Avionics, I think?) said that they are mandated to
sell at whatever price Garmin sets and can't waiver from that. If they
do and Garmin finds out, then that retailer will no longer be able to
sell Garmin products.

Chris G.

Jonathan Goodish wrote:
In article ,
(Paul Tomblin) wrote:

In a previous article, Jonathan Goodish said:
In article ,
(Paul Tomblin) wrote:
MSRP for the 396: $2395.00
MSRP for the 496: $2995.00

$600 is not "almost $1000" in my world.

I have heard reports of the 396 selling for $1999. Okay, that's not
$1000, let me give you $4 back.
Apples to apples. What is the street price of the 496? You don't know,
because it's not selling yet. Therefore the only fair comparison is MSRP.

$2795. It is for sale at several online dealers.


JKG