It's Official, the GPSMAP 496

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