New Garmin 396

In article 1120746983.96c8ea236aee82fdb45a0f6f90deb804@teran ews,
"Richard Kaplan" wrote:
forums to give me pause
about whether I want to mess with such things while flying. Here, the
Garmin approach wins, and solidly.

That is absolutely true... not to mention no dealing with power cables,
bluetooth, configuring windows, etc. etc.


No dealing with power cables? Do these things run on fuel cells?

You will still have at least two cables running from the GPS: one for
power and one for the antenna. That's a greater number of cables than
are presently running to my PDA, using Bluetooth to the XM receiver and
GPS with a competing software product. As someone else pointed out, you
will have a $2500 paperweight when the a new version with new
capabilities is released, if you want those new capabilities. And, as
far as I know, you can't take the 396 out of your airplane, pop it into
your back pocket, and jump on the WiFi network when you get to the
airport/hotel/restaurant, etc. I found the WiFi capability of even a
PDA to be very helpful for simple things like checking weather, filing
flight plans, etc. on a recent trip. Didn't have to lug the laptop
around.

That all being said, Garmin produces a very good, polished navigation
system that is hard to beat--in my opinion, none of the PDA-based
software products does navigation as cleanly. I wouldn't be surprised
if Garmin has implemented all of the XM weather features on the 395, but
I haven't seen confirmation. Garmin's development resources are much
greater than most of the PDA-based competitors.

As far as interfacing for TIS display, I wonder for how much longer this
will be a useful feature? Has anyone been able to confirm the reported
plans to start turning down TIS sites? I'm not sure that I'd invest in
a GTX330 at this point with TIS on its way out, but if you have one
already, it's certainly a selling point.



JKG

"Jonathan Goodish" wrote

You will still have at least two cables running from the GPS: one for
power and one for the antenna.

Garmin is claiming 5 to 10 hours battery life. Scratch one cable. (use
rechargeable NiMH, and most likely increase the run time)

Many have said their 295 gets great reception with no external antenna, when
mounted on the dash, or even the yoke. Scratch second power cable.

Looks like no cables to me, are possible.

I guess if you want to use the XM music output function, you will use one
cable, to go to the intercom, or earphones.
--
Jim in NC

In article ,
"Morgans" wrote:

"Jonathan Goodish" wrote

You will still have at least two cables running from the GPS: one for
power and one for the antenna.

Garmin is claiming 5 to 10 hours battery life. Scratch one cable. (use
rechargeable NiMH, and most likely increase the run time)

Many have said their 295 gets great reception with no external antenna, when
mounted on the dash, or even the yoke. Scratch second power cable.

Looks like no cables to me, are possible.

I guess if you want to use the XM music output function, you will use one
cable, to go to the intercom, or earphones.


It looks like the 396 uses a lithium-ion battery pack. Not sure that
you would gain anything if you're even able to replace that with NiMH.
If you use the backlight all the time, Garmin's claim is 5 hours, which
is maybe enough for one leg of a long trip, and then you have to take
the unit out of the airplane to charge. The only way to eliminate
running out of juice in flight is to have it plugged in to aircraft
power, so that is plus one power cable. For what it's worth, PDAs also
run on batteries and I could get 5 hours out of a PDA with full
backlight if I used an extended battery back.

Second, it is my understanding that the XM antenna only resides in the
EXTERNAL "smart" antenna, which means if you want to use XM weather, you
are required to use the external antenna. Plus one more cable.

That equals at least 2 cables running from the GPS for full
functionality.



JKG

"Jonathan Goodish" wrote:

That equals at least 2 cables running from the GPS for full
functionality.

I have two cables going to my yoke-mounted 296 now--power and remote GPS
antenna. With a little creative routing and some tie-wraps, you can
hardly tell they're there. One more wouldn't be a problem.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

In article ,
"Dan Luke" wrote:
That equals at least 2 cables running from the GPS for full
functionality.

I have two cables going to my yoke-mounted 296 now--power and remote GPS
antenna. With a little creative routing and some tie-wraps, you can
hardly tell they're there. One more wouldn't be a problem.

That's true, but the reply was targeted at the poster who suggested that
there would be less wires with the Garmin than with a PDA-based system.
In fact, the Garmin will require at least 2 wires to do what modern
Bluetooth-based PDA/TabletPCs can do with just one.



JKG

"Jonathan Goodish" wrote

That's true, but the reply was targeted at the poster who suggested that
there would be less wires with the Garmin than with a PDA-based system.
In fact, the Garmin will require at least 2 wires to do what modern
Bluetooth-based PDA/TabletPCs can do with just one.

Your PDA needs a GPS antenna, an XM Wx antenna, power to the weather
receiver, and either a power cable or batteries to the PDA. You also need
to manage the Bluetooth connection, a source of technical issues in flight.

The 396 does not need an externa GPS antenna, does not need separate power
to the weather receiver, and has no Bluetooth connection to manage.

The 396 also crossfeeds data from a Garmin 430/530 for those who own one.


--------------------
Richard Kaplan

www.flyimc.com

"Jonathan Goodish" wrote

Second, it is my understanding that the XM antenna only resides in the
EXTERNAL "smart" antenna, which means if you want to use XM weather, you
are required to use the external antenna. Plus one more cable.

Hmm, I didn't read it that way. I will go back and look again.
--
Jim in NC

In article ,
"Morgans" wrote:

"Jonathan Goodish" wrote

Second, it is my understanding that the XM antenna only resides in the
EXTERNAL "smart" antenna, which means if you want to use XM weather, you
are required to use the external antenna. Plus one more cable.

Hmm, I didn't read it that way. I will go back and look again.


It doesn't really matter, because even if the XM antenna is integrated
into the unit, it won't pick up much of an XM signal when it's mounted
on the yoke. You will have to have a remote antenna anyway.



JKG

"Morgans" wrote

Hmm, I didn't read it that way. I will go back and look again.

Ah, now I see it. The smart antenna is needed for XM reception, (included)
and it is 3 inches in diameter.
--
Jim in NC

In article ,
"Morgans" wrote:
Ah, now I see it. The smart antenna is needed for XM reception, (included)
and it is 3 inches in diameter.


It looks like a pretty interesting antenna, but one thing that I did
note: it has magnets in the base. If they're as strong as the GPS-10
magnets, they could create compass swing problems for folks. Not sure
how easy it will be to remove them, but it will likely void the warranty.


JKG