Garmin 396 -- Maybe I spoke too soon...

- Sales of the 396 have virtually shut down Garmin's sales of 430s and
530s.
It is simply superior to their in-panel stuff, and far less expensive.
(And
Garmin actually expected this to happen.)

This does not compute. The 396 is not capable of doing IFR
approaches. Seems to me that the two are aimed at entirely different
markets.

What percentage of 430s/530s are installed in aircraft owned by guys who
actually use them in hard IFR conditions? I'd be willing to bet it's a
pretty small percentage.

On my airport, they have been installed almost exclusively in the "rich
guys" planes -- NONE of whom (to my knowledge) fly hard IFR. (In fact, off
the top of my head I can only name one guy on our airport who flies hard IFR
with his personal aircraft.)

The other reasons I can think of a

- The 396 does weather better than the 430/530.
- If you're buying a $3000 hand-held, you're probably not buying a $5000
panel-mount at the same time
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Despite the myopia concerning 'rich guys', I think you are pretty much
spot on here.

However, I think the price comparison is closer to $2500 handheld and
say $12,000 panel mount.

If your not flying IFR like rich guy Jay, which would you pick? :-)

Jay Honeck wrote:
What percentage of 430s/530s are installed in aircraft owned by guys who
actually use them in hard IFR conditions? I'd be willing to bet it's a
pretty small percentage.

On my airport, they have been installed almost exclusively in the "rich
guys" planes -- NONE of whom (to my knowledge) fly hard IFR. (In fact, off
the top of my head I can only name one guy on our airport who flies hard IFR
with his personal aircraft.)

The other reasons I can think of a

- The 396 does weather better than the 430/530.
- If you're buying a $3000 hand-held, you're probably not buying a $5000
panel-mount at the same time

Maule Driver wrote:
Despite the myopia concerning 'rich guys', I think you are pretty much
spot on here.

However, I think the price comparison is closer to $2500 handheld and
say $12,000 panel mount.

Since the XM weather integration on the 430/530 leaves a bit to be
desired, a more appropriate comparison would, I believe, be a panel
mount figure of around $22K:

430 w/CDI: $10K
EX500: $8K
XM RX: $5K

What I *really* wish Garmin would do is make that $1500 (soon to be
$2000 or more, I'm sure) WAAS upgrade for the 430/530 include a screen
and software upgrade so they could translate this "G1000" style software
presentation and weather / terrain depiction to those units so I
wouldn't have to buy an EX500 or MX20. Now *that* would be worth the
upgrade. Heck, even if they only offered it as a new unit (say the
"Garmin 440/540"), I'd pick one up and relegate the 430 to traffic /
lightning display / 2nd comm duty.

-Doug

--
--------------------
Doug Vetter, CFIMEIA

http://www.dvcfi.com
--------------------

I was one of the lucky ones who arranged for a friend to buy the 396 at
OSH in late July. I wanted it BEFORE heading out in early Aug on my
family summer vacation flying up and down the East Coast during summer
T-storm season.

The peace of mind and safety margin went up about 100-fold now that I
have this system!! Like some others here, I spent 1 or 2 nites in
unplanned hotel stays in previous years because T storms were popping
up in the vicinity of my route. Ths time I was able to really see what
was in front of me. I had all the info I needed to plow ahead, ask for
a 10 degree change in course to avoid a buildup, or do something more
drastic (like do a 180 or land).

My thumb gets tired from all of the button pushing but that's to be
expected with a Garmin. The XM Wx is great, the display is fine, and
the interface is familiar. Of course there is a danger of getting over
confident and using the system to thread your way between 2 monster
cells. But as long as you keep your head screwed on straight, I think
the system is great. I'll never fly without it again!

--JB

JB wrote:
snip
The peace of mind and safety margin went up about 100-fold now that I
have this system!! Like some others here, I spent 1 or 2 nites in
unplanned hotel stays in previous years because T storms were popping
up in the vicinity of my route. Ths time I was able to really see
what was in front of me. I had all the info I needed to plow ahead,
ask for a 10 degree change in course to avoid a buildup, or do
something more drastic (like do a 180 or land).
snip

I just finished my first weekend of flying and weather analysis with the
396 and I echo your sentiments. The 396's weather delivery and
integration is probably the biggest advance to the art of flying since
GPS itself.

I even love the automotive mode and XM radio -- my friend let me borrow
one of those small FM transmitters and I enjoyed full verbal route
guidance on my way home as well as reasonably clear XM radio. And I say
"reasonably clear" because the cheapo FM transmitter is really the
limiting factor in sound quality -- when the 396 is hooked directly to a
traditional receiver or a set of headphones (say the Bose Quiet Comfort
series) the quality is far superior.

I'm planning on writing a review on my site as soon as I can get some
other articles done, but I can assure everyone wondering that both the
396 AND the XM weather/audio services are worth the coin. This is going
to be a blockbuster.

I do wonder, however, whether this new capability will eventually lead
to an increase in unfortunate results with regard to pilots flying in
weather beyond their capabilities. Call it the "Cirrus effect"...

-Doug

--
--------------------
Doug Vetter, CFIMEIA

http://www.dvcfi.com
--------------------

"Doug Vetter" wrote:

I do wonder, however, whether this new capability will eventually lead
to an increase in unfortunate results with regard to pilots flying in
weather beyond their capabilities. Call it the "Cirrus effect"...

I'm wondering the same thing myself. Ever since I've had XM
weather--about two years--I've been pushing the weather harder. What's
the point of having it if you can't do that?

The problem is that it will make people overconfident; perhaps it's done
that to me already. "Cirrus effect" sounds like a good name for it.

--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

Dan & Doug
Which XM Weather package are you subscribing to?

Does the subscription include the audio offerings, or is that
additional? How much?

john smith wrote:
Dan & Doug
Which XM Weather package are you subscribing to?

Does the subscription include the audio offerings, or is that
additional? How much?

Yeah, I want to know too. I'm drooling over this thing but I'm trying to get a
grip on the total cost. I'm also wondering if many rental aircraft will have a
place to tap in for power? Since I'm not a smoker, I've never paid attention to
the presence or absence of cigarette lighters in aircraft.

Final question: if they do have outlets, what voltage? The Garmin is 12V but I
think most GA aircraft are 28V.

It's a lot of money at stake. I don't want to bite the bullet and then find out
it's not really that great because you can't effectively power the thing in a
rental C-172 or Cherokee.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

VE

john smith wrote:
Dan & Doug
Which XM Weather package are you subscribing to?

Does the subscription include the audio offerings, or is that
additional? How much?

John,

I'm subscribing to the top-end Aviator package (for now, anyway).

The aviation weather package does not include audio, but it's only $7/mo
additional -- a wash for me considering I was subscribing to the online
service for $8/month waiting to figure out what hardware to buy to
receive programming via satellite.

I probably couldn't justify the service costs if the equipment were
installed in my airplane (and thus restricted to use while flying), but
the fact that I can take this box anywhere and have access to weather
and audio makes it a bit easier to write the check every month.

For more info on the weather packages, check out:

http://www.xmwxweather.com/

-Doug

--
--------------------
Doug Vetter, CFIMEIA

http://www.dvcfi.com
--------------------

"Doug Vetter" wrote

And I say
"reasonably clear" because the cheapo FM transmitter is really the
limiting factor in sound quality -- when the 396 is hooked directly to a
traditional receiver or a set of headphones (say the Bose Quiet Comfort
series) the quality is far superior.

Try using one of those tape adapters, hooked into the output. I find they
are much "higher Fi" than the radio transmitters.
--
Jim in NC