Goodbye, AvMap...

I will say that I only get the blank screen and wait when I move the
cursor initially just a little. After I have the redrawn screen, I can
slide around that screen without any more blanking provided I stay on
that screen. Once I slide off the screen it goes into the blank out mode
again.

Jay, is that what yours does?

Yes, it works that way -- provided you stay on that screen. When I'm
on a long cross country flight, however -- say, from Iowa to Michigan
-- and I want to check current weather at my destination, that's gonna
require slewing (not skewing -- d'oh!) "across" several screens.

Cursor disappear...screen goes blank...count to 3....screen reappears,
slew across tiny little 3-inch screen...cursor disappears...screen goes
blank....count to 3....

Or you can zoom out, reposition the cursor, and zoom back in, hoping
that you've placed your cursor in approximately the right spot. If
not, zoom out, and try again! (Or slew...)

As long as you're not on a cross country flight, and the weather isn't
a factor, this design flaw never comes into play. Of course, that's
precisely when you need and want the weather most, is when you're on a
long cross country flight...

I may have already said this, but the 496 is an outstanding automotive
tool, by the way. We used it again the other day to find an obscure
address in a tiny town in a different state -- and "Bitchin' Betty"
directed me right into the driveway. It's an incredible tool.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

.stuff snipped
Yes, it works that way -- provided you stay on that screen.
.stuff snipped
I may have already said this, but the 496 is an outstanding automotive
tool, by the way.

I guess the engineers figured you would only want to "look ahead" no
farther than the current screen. This was a bit of a chore on the last
somewhat challenging cross country. I was zoomed in to see obstructions
like antennas (cuz we were at 1200' AGL) and the weather ahead was
changing through the entire 2.5 hour flight. I zoomed out rather than
wait for 3 or 4 "blank out - refresh" cycles. The number of steps and
total time to get there was about the same though. Since I was only
concerned about the radar ahead and not the Metars/Tafs, I would
sometimes switch to the Nexrad page (push menu twice to see the menu
view - once you selected weather, nexrad, and had zoomed to the right
level, the unit defaulted to it with the next double push of the menu
button). You could accomplish the same thing by zooming out the gps
page, but the other way gives you a North up view that helped me keep my
mental "picture" aligned as far as where the rain was forming and headed.

I am still wrestling with the auto kit. As I said in an earlier rant...
er, posting, I am still leery about hauling around a $2300+ dollar GPS
in the car. It appears the Sony unit will do well for $499. Considering
the small delta between a fully blown complete auto GPS and just the 396
kit, I am still leaning towards buying a "dedicated" auto unit. Another
plus is that I can leave both units hooked up and don't have to swap.
The auto units have touch screens that are WAY easier to enter in names
and addresses. Menu navigation is way faster than these aviation units
with their button sequences for everything.

A consultant who works for me has had a Magellan 700 hanging off one of
his air vents for years and nobody has ever bothered it. He parks
everywhere (O'Hare remote parking, city streets - Wrigley Field,
downtown Chicago, Baltimore, Toronto, etc). I would think these units
would be perfect for smash and grab thieves. They plug into the cig
lighter and have a "hook" that keeps them in the air vent. 10 seconds
max time to steal.

Not sure if this guy is just lucky or the thieves don't know what they
are worth or don't have a market to sell them (the people who buy stolen
stuff from thieves don't know what a GPS is or what they are used for????).

Anyway, I'm still thinkin'. Anyone have a recommendation for an auto
GPS? I prefer an older used unit that works well. Like I said the
Magellan 700 my consultant has seems just fine. It took me about 10
seconds to figure out how to use it.

Thanks,
Mike