XM question for Garmin 396/496 owers

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:IvKrk.309937$yE1.95597@attbi_s21...
What are the weather overlay capabilities of these units? Can you
overlay a radar map on top of your airspace map? Across a route you are
navigating?

Yes, yes, and yes. Everything -- airspace, navigation, and radar
returns -- can be shown on the same map. (You can add satellite, too.)

Sadly, the 496's screen is so little that it's difficult to see any of
this great stuff.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
Ercoupe N94856
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

OK, next question...

Why'd you select the 496 instead of the 396 if the key functionality is XM,
which is more or less what you indicated in another post?

"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
. ..

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:IvKrk.309937$yE1.95597@attbi_s21...
What are the weather overlay capabilities of these units? Can you
overlay a radar map on top of your airspace map? Across a route you are
navigating?

Yes, yes, and yes. Everything -- airspace, navigation, and radar
returns -- can be shown on the same map. (You can add satellite, too.)

Sadly, the 496's screen is so little that it's difficult to see any of
this great stuff.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
Ercoupe N94856
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

OK, next question...

Why'd you select the 496 instead of the 396 if the key functionality is
XM, which is more or less what you indicated in another post?

The 496 has a faster processor and updates faster when you are switching
views. IMO that's the biggest advantage although there are a few bells and
whistles you get with the 496 not found on the 396.

The 496 has a faster processor and updates faster when you are switching
views. IMO that's the biggest advantage although there are a few bells
and whistles you get with the 496 not found on the 396.

Yes -- although the 496 is still painfully slow to use. Scrolling is an
exercise in patience and frustration, and work-arounds to this problem are
unsatisfactory.

Hopefully a future iteration will address this issue, but -- as long as
there is no direct competition from Lowrance or AvMap -- there is little
incentive for Garmin to improve such a niche product.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
Ercoupe N94856
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in
news:ms3sk.311329$yE1.83256@attbi_s21:

The 496 has a faster processor and updates faster when you are
switching views. IMO that's the biggest advantage although there are
a few bells and whistles you get with the 496 not found on the 396.

Yes -- although the 496 is still painfully slow to use.

Perfect for you. It will match the speed of your tiny mind.


Bertie

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:IvKrk.309937$yE1.95597@attbi_s21...
What are the weather overlay capabilities of these units? Can you
overlay a radar map on top of your airspace map? Across a route you are
navigating?

Yes, yes, and yes. Everything -- airspace, navigation, and radar
returns -- can be shown on the same map. (You can add satellite, too.)

Sadly, the 496's screen is so little that it's difficult to see any of
this great stuff.


Horse****. You can see it fine all if you put it on the yoke where it
belongs.

Note to newbies: Honeck dogged Garmin until he realized the 496 beat the
crap out of anything else that would tell him where the hairy stuff was,
then he had to buy one.

Now he has to whine about the screen size or whatever, nitpicking in an
effort to avoid admitting he's been full of **** all along. IOW, typical
Honeck.

On Aug 24, 6:25*pm, "f-newguy" wrote:
"Jay Honeck" wrote in message

news:IvKrk.309937$yE1.95597@attbi_s21...

What are the weather overlay capabilities of these units? *Can you
overlay a radar map on top of your airspace map? Across a route you are
navigating?

Yes, yes, and yes. *Everything -- airspace, navigation, and radar
returns -- *can be shown on the same map. *(You can add satellite, too.)

Sadly, the 496's screen is so little that it's difficult to see any of
this great stuff.

Horse****. *You can see it fine all if you put it on the yoke where it
belongs.

Note to newbies: *Honeck dogged Garmin until he realized the 496 beat the
crap out of anything else that would tell him where the hairy stuff was,
then he had to buy one.

Now he has to whine about the screen size or whatever, *nitpicking in an
effort to avoid admitting he's been full of **** all along. * IOW, typical
Honeck.

I think the 496 id the greatest gagget ever made. Its an amazing
piece. the size is fine if u have your glasses on.

Note to newbies: Honeck dogged Garmin until he realized the 496 beat the
crap out of anything else that would tell him where the hairy stuff was,
then he had to buy one.

Wow -- is that even English?

I don't know who you are, "F-Guy", but I calls 'em as I see 'em. I've
owned and flown behind half a dozen GPS's, from Magellans to Lowrances, from
AvMaps to Garmins -- and I'm here to tell you that the 496 is an incredibly
over-priced piece of crap, with ONE major, unequivocally outstanding
feature -- seamless, built-in XM satellite weather.

Were it not for XM capability, the 496 would be an almost laughably bad GPS.
It would also no longer be made, as no one would have bought it. Sadly,
because there is no other logical alternative, I won't fly without it on
board -- but the moment AvMap or Lowrance matches Garmin's XM capability,
the 496 will be on Ebay.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
Ercoupe N94856
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:EFFsk.258766$TT4.124426@attbi_s22...
Note to newbies: Honeck dogged Garmin until he realized the 496 beat the
crap out of anything else that would tell him where the hairy stuff was,
then he had to buy one.

Wow -- is that even English?

I don't know who you are, "F-Guy", but I calls 'em as I see 'em. I've
owned and flown behind half a dozen GPS's, from Magellans to Lowrances,
from AvMaps to Garmins -- and I'm here to tell you that the 496 is an
incredibly over-priced piece of crap, with ONE major, unequivocally
outstanding feature -- seamless, built-in XM satellite weather.

Were it not for XM capability, the 496 would be an almost laughably bad
GPS. It would also no longer be made, as no one would have bought it.
Sadly, because there is no other logical alternative, I won't fly without
it on board -- but the moment AvMap or Lowrance matches Garmin's XM
capability, the 496 will be on Ebay.

Whoever he is, he described you pretty accurately. Garmin has a superior
GPS you any of the others you mentioned, and yes I've used or owned all the
ones you mentioned and numerous panel mounts like the Kings and Apollos.
That's why Garmin outsells all the rest put together even before the 396 was
introduced and exponentially so afterward. If any of the rest were worth
having, they would have had a XM interface years ago. So you are certainly
entitled to your opinion, but it's clearly in the minority.

"Jay Honeck" wrote:
I don't know who you are, "F-Guy", but I calls 'em as I see 'em. I've
owned and flown behind half a dozen GPS's, from Magellans to Lowrances, from
AvMaps to Garmins -- and I'm here to tell you that the 496 is an incredibly
over-priced piece of crap, with ONE major, unequivocally outstanding
feature -- seamless, built-in XM satellite weather.

Were it not for XM capability, the 496 would be an almost laughably bad GPS.
It would also no longer be made, as no one would have bought it. Sadly,
because there is no other logical alternative, I won't fly without it on
board -- but the moment AvMap or Lowrance matches Garmin's XM capability,
the 496 will be on Ebay.

I've had a Garmin for 3 years that I still adore. It hasn't fallen short
in any area, AFAIC. But I'm curious, Jay, since you've used them all ...
what specifically do the others have that's so much better than the
Garmin?

I've had a Garmin for 3 years that I still adore. It hasn't fallen short
in any area, AFAIC. But I'm curious, Jay, since you've used them all ...
what specifically do the others have that's so much better than the
Garmin?

I've posted this here before, but for the record:

1. Screen Size.
As with so many things, screen size really, REALLY matters in a GPS. Garmin
falls far short in this regard. If you've ever flown with a Lowrance 2000c,
or an AvMap, the Garmin 396/496 is almost unusable.

2. Processing speed.
Because the screen on the 496 is so damned small, you can't see any details
(like obstructions, antennas, etc.) unless you are zoomed in. Of course, if
you are zoomed way in, checking the METAR at the next airport ahead means
that you have to scroll your cursor off the top of the screen (following the
course line) in order to run your cursor across that little METAR symbol.
(Which, in the 496, is how you access airport weather at each reporting
station.)

In the 496 (which supposedly has a far faster processor than the 396) this
is an exercise in extreme frustration. You scroll your cursor off the edge
of the screen, toward your target airport, and the screen will go completely
blank. Then, you wait.

Count to four, sloooowly. The screen redraws, and maybe -- MAYBE -- your
cursor is somewhere near where you left off. However, if you left your
finger on the scroll button when it went blank, God only knows where your
screen will redraw, cuz the unit keeps scrolling even though the screen has
gone blank.

So, you quickly develop the habit of stopping zooming when the screen goes
blank. Of course, if you're zoomed in -- and you're next weather reporting
station is, say, fifty miles ahead -- you may have to go through this
ridiculous exercise half a dozen (or more) times. That doesn't sound like
much, but if you're in marginal VFR, or flying toward deteriorating
weather, waiting 20 seconds (or more) to access the weather ahead is
unacceptable. Especially if you want to know, say, the results from the
closest five AWOS's ahead.

So why not just zoom out before scrolling, you ask? Seems logical -- except
that you're back to fighting the limitations of that ridiculously small
screen. When you zoom out, the screen (by necessity) must "declutter"
itself, or it would be a solid mish-mash of airports. Thus, after you zoom
out, the airport you were looking for just DISAPPEARS! You're left
guessing approximately where that airport was on the now zoomed-out screen
(so that you can hopefully zoom back IN to try to find it), which -- if
you're in unfamiliar territory -- is not easy. It's a total cluster-**** of
a set up, and Garmin can ONLY cure this by making the screen the size of,
oh, I don't know -- how about that same as ALL THE OTHER GPS's ON THE
MARKET?

Of course, if you don't fly cross country flights, this limitation won't
matter to you. Of course, that begs the question: If you don't fly cross
country flights, why would you need to spend 3 AMUs to get on-board weather?

3. Screen Orientation
Any aviation GPS needs to be oriented "portrait", to show what's coming.
The 496 (descended from automobile GPS's) can only be displayed in
"landscape" mode. Thus, you've got a GREAT view of what's going past you on
the sides, and a limited view of what's actually ahead. Dumb.

It's a really bad compromise, and -- unless you've flown behind a true
aviation GPS like the 2000c or the AvMap (which can be displayed in either
mode) -- you can't begin to appreciate how dumb the 496's layout is.

Don't get me wrong -- the 496 has many good features. Obviously they are
the only show in town for integrated weather, and having that on board is
worth every level of frustration I've outlined -- for now. I wouldn't have
shelled out the $$ if I didn't believe it to be the best portable weather
display on the market -- which surely isn't saying much, but there you have
it.

Other nice features:
The built-in AOPA directory is incredibly handy. We travel a lot, and use
it for everything from finding hotels to restaurants. The built-in airport
diagrams makes taxiing at strange (larger) airports a breeze, although that
damned little screen makes it a continual "zoom in/zoom out" exercise.

The automobile functionality is where the 496 really shines. The unit is
obviously a very well thought-out automotive GPS first and foremost, and it
works best in your car. The landscape screen is fine for driving maps, and
the voice (we call her "Bitchin' Betty") that tells you exactly where to
turn really takes the stress out of driving around strange cities.

XM music is really, really nice to have. We already had a CD player, but XM
gives you a nearly infinite number of music choices, all piped through the
stereo intercom. (Which, when played through the new Lightspeed Zulus, is
truly amazing. Audiophile quality, really.)

So it's really a mixed bag, but the bottom line is this: The 496 design is
an excellent automotive GPS that was forced into service as an aviation GPS.
They then gobbed integrated weather onto a less-than-optimal design, which
means that in order to make the unit work as designed you have to do a LOT
of button mashing. The processor simply can't keep up with the demands of
overlaying/displaying all that information while scrolling, so overall
usability suffers.

This is the main reason we panel docked it on the CO-pilots side of the
plane. Over there, the co-pilot can go through the "zoom in/zoom out"
cha-cha, check the weather ahead, set up the XM music, and generally screw
around with the unit. Meanwhile, the pilot navigates by using the
yoke-mounted Lowrance 2000c, which is a superior aviation GPS in every
regard.

BTW, the Lowrance cost less than 25% of what we paid for the 496. If you
don't want/need weather on board, I can't recommend this unit enough.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
Ercoupe N94856
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"