Garmin GpsMap 396 - Flight Test #4

Does the Avmap have a USB input?

No. (The new EKP-IV might, though?)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In article .com,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:

Does the Avmap have a USB input?

No. (The new EKP-IV might, though?)

The LS800 (VistaNav) does.

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

Garmin's screen size is adequate for the job. You can get all the info
you need off of that screen. Sure a larger screen would be better, but
what other product has the real time nexrad radar? Answer, NONE. And
TONS of pilots use these small screens to navigate all over the world
with very few problems. If anyone comes out with a larger screen GPS at
Oshkosh, I would think it would be Garmin. Of course you CAN get larger
screen, get a 530!!

Jay Honeck wrote:
Go see one at the nearest dealer. Take your 2000 with you. You may be
surprised at what is accomplished on the smaller screen.

I was lucky enough to borrow a friend's 396 for four hours. Although
I didn't get to fly with it, I *did* get to play extensively, and was
able to watch the weather (VERY cool) develop "live". I was also able
to compare the screen to my current GPSs.

(As you may recall, we've got the awesome AvMap EKP-III on the pilot's
yoke, and the very nice Airmap 2000c on the co-pilot's yoke. This
set-up gives us unparallelled situational awareness -- but no weather.)

The 396 falls between these two units in readability and resolution.
The AvMap simply can't be beat, with its 7-inch screen and extremely
sharp resolution. The Lowrance product is very good, but is not nearly
as sharp as the Garmin or the AvMap.

However, size really DOES matter in GPS. The ability to view your
entire route, clearly, without losing too much detail, only comes with
screen size -- and both the AvMap and the Airmap beat the Garmin hand's
down in this department.

We would have a VERY hard time going back to a screen the size of the
396 (even with my new progressive-lens glasses), but it might be worth
a step backwards in that department to achieve the undeniable safety of
having on-board weather "radar".

AvMap remains a "fringe" player in the market, despite having a
fantastic product -- so I understand their inability to spend the $$$
on acquiring weather capability. However, I am completely puzzled by
Lowrance's inaction with regards to weather depiction. With their
commanding hold on the boating market, you would *think* that they
would have a HUGE potential market for weather depiction?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Intersting several threads. I'm suprised no one has mentioned VistaNav.
Don't have it I use Pocket FMS on an iPAQ, but vistnav seems the way of the
future. Sure it is a little expensive, but you get generational
improvements - Wx, Approach plates, synthetic vision, runway diags etc etc.
And on a Motion LS800 (or any other tablet PC - screensize - if you want 15"
you got 15" - the motion is 8" IIRC). Plus extensible and (somewhat)
expandable.

A Garmin 396 to my mind is essentially old technology with a few
improvements as add ons - better screen resolution, Wx and so on. It is a
GPS, and probably a good one, but 2D just another mousetrap. The vistanav
system, IMHO, really differentiates from the crowd.... If I were looking to
expend some reasonably serious bucks, this would be my first port of call.
New system - no problem, just upgrade the software AND you don't have to
upload anything from your PC - it IS your PC (LS 800 with bluetooth keyboard
other tablets with builtin keyboards etc etc).

Jusrt a thought and, as always, YMMV.

Cheers,
Kevin


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
Does the Avmap have a USB input?

No. (The new EKP-IV might, though?)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

I have had my 396 since last September. I have used it to make far
more informed decisions in the cockpit than I could have made
otherwise. What you see on the screen is what you'll see outside
regarding buildups and precip. Armed with this I have been able to
navigate around buildups and pick my way through weather that I would
not have done otherwise. That alone has saved me flight time that
would have been spent performing lengthy diversions.

Informing FSS on accurate info is helpful when giving a pilot report.

The combination of the 396 with XM, and a stormscope provides me with a
lot of information. Last month I arrived at an airport in stormy
weather. I had been watching it for the duration of the flight and was
planning to use an alternate but the weather appeared to be breaking
up. There was a narow but clear corridor along one of the VOR
approaches to the field. I shot the approach and landed in light
precip and good visibility.

Bob

"Jonathan Goodish" wrote in message
...
In article . net,
Mike Spera wrote:
You can add XM Radio for $6.99/mo. + a one time $14.99 activation fee. I
already hook in my iPod to my intercom so I am not interested in the
radio portion.


BTW, when I called XM to activate the audio content, I was told that
there was no activation fee because the 396 uses the same radio ID for
both datalink and audio--in other words, you aren't activating another
radio, you're simply starting the audio subscription to a radio that's
already activated.



JKG


FWIW, I have to different XM radios in cars and it has been trivial to get
them to waive activation fees.

Dan Luke wrote:
"Mike Spera" wrote:
I am definitely keeping this thing!

By now, you have probably reached the "How did I ever live without this
thing?" stage.

I can't imagine that I ever thought it was reasonable to do a blind, airport
to airport hop-skotch from Mobile to Houston in a state of high anxiety over
thunderstorms the whole way. Talk about the bad old days!

You said it right there. I can't imagine making the mid-day journey
from South FL to NC without it. Or flying along the gulf coast near NO.
High anxiety indeed.

On 9-Jul-2006, Mike Spera wrote:

In IMC, there is no way I can even see the red blob in my path to even ask
for a heading change. If
ATC is not busy, they may tell me, maybe not.


Most of my flying is in the Pacific Northwest where thunderstorms are rare.
(Icing is far and away the biggest weather limitation to IFR flight.) But
on a flight over the Continental Divide in Montana last summer, while in
IMC, the controller advised me of a new and urgent SIGMET for an area of
scattered, embedded thunderstorms that had popped up, unforcasted, right
along my flight path. He then did a masterful job of vectoring me through
them. I hit some rain, but no real turbulence. Still, it would have been a
lot less nerve wracking if I had been able to see where I was going in
relation to the storms. Also, if this had been in busy airspace I doubt
that the controller would have had time to do this vectoring for more than a
couple of planes at most.

Whether by vectors or in-cockpit display, Nexrad can't be used for picking
your way though a line of weather, but it will work for steering safely
between and around scattered storms.

If I flew frequently in thunderstorm country I would have already bought a
396 (or some other Nexrad display system). As it is, it's high on my wish
list.

-Elliott Drucker

FPS396 Precip Colors

Do the precip colors displayed on the GPS396 correspond to FSS Level 1-6?

How do you know how heavy the precip within a given color band is?

What decision making criteria do you use to determine if you will fly
within a given color band?

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ps.com...
Go see one at the nearest dealer. Take your 2000 with you. You may be
surprised at what is accomplished on the smaller screen.

I was lucky enough to borrow a friend's 396 for four hours. Although
I didn't get to fly with it, I *did* get to play extensively, and was
able to watch the weather (VERY cool) develop "live". I was also able
to compare the screen to my current GPSs.

snip

a step backwards in that department to achieve the undeniable safety of
having on-board weather "radar".


Jay, after the tornado, you should have one of these in your convertable.

Al G