It's Official, the GPSMAP 496

In article .com,
"Marco Leon" wrote:

Jay Honeck wrote:

$600 more -- and it's still got that same dinky screen?

I don't think Garmin will ever come out with a portable that has a
bigger screen than your AvMap so you'll be perpetually satisfied

To me the biggest 486 improvements over the 396 are the "integrated"
GXM antenna (as in no cables), AOPA directory and the taxiways.
Probably worth $600 to many pilots--especially the ones who are used to
dealing in the AMU scale. "Hey, it's only a fraction of single AMU!"


The 496 does not have an integrated XM antenna. Personally, I wouldn't
want it to, as reception would be terrible when yoke-mounted.

With Garmin 396s for sale at around $2000, the $600 is really $800 right
now, which is pretty darn close to a 1 AMU difference in price.

Those of us who purchased the 396 with the free auto kit (and use it for
auto navigation) actually still have a pretty good deal with the 396.
With the 496, it looks like Garmin includes the auto kit, plus
pre-loaded City Select data for the entire country, which would cost a
few hundred dollars if you purchased those capabilities for the 396.



JKG

Uh..what is AMU?

In article ,
Bob Fry wrote:

Uh..what is AMU?

It's a lot of things. What's the context?

Bob Fry wrote:
Uh..what is AMU?

If your context is its use in the aviation newsgroups, I believe the
following definition applies:

http://www.mooneyevents.com/acronyms.html

"AMU: aviation monetary unit = $1,000 U.S. Useage: "That alternator
replacement cost me 1.5 AMUs," though it would have cost $300 for a car and
$600 for a boat. (Thanks to Kelly Vinton.)"

Prior to encountering it here, I would have answered "atomic mass unit."

See http://pad39a.com/gene/amu.html


Bob Fry wrote:
Uh..what is AMU?

Jay and others,

Again, maybe I'm missiong something here, but we are in the cost realm of
VustaNav. No I don't have it and probably cannot afford it, but we are
talking Motion LS 800 sun readable tablet PC (or any other tablet PC to 16"
screen) with weather, synthetic vision etc etc. This seems generationally
better than the Garmin offerings and in the same price ball park.
According to the website this is what you get:
a.. WAAS GPS
b.. Solid State Gyros
c.. Barometric Pressure
d.. Sensor
e.. Battery Backup
Inertial Navigation Unit
a.. Wireless Interface Among All Components
b.. 3D HITS Navigation w/ precision approaches
c.. 2D Moving Map
d.. XM Weather
e.. IFR Approach Plates
f.. Airport Diagrams
g.. Exclusive 'Radar Vectors' Feature*
h.. Training Simulator
Unlike the 396/496 upgrade, I can see a huge amount of difference in
an'upgrade' to the vistnave system, assuming:

a. it works
b. it's supported
c. it's stable

I note that in a recent aviation magazine, there was several A3 pages on
synthetic vision systems, typical airliner price US$120,000 and up.

Again, I have no connection with the company, but if I were in the $3K-$4K
market there is a clear winner here and it doesn't begin with'G' (or 'A' for
that matter Jay).

YMMV,
Kevin

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ups.com...
http://www.aero-news.net
just in time for Oshkosh.

$600 more -- and it's still got that same dinky screen?

Too bad.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote:

just in time for Oshkosh.

$600 more -- and it's still got that same dinky screen?

Too bad.

The good news--for anyone who's been sitting on the fence--is that used,
like-new 396s will now be available at a considerable saving over the price
of a new unit.

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message ups.com...
: http://www.aero-news.net
: just in time for Oshkosh.
:
: $600 more -- and it's still got that same dinky screen?
:
: Too bad.
: --
: Jay Honeck
: Iowa City, IA
: Pathfinder N56993
: www.AlexisParkInn.com
: "Your Aviation Destination"
:

You know, a small dinky screen, right up against my eye, would give me plenty of data to work with. Think Apache...

:
: $600 more -- and it's still got that same dinky screen?

The screen is plenty big enough. If it was any bigger it wouldnt fit
properly on the yoke.

In article ,
"Aluckyguess" wrote:

:
: $600 more -- and it's still got that same dinky screen?

The screen is plenty big enough. If it was any bigger it wouldnt fit
properly on the yoke.

They could probably make the screen taller, so that it's more square,
and that would at least be some improvement. A portrait (vertical)
orientation is better, but the last thing I want is a monstrosity on the
yoke (Lowrance 2000c, TabletPC, even the old GPSMAP 195.)



JKG