From Garmin 296 to 496

Cherokee via AviationKB.com wrote:

I am Instrument pilot that does very little IFR due to having only the 296.
In our area, during this season you have to be very careful at night, so easy
to get into weather quickley.( even in the day )
I would enjoy the XM radio also.
I have been unable to pull up subscription price page thus far. I want to
make sure this is the most popular unit you guys are using. Just installed
new KT-76C or would consider the Garmin mode S trans. Traffic is no big
threat while in a PA-28-180.
Anyone have a web site I can look at prices for XM subscriptions.

I fly in the Northeast so while not to the extremes of other areas, we
pretty much have it all (fog, mountains, icing, snow, rain, and the
occasional hurricane). I believe I would fly more as well in my PA-28
(albeit a -161).

What helped me justify my purchase is the fact that only a handful of
years ago (5+ let's say) it would have cost over $25K to get similar
capability. Even then, the weather was limited (radar, while real-time,
was limited by attenuation).

John posted the prices but here's the link for more detail:
http://www.xmradio.com/weather/av_service_pricing.xmc

They have a "seasonal" package where you can suspend your subscription
but out of five different people I talked to, I got six (yes, six!)
different stories on how it worked. One girl gave me two different ways
in the same call so use caution if you want this deal.

Marco