Amateur Review of the Garmin GPSMAP 296 GPS

Amateur Review of the Garmin GPSMAP 296 GPS

I've been using the GPSMAP 296 for about a week now, and since there's really not that much
detailed info available about it (even on the Garmin site), I figured it might help some
people to get a little idea of how it works. Maybe other owners can expand upon this and
fill in the gaps and correct my errors. I threw this together pretty fast, so take it with
a grain of salt…

[Disclaimer: I don't claim to know what I'm talking about; these are just my first
impressions from the unit. I could be wrong about any opinion expressed here, and probably
am. I just wanted to give some info to try to help out others thinking about buying the
thing. You mileage may vary. Also I'm posting the GPS groups as well as the aviation
group, since the automotive and marine features should ideally make this a universal unit]

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OK, my GPSMAP 296 is replacing the 295, which replaced the III+, which replaced the 45. I
also have played with the 196 in the air. So this is the frame of reference here. Since
these units aren't automotive-only, most of my auto-GPS experience comes from the commercial
PC programs on a laptop. Although the 296 is intended for use in the air, I'm intentionally
reviewing the automotive features, since I feel this should be a part of a box that costs
$1800.

GENERAL FEATURES:

The GPSMAP 296 is small, and as such the screen seems a little small too. But it has a very
decent resolution, and the shading capability of the 256 color display make it very
readable. The screen is very bright and readable, and the CPU is fast enough to provide
pretty fast updating, much faster than the 295, and probably something on par with the 196.
This makes scrolling around the maps relatively fast, and is a big improvement over the 295.

The GPS receiver itself is very good, and a definite improvement over the 295, which was on
par with other parallel 12 channels I've seen, like the III+. I'm not sure what they're
doing differently, but acquisition seems much faster, at least when "warm."

Power is provided via a lithium ion battery pack, which is recharged through the unit. I'm
not sure what the real lifetime is, since I haven't had to charge it yet. But it seems that
it will be an improvement over the 295 screen (i.e. StreetPilot Color), which could really
cut through some AA's. I haven't seen an option for normal battery operation, which could
be a downside.

Menu navigation is ok, and if you're used to older Garmin units you'll be able to get
around, although you'll notice some changes. There are a whole lot of nice things hidden in
there, which I'll mention more of later.

The manual is typical of that from the 295, with ok description of the aviation features,
and basically nothing about the automotive and marine features. Yes I know that there are
physically pages in the manual covering these features, but how much information is really
there? There are lots of questions I still have, after reading the thing cover-to-cover.
Like the 295 I'm sure I'll have to figure stuff out by trail and error.

The 296 package comes with all sorts of stuff you can read about on the Garmin page,
including mounts for the yolk and dash, power/data/charging cables, and remote antenna.
It's basically the same nice complete package as the 295, although it specifically does not
try to provide a "car kit" (save for the dash mount), which eliminates some features (see
below).

The unit takes the same datacards as the 295 (and StreetPilot?), and seems to work fine with
lots of Garmin data, even with my super-old Topo dataset that I bought with the III+.

AVIATION FEATURES:

Like the 196? Then you'll like the 296. Except this has color to help unclutter things
(not that the 196 was bad), and has terrain avoidance. Sorry if that doesn't sound like
much information, but I in a way I think this says a lot!

Terrain and "virtual instrument" pages the biggest differences the 295, along with the
general ease of use that comes from a faster processor, in tasks such as using the map or
programming routes. Actually, this is a big improvement when trying to use it in the air,
since some tasks such as editing a route were just too difficult to do while flying (in my
opinion) due to the time it would take to scroll the map or text identifiers.

It is still very much a VFR unit, with approaches basically only containing the FAF and MAP.
But it has all the fixes you need to throw together your approach. And besides, you're only
supposed to be using this as non-navigational supplement to situational awareness.

I'm still a little foggy about the terrain page. There is a dedicated terrain page, which I
understand, but the manual talks about a pop-up page that will come up on all other pages
(eg the panel or map) when in danger. But the manual doesn't explain how this happens, or
what setup parameters there are to make it happen. I haven't paid attention at low enough
altitudes to see if it happens or not. Still, I'm sure that this could be a really great
aid for situational awareness, especially when some controller is pushing you around in
areas and altitudes you're not comfortable with.

One missing detail from the new terrain information is information about glide capability in
an engine-out situation. There are some software-only GPS solutions that have a "cones of
safety" feature, graphically showing you which airports are within safe gliding distance at
any given time. This is a great feature, although I've only played with it a little. While
the Garmin has all of the information inside of it to make such a rough calculation, it is
not provided. And yes, I know that you should be able to make this type of calculation
yourself, but in the heat of the moment during an true engine-out in a single, the more
information you can have at your fingertips the better!

AUTOMOTIVE FEATURES:

[I'll apologize in advance about any errors in this section. The manual isn't all that
clear about some things, and maybe I'm a little ignorant about what to expect from turn-by-
turn routing with what I have, so maybe my complaints are just B.S.]

The big improvement over the 295 for automotive use is the turn-by-turn routing. Although
it was basically the same package as the StreetPilot Color, in typical Garmin fashion they
chose to "differentiate the products" by hobbling the 295 so it would only let you look up
addresses, which you could only "go to" directly, as the crow flies. Now the 296 has
corrected this by trying to route you along streets, with directions given at each turn.

But with the basic unit these directions will be text only, since the unit DOES NOT HAVE
VOICE PROMPTS without the addition of optional equipment. Expect the same Garmin beep
you've been hearing. The manual doesn't explain what these voice prompts say, and when
you'll hear them, other than to tell you how to change the language. So I have no idea
whether they work at all, or in what modes, with the optional car speaker.

One big problem I've had with the routing so far is the routing detail. I'd love to hear
what other owners have to say about this, because maybe I'm just stupid and doing something
wrong. Don't know. I'm using an older version of MapSource MetroGuide US (can't find the
box or instructions for the past week, so I don't know the version off-hand) that I bought
with my 295, so I've never had a chance to play with the turn-by-turn routing. The streets
themselves are fairly accurate in location detail. On the Mapsource PC software, routing
works great, with nice tracks swooping around clover-leafs - generally the route follows the
road. Not so on the 296. The routes the unit comes up with generally go from turn to turn
in mostly straight lines, mostly missing the (detailed Mapsource data) road entirely when
it's winding. I'm not sure if this is intentional, or just my screw-up, but it makes using
it for driving difficult, because the road you should be on is not highlighted (like I'm
used to from PC programs), but instead there's a line offroad somewhere telling you the
general direction you want to go. Since details like offramps are missed in this crude
routing, important turning points can be missed (which has already been really annoying when
traveling in unfamiliar territory).

Anyway, I'm hoping that this is a screw-up on my part or Garmin's, since this really limits
the functionality of the unit for automotive use. I'm certainly hoping this isn't another
attempt by Garmin for product differentiation. I know that there are newer versions of
MapSource than I own, but I will not buy something newer unless I know it would solve this
problem.

With other screens, the automotive functions are pretty much bare-bones. The "3-D" Highway
Page, which has been around on the Garmin's forever, could have been really useful. But it
only contains the jagged route I described above, with no cross-streets or other helpful
information, as is available on some auto-only GPSs. With this much CPU power, this is a
real shame. Garmin even hides this screen away now - you have to manually activate it from
a setup menu.

MARINE AND OTHER STUFF:

I'm not much of a sailor, so I can't comment well on these things, but this Garmin offers
everything that was on the older basic marine units with new features such as a tide
calculator and a "best times for fishing or hunting" calculator. The tide/moon calculator
is fun, even for land-lovers, and pretty complete, with lots of tide stations. Like most
non-aviation features, the manual doesn't really explain how it figures out the best times
to fish and hunt, but apparently it's smart enough it know.

There seems to be some sort of connectivity for marine sonar, but I kind of glanced over
this, so you'll have to read whatever the manual bothers to tell you for yourself.

OVERALL CONCLUSION:

The 296 isn't perfect, but it's pretty darned good, and does pretty much what you're
expecting from an aviation unit. Save for going with some of the "Pocket PC" software GPS
solutions, I'm not sure your going to get much better in a VFR GPS.

While I'm disappointed so far in the automotive functionality, I'll freely admit that this
could be due to the fact that I'm an idiot. And I'll certainly have to admit that it's
better than the intentionally dumbed-down 295.

Overall I'm happy that I bought it, save for the $1800 it cost. I hope this provided at
least some information for prospective buyers. Maybe my comments (and errors) will spark
more detailed responses from other owners. And I'm sure that in coming months the flying
magazines will have their own infomercial style write-ups.



[PS: I'd like to take the time to thank all of the contributors to alt.satellite.gps and
sci.geo.satellite-nav for contributing to my knowledge over the years. Although I haven't
had time to keep up with it in recent years, they've been a great resource!]