hello all!!!
i have a cessna 172 that i take on some pretty long trips.
I am looking to buy a nice GPS, i currently have a pretty out dated Bendix King..
i am looking at the 496, it seems like a good deal, but is quite a bit more expencive than the 396. can anyone justify to me the reason the 496 is almost $1000 more than the 396?
thanks!
Brian
My understanding is that the 496 has a faster processor than the 396, so it renders screen updates much faster. It also has a higher resolution display, so terrain and weather contours are much more detailed. It also comes with a street maps database and the AOPA facilities directory.
There are a couple of ways to get a deal with Garmin. One is to buy a used unit either from a private person or from a dealer. Contact a dealer and they may have a trade in. Also I found that you can get better prices for units in Canada than the US.
I found it funny that all the dealers in Oshkosh sold for exactly the same amount price. After visiting the 3rd booth I asked the dealer if Garmin told them what to charge. The dealer sheepishly admitted that was the case. My understanding in Canada it is illegal for a manufacturer to tell a dealer what to charge. I was able to get a better price in Canada than the deal that was offered for a 396 at the show. You had to find the right dealer though. At least the Canandian dealers had the latitude to set their own pricing.
You might even want to give the 196 serious consideration. It will get you from "Point A" to "Point B" on a VFR cross country flight just as well as the more expensive color screen 296 thru 496 models will.
The monochrome screen 196 may not be as sexy or have as fast a CPU or as much memory as the others, but it is a very capable aviation portable GPS unit, and is much cheaper.
I picked up a used 196, along with a bag full of accessories including a RAM yoke mount and a beanbag mount that sits nicely on top of the plane's glare shield, from one of the avionics vendor booths at Oshkosh for only $495 this summer. They even threw in a fresh database upgrade.
One feature I really like about the older 196, is that the 196 uses four standard "AA" penlight batteries, instead of that proprietary rechargeable lithium battery and special battery charger the 296/396/496 models use.
Brian,
I have a 396 in my C150 and I cannot imagine what else I would ever need. This thing does almost everything but fly the plane and has a wealth of information stored in it. I can't imagine upgrading to the 496 for that price.
In addition to the differences already mentioned, the simulated panel refreshes 5 times per second in the 496 versus once per second in the 396. That makes the simulated panel much more useful in the event of a partial instrument failure. Another feature is the SafeTaxi in which taxi diagrams for most larger US airports are included in the database. The automobile maps are also included in the 496 whereas they're an option for the 396.
Both have the ability to display XM weather in addition to TIS traffic and are compatible with the Zaon XRX.
New for Garmin is the 495 which is identical to the 496 with the exception of having no XM and no automotive maps. It's actually selling for less than the 396 at just $1595.
