New device from Garmin when?

This is just idle speculation. Unless someone knows something...

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Yah, that's the marine GPS, the 176C.

Funny thing is, you can get it for about $600:
Click for Bizrate listings of the 176C.

No doubt by the time they get it loaded with aviation oriented software, and sell it to us, it will retail for $1499. Eventually you'll probably be able to get it for more like $1200, but not right away.

Notice that the 295 is out of stock in many shops? Bet something is coming, but not until the spring shows.

-->Aaron

Color 196

I finally gave up waiting and got the 196. It's biggest attribute is the speed of its processor when scrolling across the map. It actually keeps up and doesn't go into a "wait" mode while it re-draws the map. I wonder if being a color unit will slow it down with amount of information it will have to process being color as well? Crash

I decided to not wait as well, so I sold my 295, and have a 196 coming. If I decide later I really have to have color, it probably won't be until the price softens on a new machine, which I would guess won't be for several months after the 295 successor comes out, probably not until about a year from now.

The 196 I think will be an improved experience over the 295, mainly due to features and speed (as others have noted). The 196 will probably be really cheap a couple of months after the supply lines have a good stock of the 295 color successor. Especially on ebay, which is where I may end up selling my 196, if I decide I want color again.

My guess is that color will slow the machine down a bit, but not necessarily a lot. The 12 grey levels of the 196 takes 4 bits per pixel (not sure what the other 4 values are used for, maybe some kind of map encoding or maybe just leftovers). 256 colors (a guess) takes 8. Thats more data to move, but not a whole lot more. We may not even see 256 colors; the 176C marine GPS (which sure does look a lot like a 196) uses only 16 colors. 16 colors could be enough (if they are the right colors), but would be a bit disappointing.

Power consumption is likely to be higher, but with aux power (as in my airplane), I don't see that as a big drawback.

-->Aaron

Is the 196 a lot better than the 295? I would be most interested in the moving map feature......for you guys that have used both, which has the better mapping features?

I haven't got my 196 yet, so I'll have to rely on the opinion of others. But, in general, I've noticed the slow screen update on the 295 when scrolling (like to move the pointer to that class B ahead to see what the limits are).

Speed is more interesting to me than color, at this point (others feel differently).

I'm going backwards. I have planned to flush mount a 196 in my 12's panel. The more I think about it, the more I think I'll just put a cheap (and small) Garmin 92 in instead. I've used a 90 since they first came out, and have never missed having any of the features the newer units have. I mostly want a groundspeed indicator, and the time to destination is handy. If the weather's crappy, I like the "go that way, dummy" pointer. I can't imagine using the pseudo aircraft panel display, and when I need a color map, I look out the window. If I can't see out the window, the pointer is the only function I look at, otherwise, I'm looking at my real flight instruments.

As for what's next in GPS, look at the "I Que", Garmin's PDA/GPS combo. If they'd load the aviation database into it, they'd never need a 196 color version.
http://www.garmin.com/products/iQue3600/
SB

I use the 90/92 now for a backup. You can put in in your shirt pocket and the antenna works fine. It actually has more features and user friendly than the GN 250XL I put in the panel. The feature I would use most, other than the "go that way stupid", is the SUA depictions on the map.

I wonder why these folks:
http://www.anywheremap.com

Don't show off thier product with the Garmin PDA, rather than the HP. Seems like they could do this:


On the Garmin nicely...

I like the form factor of the 196, and I like dedicated hardware. A PDA would be just too damn distracting. I'd want to play Tetris on it.

-->Aaron

A friend has an anywheremap and he said it was easy to use on the ground, but in the airplane, and in rough air not good. He said he would take a GPS anytime.

Tim

I flew with a student of mine who had anywhere map with the weather stuff and the whole kitten-kaboodle. It was not killer rough, but he had it yoke mounted and it worked real slick. the "cones" of safety are pretty cool since we were flying at night and it would tell you if you would be able to glide to an airport. With my history of fuel exhaustion, this is a good feature..

I did not like all the wiring and what not, and really like my 196, but I was impressed with the anywhere gadget - espeically the weather which he said has already saved his bunny.

sj

The only gps i've ever used is the 295 and if there is anything better
i wouldn't believe it . I think it's incredible. But i'm not an expert by any means.

Larry

Larry,

Better is in the eye of the beholder. The 295 is a good unit. The 196 improves upon the features SUBSTANTIALLY (in my opinion) BUT it takes away color (thereby extending battery life) and some folks don't like it for that. A "296" would be the cat's meow...

Did you install your cigarette lighter specifically for the 295, or did you already have one?

sj

Cubdrvr, this may help you decide.

I?ve had the 196 for less then a month and only have about 10hrs on it, so it?s not like I?m a pro at it yet. I got the Topo USA, Metro USA, USB card reader, and 128mb memory card as add-ons. I put the whole thing together thru eBay for about $1200.00.

Down side first.
At least for me, I have to carry my reading glasses so that I can see the map. The map is just a tad bit small for me (but what isn?t in my life? Color would help). I can see all the blocks of info just fine, but if you ask me what the name of that mountain top is? out come the glasses. You can pick a setting to make the names larger, but then the screen gets too cluttered with text.

When you have the Topo info loaded and you fly into a controlled airspace (SUA) and then put the pointer on a mountain top (or other point of interest), all you get is a message that says ?Class C? (or what ever type of airspace it is). This annoys me to no end. It?s probably something that I?m doing wrong, but that doesn?t stop it from annoying me! The airspace has priority and ?paints? over the top of the other names.:evil:

You can?t load Topo maps and Metro maps on the same flash card (memory card). If you want to fly somewhere, and then use your 196 in a rental car to drive around town (so that you?ll have street maps), you?ll have to take two separate flash cards. See statement above.

It too, eats batteries. I don?t have a 295 so I can?t say how much better or worse it is, but I?m sure that I?ll be happier when I get some NIMH batteries.

The drivers for the Garmin USB reader/writer are a total pain in the ass to use with windows XP. They work, but you have to work at it. Garmin has an update for the drivers but every time you put a map disk in your puter, the disk automatically loads the old drivers on your machine and you have to reload the new drivers in order to plant the maps on the flash card.:evil:

OK that?s my complaints.

On the plus side.
I have a panel mounted Garmin 150 as a backup. It?s STCed, TSOed, FAA-PMAed, BFDed and such. The updates for it are $200.00+ ?each? (updates come out every 28 days) Can you guess how old my newest update is? That SOB is so complicated to operate that all that I can really use on it is the ?direct to? button. You would have to take a collage semester course to learn how to work it. It?s worse then trying to set the clock on a VCR. The 196 on the other hand, is pretty darn simple to use, and I mean use all of its features. The menus are pretty logical and they just make sense (after some practice).

Damn this thing is fast, and accurate. The altitude is spot on and in fact, I?ve been using it to set my altimeter and have yet to be disappointed. The VSI is better than my panel instrument. I use its DG to set mine. I?ve never had to wait for the moving map to paint a screen. The HSI is fun to play with and it even has a vertical bar (cool, I feel like a Lear driver). I?ve read that if you have an EI fuel gauge (has to be the type ?L? I think), it will plug into it and give you all sorts of fuel info. The free ?flight log? software is a real bonus when it comes time for the log books. I could go on and on about how much better it is then my mega buck panel mount!.

As to the artificial panel, would I use it in a pinch?...well?I wouldn?t just sit there and ignore it! This thing is damn accurate AND fast.

My 295 is hard wired ,don't worry about batteries,and i wear sunglasses with readers in them. because the older i get the smaller they seam to make the words.
larry

Hi,
Do you think Garmin will put ELT 409 capabilities into a 196C or similar
model.
Dave