Garmin 296?
If you have never flown with GPS before, you are in for a treat. I first used a Magellan, which was simple compared to today?s units, but even that unit revolutioned flying for me. You spend a lot less time navigating on cross-countries and more time enjoying flying. That said, even with GPS, you should always have the appropriate chart, plan your flight beforehand, and know where you are on the chart at all times. I HAVE had GPS fail in flight a couple of times; it can happen. Always have a backup.
Most of my experience has been with the Garmin 295. It is wonderful. Generally speaking, the interface is good. You can navigate to the required functionality quickly, once you get the hang of it. The features I like the best and use the most are:
- Nearest Airports (this safety feature would justify a GPS alone)
- Favorites (you can save places you go to frequently, then you can quickly call them up and get steering to them)
- The color map, showing rivers, roads, Class B boundaries (very useful flying in vicinity of the Baltimore/Wash D.C. area like I do), etc.
- The airport database ? quickly find the runways, elevation, comm frequencies
- A trip timer
- Groundspeed, distance remaining, direct steering, etc.
- Although it?s not certified for IFR, it does contain IFR approaches which can assist you in getting to the final approach fix or for backup/cross-checking.
That said, the Garmin 295/296s aren?t perfect.
- Their screens are smaller than others on the market.
- I wish the process to select an airport, VOR, Intersection was faster. Currently you have to spell out each letter by cycling through the entire alphabet and zero through nine. That?s a lot of clicks. You can select an airport with the cursor, but that has it?s own problems if the airport is far away.
- If you are entering a Route, multiply the above by the number of waypoints.
I?ll probably be buying a 296 when my RV-7 comes on line because it?s the next generation 295. It has terrain and the screen refreshes much faster than the 295.
One function that I would really like to have but I don't think the 296 has it is a "glide ring". If you lose your engine, the GPS would show a circle indicating your max glide range. It knows you altitude, and you store some kind of data representing your aircraft's glide ration.
It?s hard to evaluate a GPS. It takes hours to get proficient with the one you own. Personally, I have to take the GPS home, sit down on the couch with it and the instructions, and play with it in the simulator mode, practicing every function. I probably practiced ten hours with the 295 before I felt comfortable with it. Years later, I?m still learn new things it can do. As has been said many times, in the air ? head down in the cockpit -- is not the time to try and learn your GPS.
So when you go to Oshkosh or Sun ?N Fun, and get your hands on a Lowrance, EKP-IV, 430 or an EFIS with a completely unknown interface, it?s like ? where do I even start? The salesmen only show you the glitzy stuff ? big screen, high resolution, terrain ? but ask them to show you how to lay in a Route, update the route on the fly, lookup the comm and runway info on an alternate, etc., you might get a blank stare. There?s almost always a crowd around the avionics, so you might have five minutes to play with the unit.
Probably the best thing would be to find someone who has and is proficient with a unit you?re interested in see if you can get them to spend a couple of hours with you demonstrating the basic functionality.
If you?re new to GPS, just getting used to the basic functionality will take time. The fancy features will go over your head at first. You must learn to walk before you can run. You may even want to buy a cheap, used older unit, to get used to the basics, then you?ll be better prepared to evaluate the state-of-the-art units.
Hope this helps,
