even if I buy a cheap Garmin 196, how much will I be paying for updates?

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supernova87a

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supernova87a
Hi all, new pilot here, and I'm thinking of getting my first relatively cheap GPS unit to play around with! I had considered the Anywhere Map travel companion, but will probably lean towards the Garmin 196 (though I'm not completely sure yet). The color of the AWM is nice, but the reports of issues with the units are a little concerning.

(a side note is that the Garmin product pages are incredibly unhelpful for finding out something as simple as, are the 196/296/396/496 all WAAS capable? I challenge you to find that info on the product pages, which I eventually did... isn't that kind of important? here: https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=156

But the biggest unknown for me is what kind of updates are required and how much they cost? Garmin is not too helpful on this issue. Also, they say that "user maps" can be uploaded. What is that, and what for?

And are you not supposed to fly with a GPS that hasn't been updated? According to AWM, the Garmin updates cost an arm and a leg too, on top of the hardware cost.

Would I be ok using an un-updated unit (beyond what's on at time of purchase) for just knowing basic information, not relying on it for critical decision information, etc?

thanks!
 
Updates are available every 28 days by subscription for $300 a year, or you can buy only one every once in a while for $50. For the 196, see http://shop.garmin.com/aviation/databases/jeppesen.asp?PR=010-00301-00&PN=GPSMAP+196&DT=Jeppesen.

Personally, I update my handheld annually when the airplane is in for annual. (Makes it easy to remember when to do it.)

You can use un-updated databases forever if you want; no updates are "required." No issues other than verifying the data from current charts. IMO, the $50 a year is close enough for VFR.
 
My panel mounted IFR GPS gets updated every 28 days. My handheld has yet to be updated. I don't use it so much for navigation as I do for vertical guidance around the complex airspace I sometimes have to fly.

Instead of the 196 you might also want to look at the Lowrance 600c, just my $,02 as I thinbk the Garmin units are very over priced.
 
thanks for the tip about the Lowrance Airmap 600C. It is not a big seller, not even found on Amazon, but you can find it elsewhere. Do you have any experience with people's comments that the unit locks up and freezes? It looks good aside from this concern.
 
supernova87a said:
thanks for the tip about the Lowrance Airmap 600C. It is not a big seller, not even found on Amazon, but you can find it elsewhere. Do you have any experience with people's comments that the unit locks up and freezes? It looks good aside from this concern.
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Well don't search for aviation stuff on Amazon. That is one piece of advise. But Garmin does have the market share of handheld aviation GPS to be sure.

Start shopping for your aviation GPS at an aviation shop. There are tons, Spinners, Sporty's, Tropic Aero, Mypilotmall.com, JA, Marv Golden, etc.

I have the 600C, I have never had it lock up and I have had it for over a year. It has performed well. The only problem I had was with the external power cable, I called them up and got a new one likety split.

For the price it does way more than what I needed it to do.
 
... I have not seen it yet. ...
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They were all over the place at Oshkosh. Beautiful display, very small. Attractive price point. I am wondering if they are based on the HP310 but with a modified case. Screen size is the same, form factor very similar, and the screen is just as beautiful as my 310.

They are kind of apples & oranges with the Garmins, though. It's like an automotive GPS for the sky; no HSI display, no instruments, etc. But it may be the lowest cost way to get XM weather into a cockpit.

IMHO Bendix/King is out to buy market share. I think they are going to put a lot of price pressure on Garmin. Either Garmin will have to introduce new stuff, new features, and lose that tired old form factor or they will have to cut prices. I suspect the former.

I also suspect this is just the first of a family. No reason Bendix/King couldn't do most of what Garmin has done, although Garmin has a patent on round dial displays that may complicate things a little bit.

Nice Flash demo here: https://www.bendixking.com/AV8OR/
 
airdale said:
IMHO Bendix/King is out to buy market share. I think they are going to put a lot of price pressure on Garmin. Either Garmin will have to introduce new stuff, new features, and lose that tired old form factor or they will have to cut prices. I suspect the former.
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The boating version of the Garmin 496 -- exactly the same hardware -- is a third the price of the aviation version. That says something about the profit margin. Granted the database cost differs, but ...
 
The boating version of the Garmin 496 -- exactly the same hardware -- is a third the price of the aviation version.
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I'm not surprised. But the classic scenario with a share leader is:

1) They are almost never the ones to introduce a lower cost, better, competitor to their entrenched products.

2) When the competitor appears, the leader at first rationalizes away the the threat and does not react. The horror at what price cuts will do to their P&L keeps them from nipping the problem in the bud. And the development time for a new competitive product is too long for that to be an effective response.

3) By the time the leader reacts, he has lost share that he will have to go to great lengths to recover, if he can even do it.

4) In extremis, the leader or the product line dies. Have you used a Friden calculator lately? Seen a National Cash Register brand cash register? This won't happen to Garmin, of course, because of their huge product portfolio in other markets. But the Garmin aviation guys may not have much fun for the next couple of years, assuming the Bendix/King product is as good as it seems to be and especially if Bendix/King uses it as a base for a broader product line attack. Unless ... Garmin has the competitive products just sitting on the shelf waiting to go!

Oh, and (6): The customer wins.
 
Ken Ibold said:
The boating version of the Garmin 496 -- exactly the same hardware -- is a third the price of the aviation version. That says something about the profit margin. Granted the database cost differs, but ...
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I'd be willing to bet that a pretty good junk of that difference is reflected in two areas.

1. Volume, There are a lot more boats out there than airplanes.
2. Liability Insurance, The eternal bane of aviation products.
 
airdale said:
I'm not surprised. But the classic scenario with a share leader is:

1) They are almost never the ones to introduce a lower cost, better, competitor to their entrenched products.
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And yet in all these years from the debut of 196 through the 496 there has yet to be a full on competitor to the current top Garmin product.
 
You mentioned that you were trying to find out about WAAS. If you're asking about that because of WAAS approaches, it doesn't matter, because a handheld can't be used as the navigation source for a WAAS approach. (Or even as the primary navigation source for flying IFR, only as situational awareness.) That being said, according to https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=208 the 196 is WAAS capable, so one would pretty safely assume that all the later models in that series are also WAAS capable. And I note that the comparison page you linked to didn't even include WAAS.
 
supernova87a said:
But the biggest unknown for me is what kind of updates are required and how much they cost?
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I went exactly that route and bought a used Garmin 196 for $495. It's a very good GPS unit and gets me from "Point A" to "Point B" just as accurately as any $10K panel mount system. I only update it once a year, but since it keeps leading me to Oshkosh every summer I've owned it, and by the time you account for 1700 miles worth of avgas, hotel costs, food, souvenirs, EAA gate admissions, etc, it has ended up costing me between $1500-2000 each year to upgrade it to get the cheap $30 database updates at one of the avionics vendor booths at Airventure :D


Seriously, you can get the database for about $50 online from garmin.com for a one-time update and for basic VFR flying, a once-a-year database update is about all you really need.


BTW, I really like the fact that the good old monochrome 196 uses plain AA penlight batteries and not some proprietary lithium battery. In case my cigar lighter adapter fails, I can buy fresh batteries anywhere for my GPS, and since my headsets, camera and LED flashlight all use the same AA batteries, I only need to keep a supply of one kind in my flight bag.
 
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Neal Howard said:
<SNIP>

BTW, I really like the fact that the good old monochrome 196 uses plain AA penlight batteries and not some proprietary lithium battery. In case my cigar lighter adapter fails, I can buy fresh batteries anywhere for my GPS, and since my headsets, camera and LED flashlight all use the same AA batteries, I only need to keep a supply of one kind in my flight bag.
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I agree with that- If I replace my GPS V, the ability to use AA batteries is one of the features I will look for for the same reasons. If the batteries ever fail, I can get replacements anywhere in the world. I use NiMH AA rechargables.
 
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