I did that swap in our RV9A personally. Have you seen the Aera in sunlight? Have you gone through the user interface to select nearest? It is nice to have ads-b WX but that is about all in my view.
If you do it, remote mount the ads-b antenna down low with better view of ground by using a cable.
Here is a copy of an email I received from another pilot I sold my 396 to after confessing I regretted selling the 396:
I just finished building an RV-7A for a local pilot. I installed an Aera 560, but had never used one before. I absolutely hate the Aera line of GPS. As you stated the screen is impossible to see in bright light. It's not your eyes, the screen doesn't have the backlight intensity and appears to reflect too much ambient light. Incase of emergency and the need for finding the nearest airport you need to exit out of the map screen and go through too many steps. It's far from ideal in an emergency. Also the ability to zoom out and move the curser forward as the 396 and 496, and navigate to a point, cannot be done! One other gripe. In turbulence your finger will skate across the screen while trying to hit a "button" and the GPS will assume you want to navigate to the point your finger last touched the screen. Oh yes, one other thing! About 50% of the time I have to hit the touch screen "button" two to three times to get it to recognize the "button" has been touched. What a poor replacement for the previous "button" type Garmins. I believe the Garmin Aera GPS is more automotive oriented and far less aviation oriented. Personally, I would not install an Aera in my own plane. That's why I was looking for a 496 for sale, but a 396 works just as well for my needs. The "old" 396 is going in the panel of my next personal plane. Thanks again for the deal. Keep your 496!
