Better than a Garmin 396?

[Larry Dighera]

VistaNav™ from Mercury Computer Systems of Massachusetts is due to
debut this month. With its 5" by 8" 100 DPI LCD display, 3D
solid-state inertial navigation system with a WAAS-enabled GPS
receiver, 3D solid state gyros, and a Bluetooth® wireless interface,
VistaNav™ looks like just what pilots of light aircraft have been
wishing for. Priced at $3990.00 VistaNav™ plans to offer an optional
weather data link to complete the package:

The VistaNav™ multifunction flight display
http://www.mc.com/vistanav/index.cfm is the first portable MFD
with 3D synthetic vision. This affordable, intuitive backup
navigation system provides ultimate situational awareness. During
flight, VistaNav generates and displays dynamic, realistic,
synthetic 3D imagery, providing a cockpit-like view regardless of
external conditions.

[Jonathan Goodish]

In article >,
Larry Dighera > wrote:

> VistaNav™ from Mercury Computer Systems of Massachusetts is due to
> debut this month. With its 5" by 8" 100 DPI LCD display, 3D
> solid-state inertial navigation system with a WAAS-enabled GPS
> receiver, 3D solid state gyros, and a Bluetooth® wireless interface,
> VistaNav™ looks like just what pilots of light aircraft have been
> wishing for. Priced at $3990.00 VistaNav™ plans to offer an optional
> weather data link to complete the package:


This looks like another TabletPC-based system. So, right off the bat,
you have all of the problems/advantages associated with a TabletPC
platform in the aircraft.

There are many TabletPC/PDA products on the market already that exceed
the Garmin's capabilities, but none of them are as well integrated or
perform in flight as well as the Garmin unit, in my opinion.



JKG

[Larry Dighera]

On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 10:27:07 -0400, Jonathan Goodish
> wrote in
>::

>This looks like another TabletPC-based system. So, right off the bat,
>you have all of the problems/advantages associated with a TabletPC
>platform in the aircraft.

True VistaNav appears to use a TabletPC for display and user
interface. As there has been some discussion about the Garmin 396's
display being too small or less than optimal in sunlight, I was
thinking VistaNav might overcome those objections in addition to its
added functionality.

To what sort of problems/advantages associated with a TabletPC are you
referring?

>There are many TabletPC/PDA products on the market already that exceed
>the Garmin's capabilities, but none of them are as well integrated or
>perform in flight as well as the Garmin unit, in my opinion.

How many TabletPC based MFDs have you had the opportunity to use? What
brands? How does their performance fall short of the Garmin 396?