Maule Driver wrote:

No problem! I resisted buying into a handheld until now so I'm happy to
be part of the herd chasing this one. I also resisted buying a multiple
component system until now - just hoping something like this would
appear soon.

Did the 395 and 296 ever come down in price before rumors of the 396
began to spread? I was staring pretty hard at the backup AI function

What he said! Almost exactly. Over the last coupla years I came close
to pulling the trigger on a handheld and then again on one of those
nest-of-wires/pda/gps weather things but each time decided they aren't
quite what I want for the money. This is.

I wouldn't count on the price coming down anytime soon. I watched prices
of the 296 for a long time and there was little movement. The price of
the 396 may not come down significantly until the even-better 496 comes
out, then one can decide the 496 is so much better why not wait on its
price to come down, but it won't until the 596 comes out,then why not
wait for its price to come down, before you know it you'be been flying
four years without something that would really have enhanced the
experience, for the sake of saving a few hundred bucks -- not even a
full AMU.

Unless you're content with old generation equipment, eventually you have
to take the plunge and buy sometime, I figure if I get it when it's
cutting edge I'll have more time before it's obsolete and that's worth
paying the new product price.

YMMV!

but the price never budged after a year or two...

Denny wrote:

You guys keep leading the way, and in a year if I decide the 396 is
worth trading up to, the price will be nicely down...

denny