"Jay Maynard" wrote in message
. ..
I flew with my boss for steak at Harris Ranch last night in his A36. On the
way, we got to talking about GPS systems. He's got a Garmin 396, and was
telling me that it (and the 496) would talk to the GNS430W the same way as
the GDL69A, complete with showing the weather on both screens and
transferring data between them. This seems seriously nifty, since it's
$4000
cheaper than the GDL69A. If that's the case, why does anyone buy the
dedicated box?

I believe the GNS430W will talk to the 496 in terms of flight plans and such
(Through an RS232 connection) but not the other way around. The 496 will
also display the traffic from a Garmin GTX330 Mode S transponder. You can
also wire the 496 to an audio panel such that you will have call-outs (like
terrain) through your headset(s).

However, I am not an expert on this subject (I just researched the
connection possibilities).

Marco