I ordered my 296 from Sporty's a couple of weeks before Sun N Fun and had it
in my hands in about a week. Sporty's told me at the time I placed my order
that Garmin was planning to have enough units produced in time to meet the
demands of Sun N Fun, and therefore Sporty's expected to have their
allotment filled as well by that time.

I reported a couple of bugs that I found in the original firmware (2.50) to
Garmin. The bugs were more of an annoyance than a safety issue, but Garmin
was very serious about geeting all the info from me to be able to find and
eliminate the bugs. They have fixed one of them in the latest firmware
release, and told me to expect the other one to be fixed in the following
release.

Overall, I'm *very* impressed with the 296! I've owned a number of Garmin
handheld GPS products, including a 196 and a 295, and the 296 is leaps and
bounds ahead of any of them.

Stan


"Ross Taylor" wrote in message
om...
So, how many people actually HAVE a 296? I've had one on order since
before Sun N Fun and still no word. My dealer said there are shipping
delays, but isn't getting any other word from Garmin. I also noticed
that Garmin's already posted a software update for this unit on their
site.

I'm just curious if they're really getting into circulation yet.

Thanks all,

Ross