Garmin 90 Database Updates Discontinued

Apparently Garmin has recently discontinued database updates for the
G90 GPS.
A friend contacted his friend at Garmin, and was told that the
database became too big for the G90, and they decided to drop support.

Several years ago, the G90 database was the Americas, and was broken
into a North America and South America product, to allow it to fit.
It seems that Garmin / Jeppesen could have done a similar pruning,
having a US/Canada, Central and South America product. I suppose they
expect that by simply dropping coverage all together, they will cause
loyal Garmin 90 users to upgrade to a newer Garmin unit.

The discontinuance of support for older, but quite servicable avionics
is a singificant aviation consumer issue. Several years ago, we found
that our IFR capable Loran would have the database discontinued. AOPA
and others have pushed for common database formats, which would allow
legacy products to continue to obtain updates of government data.

Most pilots I know have Garmin 90 units. They meet the aviation needs
of most users, and are quite cost effective. It's too bad that
database support has rendered all those units boat anchors, as their
database can not be updated anymore.

If you're a Garmin 90 owner, you can fill a Tech Support form on their
web site, www.garmin.com, enter your serial number and your software
version (shown at power-up). Tell them you want to know how to get an
update. Since this decision was a recent one, perhaps there's a way
to let them know that Garmin customers aren't ready to retire their
Garmin 90s.

Blue skies.