Garmin 530 "101"

I'm sure folks here have run through the various permutations, thought I'd
avoid re-inventing the wheel by asking. My new baby (TB-20, if you missed
my other thread--we're very happy together!) has a Garmin GNS-530 w/ a
GTX-330 transponder providing TIS traffic, and I have a few questions about
it that don't seem to be obvious on Garmin's web site or the
instructions.... Questions I marked w/ "***" are those involving upgrades I
want, vice just currency & operating questions.

- Garmin implies that all work/upgrades/etc. to the unit must be done by a
Garmin dealer--true/false?
-- Either way, is there any real difference between shops for this sort
of thing, or does Garmin control service pricing the same way they
apparently do for sales pricing?
-- Any opinions on Colorado shops? The two closest to me are Colorado
Springs Avionics (COS) and Denver Avionics Inc. (Centennial/APA)--same
flight distance, but COS is more convenient based on me needing a ride if I
have to leave the plane overnight, or go to work, or whatever. Several
others are reasonably close by but will require a bit more planning on my
part.

- For whatever reason, the unit is showing "basemap not available," and the
land db software version is "not available"--bottom line, I get no roads,
rivers, towns, etc., just lat/long and aviation points (airports,
intersections, etc). Book says "take to dealer" to fix--is it true that a
database card update will NOT fix this? What will it take to get this
fixed?

- The Jepp db is both out of date & for the wrong area*. I plan to update
this, but see below for additional considerations. I'm not sure how this
works, though--do I need to buy some sort of hardware to connect to a
computer to write to the card? Also, I don't see anything on the Garmin
site about "areas"--I thought the db was world-wide, but I was proven wrong
on my flight home.... Any pointers on this?

- ***What does it take to upgrade to the terrain display? Should I hold
off on the aviation db update (or at least not get a year-long subscription)
until I get this done? (I.E., does adding the terrain necessitate a
different db?)

- ***What does it take to get the WAAS upgrade? I understand that doing so
before 31 August (or at least ordering it?) will be substantially cheaper
than after that date? Same question on "holding off" on db updates?

- ***I'm considering adding Wx to the package. What does that take? Same
question on "holding off" on db updates?
-- Alternatively, I'm considering one of the handhelds (496?) that can
present weather--I get more or less the same thing, but I also have a
handheld backup at my disposal. Thoughts?

- Finally, a pure newbie operating question: the green bearing pointer in
the default nav view--is that always a GPS bearing pointer toward the next
waypoint, or will it act as a VOR bearing pointer? Easy enough to figure
out in flight, I suppose, but I didn't check & since I'm asking.... If you
look at my tale below*, I have reason to believe that what the box
displays--including radial/DME to a tuned VOR--is based solely on GPS.

Thanks, as always, for any help/advice/wisdom!

Doug

*Funny story: So, I'm flying my new purchase home from Connecticut to
Colorado, and spent the night w/ some friends in Oklahoma City. Departing
the next day, I couldn't get the box to accept CO15 (Kelly Airpark, my
eventual parking place). OK, it's a small, private field, not terribly
surprised. Then it wouldn't take 00V (Meadowlake Airport, my temp location
while the Kelly runway resurfacing finished)--hmm, small airport, but
definitely should be showing up. Let's try COS (Colorado Springs)--nope;
DEN (Denver)--nope. OK, something's up. A little sleuthing showed me that
the aviation db is "EAST US" (which I never even checked, since, as I say, I
had thought the db was worldwide). Apparently, the western reaches of the
eastern United States is in western Oklahoma/eastern Colorado.... Anyway, I
plugged in the lat/long off the sectional, then refined that when I
remembered I had the AOPA airport guide with me, so I still had a GPS
working for me--and, besides, I had steam gauges and was flying VFR anyway,
so it was not a big deal from a "how do I get there" perspective.

If anyone's curious, the db items do not appear to all end at the same
point. For example, the Lamar, CO, airport (LAA) showed up, but not the
associated VORTAC (LAA), 7.6 nm to the north. Also, I had SUA displays all
the way home, to include the Alert areas east of Colorado Springs, and the
COS Class C & Denver Class B, and various other SUAs; however, the "nearest"
of anything on the "nearest" pages is in Nebraska, Oklahoma, or (far
eastern) Colorado.

I also learned something valuable to know about the way the box works. The
identifier, radial, and distance display on the map page apparently *is not*
a reading from the VOR receiver, but rather it matches up the tuned
frequency to the db, verifies it's receiving a signal (I hope??), then
displays that information as a GPS calculation. Bottom line, that info was
blank as soon as I got out of range of the westernmost VOR in the db,
despite the fact that I tuned up various VORs, verified the idents & the
function of the CDI, etc. This may be old news to folks more experienced w/
this box, but it was brand new to me (and I'm glad I discovered it in such a
benign environment). This is why I also question how the bearing pointer
works--I have to assume it's GPS only, unless I can get some evidence to the
contrary. Please, anyone with more smarts on how the 530 handles VOR
information (rad/DME and/or bearing pointer), pipe up with details!!
--
Doug
"Where am I to go/Now that I've gone too far?" -- Golden Earring, "Twilight
Zone"
(my email is spam-proofed; read the address and make the appropriate change
to contact me)