It's Official, the GPSMAP 496

In article ,
T o d d P a t t i s t wrote:
Ironically, this type of price fixing (terminating dealers who don't
adhere to the minimum sale price) is not illegal under United States
anti-trust law,

The theory is that the mnfr can sell to whomever he wants,
and he wants his dealers to have sufficient profit that they
can supply other auxiliary services to keep good customer
will.

That's one of the arguments. Another argument is that the practice is
not anti-competitive because no seller has a pricing advantage over
another. The favorable arguments are a little flimsy and short-sighted
if you ask me, but the precedent will stand until it is successfully
challenged.

In reality, the practice of minimum sale prices really protects the
margins of the manufacturer from market forces that would otherwise
drive the price (and margin) lower. It does not protect the
manufacturer from other market competition, but, in the case of the
Garmin 396/496, there really is none.




JKG

But, there is no incentive for me to buy Garmin with those crazy-a$$
prices. Call me cheap, if you will, but I can't afford $3000 for a GPS,
especially a portable! At that point, I'm going to look for other
options. The airprt directory is ok, I guess, but certainly not
something I care much about. The taxi diagrams have been available from
the government for free for a while now. And, I still carry paper with
me. I think it's something to do with batteries....hmmmm The XM
weather is nice and all, but, being a VFR-only pilot, it doesn't do much
for me.

Chris G.


Jonathan Goodish wrote:

In reality, the practice of minimum sale prices really protects the
margins of the manufacturer from market forces that would otherwise
drive the price (and margin) lower. It does not protect the
manufacturer from other market competition, but, in the case of the
Garmin 396/496, there really is none.

:
: $600 more -- and it's still got that same dinky screen?

The screen is plenty big enough. If it was any bigger it wouldnt fit
properly on the yoke.

In article ,
"Aluckyguess" wrote:

:
: $600 more -- and it's still got that same dinky screen?

The screen is plenty big enough. If it was any bigger it wouldnt fit
properly on the yoke.

They could probably make the screen taller, so that it's more square,
and that would at least be some improvement. A portrait (vertical)
orientation is better, but the last thing I want is a monstrosity on the
yoke (Lowrance 2000c, TabletPC, even the old GPSMAP 195.)



JKG

In article ,
Jonathan Goodish wrote:

They could probably make the screen taller, so that it's more square,
and that would at least be some improvement. A portrait (vertical)
orientation is better, but the last thing I want is a monstrosity on the
yoke (Lowrance 2000c, TabletPC, even the old GPSMAP 195.)

The 195 yoke mounting was nice because it hung down over the front of
the yoke. This kept the cent of mass low and did not interfer with
control operation.
If you had a yoke mounted timer built in, you couldn't use the timer,
however.
I found the RAM suction cup to be a very flexible mounting option. I
prefer to place the mount in the lower corner of the windscreen. This
places it where it will not interfer while scanning for traffic and
places it in view when scanning the instrument panel.

In article
,
john smith wrote:
The 195 yoke mounting was nice because it hung down over the front of
the yoke. This kept the cent of mass low and did not interfer with
control operation.
If you had a yoke mounted timer built in, you couldn't use the timer,
however.
I found the RAM suction cup to be a very flexible mounting option. I
prefer to place the mount in the lower corner of the windscreen. This
places it where it will not interfer while scanning for traffic and
places it in view when scanning the instrument panel.

I don't know, my 396 hangs down in front of the yoke just fine
(Cherokee), and does not obstruct my DG the way the 195 did; and worse,
the buttons on the 195 were positioned at the top of the unit, which
made using it in flight somewhat awkward.

If I had an airplane where the yoke itself obstructed the GPS mount, I'd
probably consider a RAM yoke mount, or simply move the unit to a
suction-cup or other type of mount.



JKG