Garmin 196 & obstacle database.

Dave Butler wrote:
Interesting. I didn't see anything like that. Do you have to be at a
low
altitude to see the obstacles?

Actually I was in simulator mode- whaetever altitude that mode defaults
to. I don't recall the zoom level- 5 miles maybe.

Dave Butler wrote:
Oh yeah, in simulator mode it would from time to time pop up
"Obstacle
warning!". I'm not sure what radius or direction the obstacle had to
be to
trigger the warning.

I just figured out that you can control this (to some extent) by
hitting the menu button while on the map page. From there you can get
to "Set Up Obstacles" which lets you set a "Caution Elevation" and
"Look Ahead Time". They default to 1000ft and 120 seconds respectively,
but can be set as low as 500ft and 60 seconds which result in less
frequent warnings.

Also I noticed that Obstacle Warnings would pop up even if the map was
zoomed beyond the level require to actually display the obstacles. In
which case you have to manually zoom in until the obstacle becomes
visible- kind of stupid.

I've concluded that the 'auto' setting you mentioned is fine, but
dulling the sensetivity to obstacle alerts is the way to go. You'll
basically get an alert if there's a real problem, otherwise you'll just
never have to be bothered with obstacles on the screen.

-max