Garmin 596 Ideas

Here are a few suggestions for the future Garmin GPS-596...
- flat panel package, one-inch thick (max, including battery)
- replaceable Li-ion battery pack; optional AA battery pack
- a five-inch diagonal screen (as on the 530)
- landscape or portrait viewing select
- XM weather and radio
- higher resolution
- faster processor
- ability to download text (NOTAM's, weather)

....and traffic....


john smith wrote:
Here are a few suggestions for the future Garmin GPS-596...
- flat panel package, one-inch thick (max, including battery)
- replaceable Li-ion battery pack; optional AA battery pack
- a five-inch diagonal screen (as on the 530)
- landscape or portrait viewing select
- XM weather and radio
- higher resolution
- faster processor
- ability to download text (NOTAM's, weather)

Isn't Traffic already available if tied into a Garmin 330 Transponder?


"Dan" wrote in message
oups.com...
...and traffic....


john smith wrote:
Here are a few suggestions for the future Garmin GPS-596...
- flat panel package, one-inch thick (max, including battery)
- replaceable Li-ion battery pack; optional AA battery pack
- a five-inch diagonal screen (as on the 530)
- landscape or portrait viewing select
- XM weather and radio
- higher resolution
- faster processor
- ability to download text (NOTAM's, weather)

I meant as a truly "portable", self-contained device for those who
don't own their own aircraft.

--Dan



Gig 601XL Builder wrote:
Isn't Traffic already available if tied into a Garmin 330 Transponder?


"Dan" wrote in message
oups.com...
...and traffic....


john smith wrote:
Here are a few suggestions for the future Garmin GPS-596...
- flat panel package, one-inch thick (max, including battery)
- replaceable Li-ion battery pack; optional AA battery pack
- a five-inch diagonal screen (as on the 530)
- landscape or portrait viewing select
- XM weather and radio
- higher resolution
- faster processor
- ability to download text (NOTAM's, weather)

I meant as a truly "portable", self-contained device for those who
don't own their own aircraft.

--Dan



Gig 601XL Builder wrote:
Isn't Traffic already available if tied into a Garmin 330 Transponder?


"Dan" wrote in message
oups.com...
...and traffic....


john smith wrote:
Here are a few suggestions for the future Garmin GPS-596...
- flat panel package, one-inch thick (max, including battery)
- replaceable Li-ion battery pack; optional AA battery pack
- a five-inch diagonal screen (as on the 530)
- landscape or portrait viewing select
- XM weather and radio
- higher resolution
- faster processor
- ability to download text (NOTAM's, weather)

In article
,
john smith wrote:

Here are a few suggestions for the future Garmin GPS-596...
- flat panel package, one-inch thick (max, including battery)
- replaceable Li-ion battery pack; optional AA battery pack
- a five-inch diagonal screen (as on the 530)
- landscape or portrait viewing select
- XM weather and radio
- higher resolution
- faster processor
- ability to download text (NOTAM's, weather)


I agree, a screen the size of the 530 would be nice.

With a screen the size of the 530, landscape or portrait would be moot,
in my opinion.

The 396/496 screen already provides fairly impressive resolution. A
higher-resolution screen will not make the weather look any better, if
that's what you're after.

No AA battery pack. Not practical in this unit. The 396/496 have a
replaceable Lion battery pack that is only slightly larger than 2 AA
batteries; there is no way that 2 AA batteries would power the unit for
any reasonable length of time.

NOTAMs (other than TFRs) would be nice, but I'm not sure what weather
text you're looking for that isn't already there. Perhaps area
forecasts, but that isn't a service provided by XM at this time. The
396/496 already provides text for METAR, TAF, TFR, AIRMET, SIGMET, etc.



JKG

In article
,
john smith wrote:

Here are a few suggestions for the future Garmin GPS-596...
- flat panel package, one-inch thick (max, including battery)
- replaceable Li-ion battery pack; optional AA battery pack
- a five-inch diagonal screen (as on the 530)
- landscape or portrait viewing select
- XM weather and radio
- higher resolution
- faster processor
- ability to download text (NOTAM's, weather)
- traffic (independent feed; patch from 330? ADSB? over the XM?)
- single power, XM, GPS antenna cable connector leading to a molded
"strip" connector for individual antennas?)

In article
,
john smith wrote:
- traffic (independent feed; patch from 330? ADSB? over the XM?)

You can already display TIS traffic from the 330 on the 396/496. As
others have suggested, an independent (probably passive) traffic
capability might be nice, but I doubt we'll see it anytime soon.

As for traffic over XM, there are multiple issues that make that idea
impractical, the obvious being the non-real time nature of the XM data
feed.


- single power, XM, GPS antenna cable connector leading to a molded
"strip" connector for individual antennas?)

Bad idea on the "connector strip." Not only does it provide a single
point of failure, it adds complexity for no good reason. The last thing
I want is to be forced into using a "connector strip" instead of
flipping up the stick antenna, or have to haul around a "connector
strip" when I want to run off of battery in my car. Now, I do think
that they need to re-engineer some of the connectors, but the ala carte
system on the unit is about as good as you're going to get, IMO. The
power/data port already provides power, data, and monaural audio from
one port, over one cable.

The reality is that--while not perfect--the 396/496 are pretty darn good
already. Screen size would seem to be the most obvious improvement.


JKG

The reality is that--while not perfect--the 396/496 are pretty darn good
already. Screen size would seem to be the most obvious improvement.

I've flown around 5 hours with the unit since OSH, and am extremely
happy with it. Every feature you could want (and a few I hadn't
considered) are there -- except for the screen size and the
landscape-only display.

Today I used it in "automotive" mode for the first time, and found it
to be absolutely the coolest thing I've seen. I selected my airport
(while sitting in the driveway at my home), and it gave me turn-by-turn
VERBAL instructions, complete with warnings 0.1 miles ahead of each
turn, right to the terminal building. Very slick and easy.

I now know why they use the dinky little screen on the 496 -- anything
bigger won't fit on the dashboard of most cars. Garmin is trying to
make the unit do double (or, with marine, triple) duty, to the
detriment of the aviation mode.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In article . com,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:
I now know why they use the dinky little screen on the 496 -- anything
bigger won't fit on the dashboard of most cars. Garmin is trying to
make the unit do double (or, with marine, triple) duty, to the
detriment of the aviation mode.

I thought about that regarding the size. It is nice to be able to use
the unit in the car, where I appreciate the weather information just the
same. I get more use out of my investment (in both the GPS and XM) by
using it in the car in addition to the airplane.

I would think that the screen could still grow vertically and be usable
on all but the smallest of car dash boards. I don't know, I guess we'll
have to see how the product evolves. Even with the smaller screen,
there are plenty of ways that Garmin could enhanced the product.



JKG