Hand Held GPS

[Forgotten Field]

Looking at picking up a GPS. No room on the panel for one, so wondering about the relative merits of various hand held models.

[bipe215]

Depends how much you want to spend. You can get a little Garmin pilot 3 on ebay for around 200-250. The newer Garmins will run you
about $650 for a 295 or about $2500 for a 496 with the color weather and all the bells and whistles.
The kind of flying you do would be a big factor. I use the little GPS 3 in my Hatz Biplane. Its very compact and reliable. Nothing fancy but it gets the job done.

Steve G

[Jim Beasley]

I have the 496 and while it's a ton of $ with the XM weather and Jeppesen and AOPA info, combined with the other Garmin easy to use features, I love it and feel it's worth the $. It's small and the battery lasts for more than 10 hours. Can't lose.

[retroaviation]

Just got a Garmin 296 for the Cassutt Racer and it works well. And that's an airplane with very little room to spare.

Gary

[Lynn Allen]

I take my Garmin 396 on our trips for the XM radio and weather. With the XM part, it will pull a lot of juice so I carry a few extra batteries as I don't have a cig plug up front, yet. They are well worth the money you pay for them. I started with a Garmin GPS 90, then a 295 and now a 396

Lynn

[Bill Greenwood]

Garmin is coming out with the new 696. Besides the standard nav and weather info, you can get the uncensored directors cut of Brokeback Mountain. Man you guys make me feel old, I don't even know how to work all that fancy new stuff. I have given some thought to actually buying a cell phone, but stili suspect it might be a passing fad.

[Second Air Force]

We have a 296 and love it, but it took me a long time to finally break down and buy one. The thing is really easy to program once you are used to it. Bill, I'm like you--my favorite radio navigation equipment is actually the ADF that everyone told me to yank out of the airplane several years ago.

Scott

[mustangdriver]

I have the 496 here. I have to say that it has not let me down at all. I am a fan of buying it right, and buying it once. But I have to admitt to gettting it at a sweet price as well.

[cluvara]

I use the Lowrance 2000c. Not as advanced as the Garmin units, but it's easy to use, has terrain awareness, and a relatively good screen. The price is good at ~$695, but it's one drawback is battery power. You better have a cigarette lighter, because I've found it doesn't last more than a couple of hours on its internal batteries.

Chris

Here's a few pics:

[Forgotten Field]

Thanks all for the responses. It sounds like the 496 is the hot ticket. I've been fair weather flying the L-5 and I am looking for some back up navigation to go to KOSH this summer. I really appreciate the input.

Bill G., won't the sheep get in the way of the approach plates? Can I get "Harold and Maude" on mine?