I haven't had it very long, but I am really impressed so far. The functions are good and the antenna works great. I haven't lost reception once. Having all of the approaches built in is really cool. I fly in the DC ADIZ everyday and it helps to keep me out of trouble. Very detailed moving maps, easily customized screens, and the batteries last a long time!

Why in the world did they put the buttons on the top?! Once you get used to it its fine, but it's weird at first.

Garmin knocked one out of the park! This GPS is great, alot of features in a small package.

The color screen is nice, and the backlighting is strong. As long as the unit is plugged in with the cigarette lighter adapter, the backlight stays on. The yoke mount is sturdy. The database is as expected. Updates are fairly cheap ($35 every 3 months if you choose). The unit can also download very detailed street maps for an additional cost, as well as be used for marine navigation. The flight logging feature is fantastic -- even if you don't need the unit to navigate, simply turn it on and drop in on the seat, and it will automatically track your departure and destination and log it for you with the time. If you are doing touch and gos it will record the flight as local- fantastic if like me you don't update your logbook after every flight. When you are approaching an obstacle or airspace it will give a visual/aural warning. I find the airspace feature probably the most useful although it doesn't seem to display airspace altitute tops/bottoms- but it knows where they are- you'll still find yourself glancing at your sectional to assess your altitude requirements to avoid infringing on controlled airspace. You can pull up a page with frequencys/altitudes/runway info for each airport which is handy. Another great feature is the VNAV profile- the unit will automatically calculate the required descent rate for you to be at pattern altitude 3 miles from the airport. It will give a warning when the rate exceeds 500 FPM, so your yippy passengers won't cause you to be diving at 800 FPM once you realize you started too late because they were talking. Of course the unit is very customizable- even the VNAV profile- you can choose target distance from the airport, target ROD etc. The screens are customizable too- you can choose what information to show on each screen, and even what order screens will show when you cycle them. I took the satellite page out of the cycle since once you have acquired them, it's fairly useless. I must say I have been very impressed with the battery life- using rechargeables I left the unit on in my car one night after using it to navigate an hour car ride. 16 hours later the unit was still on, and the battery showed about half full.

The size of the unit is a bit mind boggling considering this is not a very powerful unit. The auto unit I have cost $100, has a larger screen- which is a touch screen- as well as a 300mhz processor for 5hz screen updates. This unit does not come close to that in terms of functionality or power. Oddly, the buttons are on top of the screen, and usuability is by NO MEANS intuitive. Make sure you spend some time with the unit in simulator mode with the manual until you figure out how everything works. Press buttons randomly on this unit can create some confusing problems. I am still not to grips with all the whys/hows. For example, when flying a route, the unit will automatically show track up- but if you move the cursor around, it stops doing that. You have to press "Back" to have it track up instead of North. Pressing Enter will declutter the map and leave you wondering where everything went. If you have downloaded street data, it will show it by default which clutters the screen- I chose to turn it off. Creating routes other than Direct To is cumbersome- you need to create waypoints first using the small, slow pointer. I find the screen difficult to read with my Rayban Aviators on- I usually have to lift them to read it if it is sunny out. Lastly, I find the yoke mount works well, but it is cumbersome to put in a flight bag and doesn't fold up as well as it probably could.

This is a good unit for $500, and if you must have a GPS and can't afford the 396/496 this will serve its purpose. It is fairly customizable, once you get the hang of it not hard to use- although it's not a "point-and-shoot" unit in terms of ease-of-use.

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Easy to use. Color screen is clear. Easy to program.

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It's smaller than the fancier models, but a great value for the money with easy ability to customize what info you see on which screens. I use it with a yoke mount as an extra navigation aid.