The Garmin 396 is WAAS enabled, XM enabled, Terrain Feature Awareness and has upgradeable memory. With modes for aviation, marine, and automotive setting up routes in the air or on the road is simple and fast. If you already have an in plane GPS this can be a less expensive way to add great features. Flight logs can be downloaded in to Garmin's free logbook software, giving you a way to keep track of you flights quick and easy. This GPS comes with most of the accessories that you would want to buy.

When using the XM antenna without external power battery life is approximately 2hrs MAX. This is an aviation GPS so the street level maps are not super complete, however you can buy the maps and upload them.

This is a feature packed GPS worth the price. A dock mount and memory card are the only things that I have purchased for this unit.

Everything

Not discovered yet

It is difficult to be too specifi about durability and reliability yet due to the short service time, however so far it seems very good, and, based on my experience on the 296, it should remain that way.
These units are utilized in our commercial aircraft (Saab 340)that fly exclusively at night in Mexico to help the crews with weather avoidance and information.

This GPS is really easy to see when yoke mounted, even in direct sunlight. It is easy to select your destination airport. It shows how far away you are and warns you when you're entering various classes of airspace. Of course it has tons of other features... but using it in Southern California, it has been very valuable for situational awareness and results in less studdering over the radios when reporting my location.

None.

Use the dash-mount antenna that comes with it instead of the built-in antenna. No gaps that way. I have a '77 Warrior with the original radio & NAV equipment. Instead of upgrading the panel, I bought this GPS. It is good enough for keeping me safe and letting me know where I am, while not costing an arm and a leg to build all this crap into the panel. Save yourself $5K and get this GPS instead of a built-in. Do you REALLY need GPS approach that bad? If so, spring for the built-in 530. Otherwise, get this GPS.

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Ease of use, very intuitive menu system. Useful display modes, (big picture, terrain map, simulated panel). Excellent display! I have only had to consult the manual once when I first got the unit. The XM weather is phenomenal!! A super unit and even a better value now that the price has been reduced!

I would like to see another mount included with the base unit, that allow the unit to mount on top of the panel. In aircraft without a yoke, (Diamond DA-40 for example), there is not a good mounting solution unless you purchase the bean bag mount for use in a car, which requires the auto nav database and memory at a hefty price.

Just knowing where the weather activity is provides great peace of mind in IFR conditions. It also is a great supplement in aircraft without GPS as you always have the big picture right there. I had a Lowrance Airmap 600c, but sold it and put the $$ towards the Garmin with the XM weather and larger display. I will not fly IFR without it in my flight bag.

Although the instructions are both helpful and well-written, actually operating the Garmin 396 is fairly intuitive. This easy-to-use GPS provides an amazing amount of information. Although it still costs a lot of money, it is an excellent investment.

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