New GPSMAP 196 from Garmin!

Garmin just announced a new unit witch seems to combine the large display and expandable memory of the 176 unit with the routing capabilities of the V unit.

Is that the answer to the prayer of all here in the GS Club community?

The unit can be seen here.

You can download the manual from here

Has anyone seen either reviews or prices on the net yet ? :goof

Keep us posted!

Thanks for the info ALHTHS . . . so, the rumours are true then! But will it have a Garmin V pricetag or a StreetPilot III+ pricetag?
Simon E.

Prices from Garmin Website are:

196 @ $1049
gps V @ $536
sp III @ $1272

Twice the price of a gps V (so about £850 inc VAT when it gets over here with european basemap).

Think I'll be happy with the gps V I've just bought.

Carl

My self I've beet thought some units (III, V, eTrex Vista) but never found one that can perform to my requirements.

The problem with the III, III+, V, and eTrex series, although they have mapping capabilities they display is so sloooooow to update and some of them have a tiny memory capacity which doesn't allow to have any usable map area. The eTrex vista for instance has 24 Mb of memory witch you can only fit a part of UK i.e. useless for Overseas touring, not to mention that there isn't any turn by turn routing.

The most expensive Units as the likes of the StreetPilot III has everything but... They can not be used in any other recreational activities, because they are dedicated automotive satnav's.

Where is the choice?

ALHTHS

Where's the choice? The choice is huge, thought not so big as to include all possibilities/permutations, so it's necessary to make certain choices and select the right unit for you based on anticipated usage, price and availability etc.
Doesn't the 176 meet most of the above requirements?

The refresh rate of the screen is far in excess of the III+, as is the screen size. I can't imagine needing faster.

Memory size is expandable to 128MB - same as the Streetpilot III. I've just looked and my R+R GB - it contains 296 maps, 38Mb in total. You could fit a lot of Euroland in the remaining 90MB, especially when France and Germany don't have complete coverage. Don't forget for the price of a Streetpilot you can buy a 176, two 128MB datacards and still have change for a weekend away to enjoy your new GPS. Camp, and you can have a card programmer too : )


Whilst the 176 is larger than the III+/V it is still possible to operate whilst on foot with one hand.

A 176 with auto-routing would be great - as the 196 appears to be, but with a projected price of double the 176 auto-routing ain't that great. GoTo is an very useable alternative that stands a good chance of taking you the same route as auto-routing.

IMHO, autro-route is something I'd like, but not something I'm going to get hung up on.

Cheers.

Russ

Hi boxer

The 176 is good! and it has a colour display as well, but... autorouting is sooooo nice once you try it. I've seen it and played with it for some time and coming from 'Go To' my self, it makes you wonder how you lived so long without it.

Now as you say price is important! So lets see when the 196 arrives over here what would be the price tag. After all maybe the 176 is the way to go!

I've had a read through some of the sections of the 196 manual and compared it to the 176 manual. The 196 is still not a dedicated automobile unit. Whereas the 176 is a marine unit that will take road maps, the 196 is an aviation unit that has been adapted for marine and road use and will take road maps and provide "auto-route" rather than just "go-to".
I think "go-to" is fine for touring and general riding. "Auto-route" becomes "I wonder how I ever coped without it" if you're using the unit largely for finding specific locations and doing a lot of city work.
Let's turn this around the other way. What can the 176/196 do that the Streetpilot III or the V can't do (forget memory, screensize, and speed - we know about those). For example, the motoring units are really only useful for motoring. Can the 176 or 196 take topo/OS maps and be used for hillwalking or mountaineering?
Simon E.

www.offroadstore.co.uk are saying they have the GPS MAP 196 for sale at £645 excluding VAT which I think works out at £757.88. Is the Streetpilot 111 a thing of the past now?

Simon Eassom said:

The 196 is still not a dedicated automobile unit.

Click to expand...

The runway centreline feature could be useful to one or two GS riders!

Greg

PS It's mono, rather than colour that the SPIII is. That, of course, does not affect its functionality.

The real test will be if you get the 128 mb data card and reader etc etc plus autrouting for approx £250 less that the streetpilot deluxe. I guess with the larger screen the colour is less of an issue?

Posted this on another thread, but having spoken to the aviation product manager at Garmin UK - he said "Wait!" He wouldn't give too many details, but he did point out that the autorouting of the 196 and the GPS V (using City Select) was inferior to the CityNavigator based SPIII. Said that there would be a couple of new units out before the end of the year that he reckoned would be ideal for motorcycle use.
Fibbing? Boasting? Who knows - put me off buying his own product though, 'cos he said that with the 196 I'd be paying for stuff I didn't need...