PanEuropean
Registered user
I'm now using a new GPSR on the moto – a Garmin 296, which is the aviation version of the 276. The 296 is a combined aviation-marine-automotive unit.
I have not had much opportunity to test it (at least, not on the moto, that is) – I installed it about ten days ago, then left for Africa two days later. I have been using it quite a bit in aircraft since then.
My first impression of this unit is that it will make a great motorcycle GPSR because of its very bright, easy to read in direct sunlight display. It also has a blazing fast processor in it, so route recalculations are very fast – I get the impression (very subjectively) that it is faster than my previous GPSR, which was a SP 2650.
The 296 also has buttons on it. Although it's nice to have the zoom in and zoom out buttons back on the front of the unit, I really do miss the user-friendliness of the 2650, which seemed to anticipate what I wanted to do. Garmin gives the users of the marine and aviation GPSR's more control over how they want to configure things, but that additional control comes at a price – it takes more keystrokes (button pushes) to get things done on the 296 than it did on the 2650. I guess we don't realize how much that touchscreen speeds operation up until we don't have it anymore.
The 296 uses a small data chip, same as the SP III. I have a 128 meg data chip, which is the same as what I used to have in my SP III. Changing from a 1 gig CF card back to a 128 meg chip won't be a big problem for me, because I always carry a laptop computer (for email and stuff like that) when I travel, but it will mean I'll need to go back to reloading the chip more frequently.
Garmin has introduced some very neat new display technology with the 296 – not sure if this exists in the 276, which does not have the aviation mode. The 296 has a EFIS-like view with a compass ring superimposed, a very neat view with data fields in the 4 corners of the screen, and a quasi-3D mode which provides a birds-eye view of the route ahead. The 3D view is quite useful in aviation mode, when things really are 3D, but less useful in automotive mode. It might also be handy to have in marine mode, if your marine transport happens to be a submarine.
The 296 uses the same mounting bracket as the 176, I had no problem getting a mounting bracket from my local avionics shop, and installing it on the moto. I used the same old RAM backing plate that I have had for years and used with the SP III and the SP 2650.
I've posted some photos below. NB I am in Angola now and won't be back in Europe until about the 20th of May or so, there are no CD's for Angola (although there are CD's for South Africa, I used City Select and it worked quite well in Pretoria last week). So, I won't be able to answer any questions about road navigation till I get back.
PanEuropean
I have not had much opportunity to test it (at least, not on the moto, that is) – I installed it about ten days ago, then left for Africa two days later. I have been using it quite a bit in aircraft since then.
My first impression of this unit is that it will make a great motorcycle GPSR because of its very bright, easy to read in direct sunlight display. It also has a blazing fast processor in it, so route recalculations are very fast – I get the impression (very subjectively) that it is faster than my previous GPSR, which was a SP 2650.
The 296 also has buttons on it. Although it's nice to have the zoom in and zoom out buttons back on the front of the unit, I really do miss the user-friendliness of the 2650, which seemed to anticipate what I wanted to do. Garmin gives the users of the marine and aviation GPSR's more control over how they want to configure things, but that additional control comes at a price – it takes more keystrokes (button pushes) to get things done on the 296 than it did on the 2650. I guess we don't realize how much that touchscreen speeds operation up until we don't have it anymore.
The 296 uses a small data chip, same as the SP III. I have a 128 meg data chip, which is the same as what I used to have in my SP III. Changing from a 1 gig CF card back to a 128 meg chip won't be a big problem for me, because I always carry a laptop computer (for email and stuff like that) when I travel, but it will mean I'll need to go back to reloading the chip more frequently.
Garmin has introduced some very neat new display technology with the 296 – not sure if this exists in the 276, which does not have the aviation mode. The 296 has a EFIS-like view with a compass ring superimposed, a very neat view with data fields in the 4 corners of the screen, and a quasi-3D mode which provides a birds-eye view of the route ahead. The 3D view is quite useful in aviation mode, when things really are 3D, but less useful in automotive mode. It might also be handy to have in marine mode, if your marine transport happens to be a submarine.
The 296 uses the same mounting bracket as the 176, I had no problem getting a mounting bracket from my local avionics shop, and installing it on the moto. I used the same old RAM backing plate that I have had for years and used with the SP III and the SP 2650.
I've posted some photos below. NB I am in Angola now and won't be back in Europe until about the 20th of May or so, there are no CD's for Angola (although there are CD's for South Africa, I used City Select and it worked quite well in Pretoria last week). So, I won't be able to answer any questions about road navigation till I get back.
PanEuropean
