Updating the 696 Charts

Ironflight · #1 05-21-2009, 11:55 PM

I have now been flying with the Garmin 696 for the better part of a year, but had not yet had the need to do a database update. My unit had fresh charts installed when the product was publicly released, and while the chart database is technically only good for 28 days, it will display until it is 180 days old - at which time it comes up as ?disabled?, and won?t show you any charts. I realized a month ago that I must be getting close to the ?disable? time, and thought about updating, but waited because I wanted to see what it would do when it expired. Sure enough, a few days before it disabled, I started getting ?this database will be disabled in XX days? messages at boot-up. Nice - you can hardly say you didn?t get a warning!

Since I get 28-day chart updates through my Air Charts subscription, my strategy is to have charts that are current as of May, and then use the Air Charts updater for refernece the rest of the year. With the 696, I guess I?ll have to do a ?mid-year? update to keep them displaying as well. A one-time update was $95 - still easier (I don?t know about cheaper - I didn?t do the math) than killing all those trees to keep the entire continent worth of charts updated at all times. I think the annual subscription price was close to $400, but I didn?t really check, as I didn?t need it. I?ll have to do the math on the Air Charts plus updates next year.

Updates come through the special Garmin web site they have set up for this. The default process is to plug the unit into the computer and do a real-time update via USB cable - but I was warned by some-who-knows that using the SD card is more reliable. I had a unit software update go bad when the USB hiccupped once, so I took his advice. The web site can be just a little confusing on how to do it via SD card, but if you read carefully, it works - and works well. The part that took the longest was downloading the 666 Meg update file across the net an onto the computer. (well, that?s not totally true - I spent a bunch of time trying to figure out why my computer couldn?t? see a brand new 4 Gig SD card - finally determined it to be a bad card!). Once you get the database on the SD card, you plug it in to the 696 and it automatically comes up with a screen to load the new data - very slick.

Good for another 180 days now! I didn?t update the AOPA or terrain databases - I have fairly current terrain data on my EFIS, and most people use old AOPA guides anyway?.

Paul

Bob Axsom · #2 05-22-2009, 12:59 AM

I updated my charts which expired in November without Jeps, AOPA, terrain, safe taxi, etc. Same price, similar reasons, use FAA chart books, Flight Guides, Sectionals, IFR LO charts ... I did use the USB cable with no problem.

Bob Axsom

flickroll · #3 05-22-2009, 06:07 PM

Is it also possible to update the airport database via SD card? I haven't found anything that sez you can do that, but that would be a nice feature.

Ironflight · #4 05-22-2009, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flickroll

Is it also possible to update the airport database via SD card? I haven't found anything that sez you can do that, but that would be a nice feature.

I don't know this for sure, but I suspect it might work - the reason being that when I popped the SD card in, the unit immediately gave me a screen saying that it had "found the following database updates - would I like to install?" and then gave me a "list" (which was only one item of course). It leads me to believe that it would show you whatever was available on the card.

Perhaps someone else has tried it.

Paul