[RV7AV8R]

I would like to do flight planning on my PC and upload plans to my Garmin 396. The 396 came with a software program called Flight Source which will up load to the 396 but it is useless unless you plan to only fly to Class D or bigger airports. Is there a good aviation Flight Planner that allows PC planning with little airports and down loads to the 396? If you have had a good experience with one please let me know? You would think Garmin would have this nailed.

 

[N395V]

Flitesoft http://www.rmstek.com/

Lots of great tools and easy to download to the Garmins.

The Vista portion sucks so do not pay extra for it.

 

[RV7AV8R]

Thanks Milt, this looks like it does what I want!
John

 

[Steve Brown]

One important catch with Flightsoft (RMSTEK)

Flitesoft http://www.rmstek.com/
Lots of great tools and easy to download to the Garmins.
The Vista portion sucks so do not pay extra for it.

I use Flightsoft and it does upload flight plans easily. The problem I ran into is that the waypoints are somehow not recognized the same way as entering them directly.
If a waypoint is an airport, for example, my 496 doesn't recognize it as the airport. Navigation is fine (it will take you there), but database information (runway, communication, etc) cannot be accessed via the waypoint. same with XM weather.

It took me while to figure out what was going on, but once I did, I stopped uploading routes to the GPS

The RMSTEK web site has a forum so I'll post this issue to see if it can be resolved. I suspect its a GARMIN issue though.