Flew an Aera 560 from Western Mississippi to South Florida and back this weekend over weather both ways.
The Good
If you have been using an X96 Garmin you will have no trouble with this unit. I played with it on the ground until the battery was dead then fully charged the unit. I purposely did not read the manual to see if I could figure it out.
Hand flew the plane anddid all the things I used to do on my 496 without any difficulty.
The screen is bright and just as visible as the 496 in all locations under a bubble canopy. The refresh rate is much quicker than the 496 and the resolution appears to be a bit better.
Even sitting on the floor under the windscreen it got tons of satellites without an external antenna.
Many are worried about the sensitivity of the touchscreen and this turned out not to be a concern. It wont go flitting off to Sri Lanka if you brush against it. An input takes a gentle, not quite firm, tap. Not so much that you crunch the screen but more than just a gentle touch.
It is no more a problem in turbulence than a 496.
Scrolling the map is much nicer and easier than th X96 series, it works just like an I phone.
The only thing I found more difficult than the X96 units was placing the cursor to obtain info. You have to touch (dead on ) with your finger the item you want info about. With the rocker switch, precision pointer placement was easy. With your finger this is less so. You need to cone in and spread things apart and then develop your finger aim to get it right. Takes awhile but accuracy is obtainable. A minor annoyance at worst.
Info is fewer strokes away (in some cases) than with the 496.
Fingerprints on the screen>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> these become a real problem if there is sunlight glare on the screen. Get it out of the glare and they are invisible. You are going to need to clean this screen more than you did the 496.
The form factor is great. Takes very little space in the plane, car, or overnight bag. As mentioned in a post above Garmin appears tohave fixed the poor connector problems of the past with this unit.
In my opinion the weather products are easier to navigate/find and the unit is easier to setup.
As I mentioned earlier without reading the manual I was able to hand fly 1200 NM (some of it through turbulence and much of it over a weather system) and was able to operate the unit as easily as my 496.
At the destination pull the unit out of the plane and pop it into the dash mount on a rental car and off you go. Works great in automotive mode (much nicer than the 496)
The Bad
The last leg of my trip was today through severe clear so I left off the weather reciever and ran on internal battery. This (to me) is the major downside of the unit. Only 2 &1/2 hours to dead battery (screen full bright)
The Ugly
No ugly.. just a great product.
Overall I really like the unit. I think Garmin got it right with this one.
Two thumbs up.