turbo

turbo

Well Known Member
by the way. what is the cost of the 696? should be a great time to pick up a 496.
 
turbo said:
by the way. what is the cost of the 696? should be a great time to pick up a 496.
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I haven't looked to see what the data subscription service is for the 696. I suspect it's expensive.

I purchased a 396 instead of the 496 because of what I felt was the excessive cost to keep the 496 current.

btw, I can't imagine buying a GPS without XM capabilities. This is where most of the value is in my opinion.

DaveB
 
xm cost?

i thought the cost of xm was the same, $30 or $50 depending on level of service. that should be the same for 496/396. the 696 would cost more for charts and approach plates but how much more would that be compared to paper? i would consider upgrade depending on $s. i fly a lot and use this stuff all the time and consider it an increase in safety.
 
turbo said:
i thought the cost of xm was the same, $30 or $50 depending on level of service. that should be the same for 496/396. the 696 would cost more for charts and approach plates but how much more would that be compared to paper?
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Yup - the XM cost is identical - XM doesn't know or care if you are hooked up to a 3, 4, or 696....Charts will obviously be an extra cost, and I have not seen the numbers on the subscription price yet....it would be really great if Garmin decided to undercut what we pay everywhere else, simply because this is not going to be a significant revenue stream (based on their total sales) anyway. My opinion is that they'd sell a lot more units to pilots if we could cut our chart costs for a year in half....but then, I never took any business course, and economics wasn't my strong suit....

Paul
 
DavidBurton said:
I haven't looked to see what the data subscription service is for the 696. I suspect it's expensive.

I purchased a 396 instead of the 496 because of what I felt was the excessive cost to keep the 496 current.

DaveB
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Am I missing something ?? The cost to update the 396 and 496 should be the same.
 
Chart Cost

When I called Garmin the XM update cost was given to me was the same as Paul stated but there were three levels quoted to me with a PRO package topped at $100. On the subject of all chart updates the man did not have the numbers readily availabe but the yearly cost was estimated to be $395. That is less than I now pay for paper charts each year just to cover the immediate three states and Terminal Proceedures and charts for trips I actually make. I plan on the 695 without the XM weather capability but if you choose to go that way you have to understand that you can never reverse that decision with buyng a whole new XM compatible 696 unit.

Bob Axsom
 
XM WX costs

At Sun 'n Fun last April I talked with the people at the XM booth about the cost of subscribing to the XM weather service. In the discussion I disclosed that in my case there would only be a handful of flights throughout the year when I would truly need cockpit weather. Because of this I was having a hard time justifying the $30 or $50 monthly charge for the service.

They then told me of a subscription service they provided that allowed anyone to shut off their service for any length of time one time per 12 months. Once they wanted to reinstate their service they called in to do so with no costs to reinstate the service at the end of the time period. This service was only good if one turned off the service one time per 12 months.

As an example that was given, if one knew they would not be using the weather much during the winter months because they did not fly much during that time they could shut off the weather service December 1. They then would not have a monthly bill for December, January February. Once they decided to reinstate the service on March 1st they call XM. There would be no initiation fees of any kind. One would simply start being billed again at their previous price each month for their subscribed service.

Although not exactly ideal for my flying situation this did seem like a decent compromise when looking at saving some money on the weather subscription.

I have not subscribed to WX on my 496 yet but if this service is still available when I do subscribe I plan to take advantage of it.
 
cost of 696

The cdn dollar tanked from about around par to .85 or so in the last month. If I want a 696 I have to pay about $3900 cdn. Talk about inflation!
Here's a good deal for you. A cdn dealer will sell a new complete 496 for $2395 cdn., that would be $2035 US new for you guys in the states!
Go figure
 
too much

rleffler said:
Per Garmin's RSS Feed:

The NavData is $49.95 for a single update or $295 for an annual subscription. The FliteCharts database is $95 for single update and $395 for an annual subscription.

http://garmin.blogs.com/my_weblog/2008/11/keeping-your-69.html
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these prices are a bit too high for me. i would need to be flying all the time and for commercial $s to justify the $. i think most pilots would use it like a 496 and just pay for the wx and update the data base once a year or so. things are changing very fast. :eek:
 
Silly local avionics shop

Local avionics shop left out his mailing from Garmin (on the counter of the unicom station/chart girl window), showing $2695 Dnet, $3695 MSRP, $3295 recommended street price.

FYI, YMMV. IMO, that's a pretty slim margin to work from if it's representative.

Rick 90432
 
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How I buy my XM Weather service

RVbySDI said:
At Sun 'n Fun last April I talked with the people at the XM booth about the cost of subscribing to the XM weather service. In the discussion I disclosed that in my case there would only be a handful of flights throughout the year when I would truly need cockpit weather. Because of this I was having a hard time justifying the $30 or $50 monthly charge for the service.

They then told me of a subscription service they provided that allowed anyone to shut off their service for any length of time one time per 12 months. Once they wanted to reinstate their service they called in to do so with no costs to reinstate the service at the end of the time period. This service was only good if one turned off the service one time per 12 months....<snip>
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Steve, I had the same conversation with XM and have the same thoughts on paying $360 or $600/year for the couple times a year I want weather in the cockpit. I sure don't need it here in the California desert year-round!

So what has been working for me is that I call XM when I'm ready to fly a trip east. I pay the (still?) $75 subscription fee then $50 for one month service. After returning from my trip, I call XM and cancel the service. I only need to do this (pay $125/trip) for a couple trips back east per year so am happy with that :D Rosie
 
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