There is nothing like a long cross-country (especially a long cross-country in good weather with the autopilot on) to help a pilot understand a new piece of avionics, and a recent flight out to Southern California from Houston and back gave me a chance to really get to know my 696 better. While I have been flying it for several months, and given Garmin a fair amount of feedback, this was mostly for local flights, within an our or two of home, and I hadn't really settled in to it for a long trip. Some features, such as flight plan revisions and long-term weather observation just need a full day to evaluate, and this trip gave me a chance.
The first thing I really got to appreciate was the impact of the big screen versus the "now) small screen on the older x96 models. I always thought those units were the cat's meow, but now I am truly spoiled! Being able to bring up half the country on a screen that is big enough for you to see it all at once really helps give one the "big picture" at a glance. Speaking of weather, I found that I like the knob/joystick user interface more every time I use it. While I still wish that navigation boxes had alphanumeric keyboards for data entry, the knob/joystick admittedly is a quick way to scroll around and move through menus. The top level "menu" on the 696 is accessed by twisting the knob, and goes between the major modes - Map, Waypoint, Weather, Terrain, XM, and Info. I find that I rarely look at the Terrain stuff, as I have very good info on that on my EFIS, but switching quickly between Map and Wx is a real benefit. On the east-bound flight, we were watching the weather in Houston (our destination) carefully, as it was low IFR when we started the day, with forecasts for improvement by the time we arrives. It was interesting to scroll over to Texas every once in awhile to see the clearing line move across the hill country and the coastal plain, and doing so required very little effort, since there is a hot-key on the Wx page that activates the "pan" function of the joystick. Very quick and intuitive.
The other feature that I got to use a lot was the flight plan function. A single button push splits the screen, with a map at the bottom, and the active flight plan displayed in tabular format at the top. You can edit the plan either on the text portion, with the traditional Garmin knob/button actions, or by "grabbing and rubber-banding" the line on the map down below. If you start with a departure point and destination on the table, you can insert waypoints completely with the GUI - very fast. For this flight, I started out wit a plan that went 7XS0 - KCLL - TA50 - SSN - KCGZ - VICKO - BLH - L35. (Basically, we were leaving our home airpark, stopping at College Station for a brunch, then heading out to the El Paso area for fuel at an airpark. Leaving there, I went direct to SSN VOR to avoid some high terrain before a potential fuel stop at Casa Grande, then on to VICKO intersection ad Blythe to stay out of restricted areas before going direct to Big Bear Lake.) I keyed this in to the 696 manually, and saved it before the flight as a baseline. Once we got underway, the fuel looked good for the trip to El Paso, so we flew it just as planned, but as we left there, it was apparent on the EFIS (by the time that we got to SSN) that we also had plenty of gas from that point to make our destination without refueling at KCGZ. I still wanted to avoid the restricted areas of course, so I simply punched the Flight Plan button to bring up the waypoint list, used the joystick to cursor down to CGZ, and deleted it. I then went to the lower (map) part of that page, punched the "Use Map" hot key, grabbed the course line and dragged it to the Stansfield VOR, punched "Enter", and it was a new waypoint. Very simple, and it gave me a very clear view of the overall plan as I wanted to fly it. I then updated the 430 (which drives the autopilot through the EFIS) to the plan I had laid out on the 696. Yes, I really wish I could transfer the plan in to the 430 electronically, but that apparently is still not allowed?..I might just add a switch to the EFIS so I can select one or the other when I want.
The return trip was similar. I started with the saved plan, brought it up, and inverted it. I then decided that since my Airnav printout said that the fuel was really cheap in KCGZ and Llano, TX (where it turned out to be $3.00/gallon!), we'd stop short at KCGZ, then go all the way to Llano. Since we were up higher for winds on the return, the high terrain in eastern Arizona was not an issue, so I quickly deleted the SSN and TA50 waypoints, and inserted Llano. I briefly considered Sonora as a stop instead of Llano, but rubber-banding the course line showed that was more out of the way (and the fuel was costlier as well), so I firmed up the plan, and off we went. Basically, I found the flight planning functions to be just about as useful as the various tools I use on the PC at home. For a side trip down to San Diego, I didn?t' have a computer handy at all, but wanted to make sure I stayed clear of terrain and airspace boundaries, so I just put in the origin and destination, then dragged the course line around, creating temporary user waypoints where there were no other landmarks such as intersections). This worked out great, especially on the return flight in the dark - I just followed the lines. (Oh yeah, and the "breadcrumb" trail works great when you want to backtrack something that worked perfectly on the way out as well?)
The other function that got more use than usual was the Waypoint page. It is very easy to dial up any airport or Navaid, and find the frequencies, altitude, runway information, etc. Not only is the basic chart data there, but with a push of a hot button, you can bring up the AOPA guide, with all sorts of information such as phone numbers. While on the ground at Casa Grande, I decided to check on the fuel price at Kestrel airpark in the Hill country, but didn't have the phone number. I brought up the 696, dialed in "1T7", brought up the AOPA guide, and there was the FBO phone number (Unfortunately, they were stuck with a high-priced load of fuel?.). Again - very quick and easy. Approach plates, SIDS and STARS - all are available in the same way, but I really didn?t' use them this flight because the weather was nice. But the user interface for frequency finding is quicker and more intuitive than on the 430, and it is great to have when flying in strange, busy airspace.
I'm sure that I'll find more features on future trips, but these were the things I concentrated on for this week. The 696 is certainly a luxury item - you can live without it - but I can tell you that when I went back to use the 396 a couple of weeks ago in the other plane, it really seemed small and sort of outdated. Or maybe it was just that I was quickly forgetting how to use it?..
Paul
The first thing I really got to appreciate was the impact of the big screen versus the "now) small screen on the older x96 models. I always thought those units were the cat's meow, but now I am truly spoiled! Being able to bring up half the country on a screen that is big enough for you to see it all at once really helps give one the "big picture" at a glance. Speaking of weather, I found that I like the knob/joystick user interface more every time I use it. While I still wish that navigation boxes had alphanumeric keyboards for data entry, the knob/joystick admittedly is a quick way to scroll around and move through menus. The top level "menu" on the 696 is accessed by twisting the knob, and goes between the major modes - Map, Waypoint, Weather, Terrain, XM, and Info. I find that I rarely look at the Terrain stuff, as I have very good info on that on my EFIS, but switching quickly between Map and Wx is a real benefit. On the east-bound flight, we were watching the weather in Houston (our destination) carefully, as it was low IFR when we started the day, with forecasts for improvement by the time we arrives. It was interesting to scroll over to Texas every once in awhile to see the clearing line move across the hill country and the coastal plain, and doing so required very little effort, since there is a hot-key on the Wx page that activates the "pan" function of the joystick. Very quick and intuitive.
The other feature that I got to use a lot was the flight plan function. A single button push splits the screen, with a map at the bottom, and the active flight plan displayed in tabular format at the top. You can edit the plan either on the text portion, with the traditional Garmin knob/button actions, or by "grabbing and rubber-banding" the line on the map down below. If you start with a departure point and destination on the table, you can insert waypoints completely with the GUI - very fast. For this flight, I started out wit a plan that went 7XS0 - KCLL - TA50 - SSN - KCGZ - VICKO - BLH - L35. (Basically, we were leaving our home airpark, stopping at College Station for a brunch, then heading out to the El Paso area for fuel at an airpark. Leaving there, I went direct to SSN VOR to avoid some high terrain before a potential fuel stop at Casa Grande, then on to VICKO intersection ad Blythe to stay out of restricted areas before going direct to Big Bear Lake.) I keyed this in to the 696 manually, and saved it before the flight as a baseline. Once we got underway, the fuel looked good for the trip to El Paso, so we flew it just as planned, but as we left there, it was apparent on the EFIS (by the time that we got to SSN) that we also had plenty of gas from that point to make our destination without refueling at KCGZ. I still wanted to avoid the restricted areas of course, so I simply punched the Flight Plan button to bring up the waypoint list, used the joystick to cursor down to CGZ, and deleted it. I then went to the lower (map) part of that page, punched the "Use Map" hot key, grabbed the course line and dragged it to the Stansfield VOR, punched "Enter", and it was a new waypoint. Very simple, and it gave me a very clear view of the overall plan as I wanted to fly it. I then updated the 430 (which drives the autopilot through the EFIS) to the plan I had laid out on the 696. Yes, I really wish I could transfer the plan in to the 430 electronically, but that apparently is still not allowed?..I might just add a switch to the EFIS so I can select one or the other when I want.
The return trip was similar. I started with the saved plan, brought it up, and inverted it. I then decided that since my Airnav printout said that the fuel was really cheap in KCGZ and Llano, TX (where it turned out to be $3.00/gallon!), we'd stop short at KCGZ, then go all the way to Llano. Since we were up higher for winds on the return, the high terrain in eastern Arizona was not an issue, so I quickly deleted the SSN and TA50 waypoints, and inserted Llano. I briefly considered Sonora as a stop instead of Llano, but rubber-banding the course line showed that was more out of the way (and the fuel was costlier as well), so I firmed up the plan, and off we went. Basically, I found the flight planning functions to be just about as useful as the various tools I use on the PC at home. For a side trip down to San Diego, I didn?t' have a computer handy at all, but wanted to make sure I stayed clear of terrain and airspace boundaries, so I just put in the origin and destination, then dragged the course line around, creating temporary user waypoints where there were no other landmarks such as intersections). This worked out great, especially on the return flight in the dark - I just followed the lines. (Oh yeah, and the "breadcrumb" trail works great when you want to backtrack something that worked perfectly on the way out as well?)
The other function that got more use than usual was the Waypoint page. It is very easy to dial up any airport or Navaid, and find the frequencies, altitude, runway information, etc. Not only is the basic chart data there, but with a push of a hot button, you can bring up the AOPA guide, with all sorts of information such as phone numbers. While on the ground at Casa Grande, I decided to check on the fuel price at Kestrel airpark in the Hill country, but didn't have the phone number. I brought up the 696, dialed in "1T7", brought up the AOPA guide, and there was the FBO phone number (Unfortunately, they were stuck with a high-priced load of fuel?.). Again - very quick and easy. Approach plates, SIDS and STARS - all are available in the same way, but I really didn?t' use them this flight because the weather was nice. But the user interface for frequency finding is quicker and more intuitive than on the 430, and it is great to have when flying in strange, busy airspace.
I'm sure that I'll find more features on future trips, but these were the things I concentrated on for this week. The 696 is certainly a luxury item - you can live without it - but I can tell you that when I went back to use the 396 a couple of weeks ago in the other plane, it really seemed small and sort of outdated. Or maybe it was just that I was quickly forgetting how to use it?..
Paul
Please discuss the "division of labor" between the two. And starting from scratch, would you buy the same combination of boxes again? Thanks.
