I am looking to upgrade my Garmin 196 to something a little nicer. I love the 196 but I need a new toy. Does anybody have a suggestion on what to get? I was looking at the iFly700 or the Garmin 396. Not sure what I am going to do yet, or if I want to spend any money. I might just buy more fuel and keep the 196.

I made the switch a few months ago from a 196 to the i Fly700. What sold me on it was another pilot running me through it's operation, in a few minutes, and telling me I wouldn't even need to read the instruction manual. Just pick it up and start using it! Having said that, since I have still not
read the manual, I'm sure it has a lot lot more trick features that I currently know how to use.

Right now my main mode of use is:
1. turn it on
2. drag the sectional picture around until I see where I want to go, then hold my finger on the spot (doesn't have to be an airport...with an identifier in it's data base) for three seconds. This is a great feature for going to other then airports without having to laboriously enter lat/long.
3. It ask's if I want to go there, I hit yes, it tells me this will supersede the last flight plan, I tell it yeah I know and bang all the needed info comes up. SIMPLE!

Compared to the 196... How is the screen to seen in the sun, and at night? Does it mount easy? How do the charts work? Does it have some of the same features, as the 196, way-points. Flight time, flight log?? Any more information or some pictures of the mounting in your plane would be cool.

One more thing, does the sreen always face north or can you make the airplane's cousre always face up???? I hope that made sense.

Thanks in advance.

I dont have any experience with an iFLY, but I have an Aera500. I love the touch screen. Its easily readable, and you can orient it however you want, North up or airplane course up. Its super user friendly and easy to use. It also gives me the option to have TCAS if I put a Garmion transponder in my plane.
I wish GPS makers would make better mounting systems for airplanes without yokes. Suction cups really dont work that well, at least up in Canada with the temperature changes, and there is nowhere to put the yoke mount. Garmin makes a good stick on dash mount for its smaller GPS's, but I have been looking at a 796 and from the research I have been doing, the stick on mount wont work...

I've had an ifly 700 for almost a year. It is a good tool for VFR flying. For the price you can't really go wrong. They have excellent tech support and continue to improve the operating system and add features. That being said, I find it to be a pain in the A^% to use it for IFR. Maybe I just don't know the shortcuts, but loading and especially modifying the flight plans is a task. A task I personally could do without when in the soup. It does however show your position on the approach plates which is nice. The screen is very readable, and it has "night mode". I have it mounted to the yoke. Fits very nicely in there. They are about to release a new version. The ifly 720. It's going to have an improved screen and a faster processor, which I think would improve my earlier gripe about loading flight plans etc.

I have the Ifly700 and really like it. Everything said is pretty much how it is for me and the annual subscription is reasonable. I get the IFR package so I can get all approach plates and charts for the whole country if I want. I just use it IFR for increased situational awareness, the geo referenced approach plates are great for knowing where you are along the approach at a glance. As for VFR travel. It is all I need.

pif_sonic wrote:One more thing, does the sreen always face north or can you make the airplane's cousre always face up???? I hope that made sense.

That's an important feature in any moving map. I prefer the map to be oriented North up, but every time I get into a rental plane, it's set to Track up, which I can understand because it must help situational awareness. Personal preference I guess, I'm too used to thinking like I'm reading a chart.

You can choose "North UP" or "Course UP" easily on the ifly.