WHAT A GPS!!!!
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It looks like a
G-600, it acts and feels like a
G-1000, and it fits in the palm of your hand (for those
of us with large hands).
In this 'challenging' economy, how frustrating it is that
Garmin International would release such fabulous products as
the GPSMAP 695/696 navigation units with such a high price
tag. This is a truly
quality product and one worth every penny if you happen to
have an extra
$3,595.00 dollars (street price about $3295.00). |
I was lucky enough to get a sneak peak at this navigation unit
and even luckier to buy one at the AOPA convention in San Jose
California in November, 2008. I had never touched either the
GPSMAP 695 or 696 before, but after having owned a GPSMAP 196, 296 and
496, I didn't hesitate to pay the price to get this one.
What makes this unit such a fantastic navigation device?
The feel of the controls and the easy user interface alone
answers this question, but the included features make the purchase
decision an even easier one.
In short:
Pilot Resources
VFR Map
 The
VFR Map/view can be as cluttered or uncluttered as you like.
It displays a host of information and is both easy and pleasant to
look at. If there is too much information on the screen, all
you need to do is press the CLR button until you see the level of
data that makes it easier for you to navigate with.
In addition to de-cluttering the map display, you can also
customize it with multiple rows of data (ground speed, ETA,
etc), but you can also, at any time, click the PANEL soft button to
display a 6-pack array of instruments.
The panel of instruments would almost seem like they are indeed
connected to the sensors inside the aircraft. I don't
 know
how Garmin did it, but when turning into a standard rate turn in an
airplane, the turn coordinator on the GPS shows a standard rate
turn. When I tested this when driving my car during a turn,
the GPS's turn coordinator never left straight and level flight.
I'm just not sure how Garmin was able to accomplish this.
With a simple push of the power button, you can also change the
brightness of the display, and if you have the 696, the volume of
the XM Radio can be adjusted as well. I found during testing,
that by reducing the brightness of the screen and keeping the XM
volume at zero (0) when I wasn't listening to music helped to extend
the batery power of the unit.
IFR MAP
Something even more useful, although not 'legal' to use for
flight into IMC (Instrument Meteorological Conditions) is the IFR
Map mode. This display is brand new to the Garmin hand held
aviation product line and one long awaited for by this pilot.
The IFR map will show you either a white background map, or a
white background map with either the Low En-route or the
high En-route airways drawn. As shown in this image, the
'victor' airways are shown which makes IFR navigation
extremely easy. Low En-route airways are shown in blue
while the high En-route airways are shown in green, colors
different enough to make it easy to differentiate one from the
other.
Intersections are also easy to view but as with any GPS device,
not easy to see where they originated from. Scrolling the map
can help, but sometimes a paper chart is still the best. Bring
your paper maps with you.
Terrain is also available while using the IFR map mode to help
enhance the safety of any flight in our out of IMC.
Satellite Map
 One
of the few things that has disappointed me about the GPSMAP 695/696
device is its satellite map function.
This display is relatively impressive, but really doesn't bring
any additional navigation abilities to the GPS unit as a whole.
Creating the screen capture shown here, the Satellite view was used
but very little if any detail is shown. Personally, I was
expecting something like Google Maps after pressing the SAT VIEW
soft key.
Another limitation of the satellite view is that it only displays
satellite images at the 20 nautical mile or greater zoom level.
Obviously, this is because the amount of data that a satellite image
contains could possibly overwhelm the computer processor that the 695/696
uses and slow the unit down to a crawl.
Overall, this feature is there for its 'wow' effect rather than for any
useful navigation reasons.
Terrain Map
The satellite map displayed above shows the normal terrain
avoidance feature
of just about any
modern GPS unit being sold today. The Garmin GPSMAP 695/696 goes a step
further by giving you a profile view of the terrain in your general
vicinity of flight.
As can be seen by the screen image to the right, the terrain view
will give you a 'mountainous' view of the terrain in your area but
can be, at the same time, a bit misleading. If you just look at the profile view,
you will think you may be getting closer to higher terrain, when in
reality (in this case), the terrain is off your 3:00 position.
This display is extremely helpful in all legs of flight, but both
the 'birds eye' and the profile views need to be reviewed together
to get the full picture.
I plan on using this map quite a bit when flying over mountainous
areas I have never flown over before.
Hard and Soft keys
Just like the G-1000, the 695/696 units use the idea of soft keys
allowing the software of the GPS to change the meanings of each soft
key depending on the
 currently
selected screen. The soft keys can be found at the bottom of
the unit.
As an example, on the MAP screen, you will be given the choice of
soft keys 1, 2, 3, and 5 as MAP, TERRAIN, WEATHER and PANEL
respectively. As shown in this image, TERRAIN is selected and
thus displayed on the map.
On this screen capture of the 695/696, the Waypoint (WPT) screen
is displayed showing soft keys that now have a
different meaning: INFO, CHART, AOPA and WEATHER. When you
press the soft key as indicated, that particular information will be
displayed about the current waypoint on the navigation unit's screen.
Hard keys are the keys located on the right side of the GPSMAP
695/696. They include the RNG (Range or Zoom), ENT (Enter),
CLR (Clear), MENU, FPL (Flight Plan) D-> (Direct To) and NRST
(Nearest) keys. These key functions never change and provide
the most used functions for the pilot to access.
FMS Knob/Joystick
The FMS Knob is used for easy data entry and navigation
throughout the functioning of the navigation units.
- To move from data field to field, you just have to press the
joystick to the right. left, or up, down.
- To enter data, you simply turn the knob clockwise or counter
clockwise to move up and down the alphabet and numeric range of
values.
- To move to another character of the data field being entered
into, just move the joystick to the right or left.
The joystick is also used as a cursor key. This means that
when you are ready to select a data field to access or modify, you
simply press the joystick 'in' to move into
field-selection/data-entry mode, or press the joystick 'in' a second time
to move out of field-selection/data entry mode.
Taxi-Way Charts (SafeTaxi)
Talk about useful! SafeTaxi charts were introduced in the
GPSMAP 496 and have
 saved
me from many embarrassing incidents when trying to get around
relatively complicated airport taxiways.
When approaching an airport, if auto-zoom is enabled, the GPSMAP
695/696 will begin to zoom into the airport you are arriving at.
Once on the ground, an airport diagram will be displayed with an
aircraft 'icon' shown approximating your current position on the
runway.
Taxiway designators will be shown and you will be able to
confidently taxi through the most complicated airport taxi-way
systems imaginable.
As said earlier, this feature was part of the feature set for the
GPSMAP 496, but with the GPSMAP 695/696, it is even more useful because
of the larger screen and the ability to zoom in closer without the
image of the airport getting 'scrolled' off of the screen.
This feature alone has helped me justify the cost of this
navigation unit.
Approach Charts
As I said earlier in this short review, this is an area I've been
waiting for, for quite some time to arrive into portable GPS
technology. The almighty G-1000 doesn't even have this feature
available (but, it is coming).These approach
charts are not free of charge, however, you will have to purchase a
subscription to receive them, and at the time of this review, no price or
download option is yet available on the Garmin web site.
When on the WPT (Waypoint) page, a soft key will be assigned the
'CHART' function. When pressed, the currently selected
airport's runway chart will be displayed (in this example, the
Oakland Airport diagram is displayed). You can zoom in and pan
around this diagram as much as you like.
 If
you want to look at STAR's, DP's, AP's or the like, you'll have to
navigate to the field at the top of the window and select what you
wish to view. Here is where the FMS/Joy-Stick knob comes into
play. You simply press the FMS knob in, turn it once to the
right or left, and you will be presented with a list of charts
available to you for this airport. As shown in this screen capture, the DP's
(departure procedures) for Oakland are displayed. You can turn
your FMS knob clockwise or counter
clockwise to scroll through the list of available charts (notice the
scroll bar to the right of the list of chart possibilities).
This is an extremely convenient feature when using the unit for chart
reference, but Garmin left out a very important function. These
are 'static' charts - in other words, you will NOT see an
airplane icon flying the approach as you acutally do fly the
approach. Other products
from Jeppesen and Anywhere Map do include this function - Great for
positional awareness. These charts are ONLY
for reference.
You can indeed load an approach into the 695/696 by adding it to
your flight plan, but it is an approach
that only shows the FAF (final approach fix) to the MAP (Missed
approach point) with no holds or IAF's (initial approach fixes).
I can only assume that Garmin withheld this feature because the unit
is NOT suppose to be used in IMC conditions or for IFR flight.
Even so, this is very disappointing.
I have found a way around this feature however, and that is to
create a flight plan for each approach you may use. This can
take some time, but if you fly the same approach over and over,
adding this feature as a flight plan can be of great help.
Weather
The GPSMAP 696 has implemented, what looks like, the exact same
XM-Weather capabilities as the GPSMAP 496 with some additional
forecasting reports. But the big difference with the 696 is
the large screen (again) that really gives you the ability to see
the larger weather maps. Below are just a few screens of the
weather reports/charts available.
Note that this weather information does not come for free. You
will have to buy a subscription from XM which will include both
weather and music. This subscription costs around $80.00 per month.
A list of weather feature on the GPSMAP 696
| NEXRAD RADAR |
Satellite Mosaic |
Cloud ECHO Tops |
| Winds Aloft |
Surface Pressure |
Lightning Strikes |
| Storm Cells |
METARs |
AIRMETs |
| SIGMETs |
TFRs |
Pilot Reports |
| Freezing Levels |
Turbulence Forecast |
Icing Forecast |
| |
General Weather Forecast |
|
System Status
The INFO page on the GPSMAP 695/696 is full if good information
that you can customize to fit your needs. It displays the
availability of both GPS and WAAS
satellites and a lot of navigation information to boot.
Something funny happened during my first use of the 696.
After about 1 hour of usage (with a fully charged battery), I
noticed that my battery indicator (shown in this screen capture) was
showing that the battery power was critically low. I was quite disappointed as to the
battery life, but kept letting the unit run to see just how long
it would continue to operate. It kept working for over 2 additional hours!!!
The only thing that I think could be happening is that the battery
had not been 'conditioned' and will stabilize after my next full use
of the unit. (Note: an additional battery costs
$199.00).
AOPA Airport Information
While all of you reading this are great pilots to be sure, you know as well
as I that a pilot should
 know
everything about their airport of destination before getting there,
right? Well, I have to admit, there have been times where I've
not gotten everything I need to know before reaching my destination
airport and my GPSMAP 496 has come in
real handy. The 695/696 is no different.
The AOPA information stored in the GPSMAP 695/696 is obtained
just like any other aviation database for any other Garmin GPS
navigation unit. You can either buy a subscription or download
single updates for about $49.00 (subscriptions can be more cost
effective than a single update if you plan on keeping your unit up
to date).
The information found in the AOPA database is invaluable.
It includes everything you need to know about the airport including
restaurants, car rentals, lodging, taxi services, nav aids, charts,
airport phone numbers and area attractions.
It's a nice resource to have and will tell you more about your
destination airport than just about any other AFD (Airport facility
directory) paper product available to pilots today.
Database Updates
There are a number of database updates you will need for the
695/696, and as mentioned earlier, they are not free. Here is
a list:
- Jeppesen
- AOPA
- Safe Taxi
- Flight Charts (approach charts)
Since the Flight charts updates were not available at the writing
of this article, we'll only have to assume that the yearly price for
these will be close to the price for the Jeppesen database downloads
($295.00/year).
With that said, to keep your GPSMAP 695/696 up to date throughout
the year, it will cost you a whopping $1,179.95. WOW!
To download a single cycle of all of the updates, it will cost
about $249.75 (assuming the flight charts will cost $49.95 for a
single update). This is much kinder to the pocketbook, but
will not keep your GPS unit as current as the more expensive option.
Pros
- Beautiful, Large Screen
- Very easy user interface
- High quality construction
- Quality navigation buttons/knobs
- Stays cool - doesn't heat up during use
- Comes with it's own RAM - Yoke mount (a suction-cup add-on
can be purchased directly from RAM mounts)
- GPS antenna is built in. (Note: comes with both
a weather and an external GPS antenna.)
- Includes a cover for the unit to protect its LCD screen
- Includes every cable you will ever need to connect the unit
to power or your computer
Cons
- The battery is pretty good, but can run out in just over 2
hours depending on how you have the display setup and if you are
using the XM antenna.
- No Blue-Tooth for audio
- Approach charts are static - you don't see your airplane on
the approach chart during the approach
- No street navigation - this is an aviation navigation unit
ONLY
- Satellite view of the map is low resolution and basically
useless
- The unit is still only approved for VFR flight (FAA
regulations limit this possibility)
- The unit is big (7.5" x 5.5" x 1") (but the display makes up
for it!)
- It's a little heavy, almost 3 times the weight of the GPSMAP
496.
- Navigation database updates are
VERY expensive.
- Expensive replacement battery
- Expensive!
Conclusion
Should you buy one? Well, probably not. This is a
VERY expensive unit ($3,595.00 at initial release). You can
obtain most of the GPSMAP 696's functions using the GPSMAP 496 and
pay a lot less money. However, you won't have approach charts
and some of the weather panels will not be available to you on the
496.
If you still like the idea of the large screen and you do have
some extra bucks but don't want to pay almost $4,000, you can choose
the GPSMAP 695 which includes everything except XM Weather and radio
for (retail) $2,895.00.
I like the unit primarily because of its screen size and approach
charts capabilities - perfect for a flight instructor keeping track
of position and the performance of their students.
Happy and Safe
Flying
Copyright 2008, Bill Komanetsky
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