And for the gadgetly inclined, you may need to seek a twelve-step program after AirVenture. Every kind of aviation-related tool and toy imaginable is on display, and among the highlights are Garmin's next-generation navigation system, the GPSmap 396. It's a GPS navigator that combines XM-based weather datalink with XM audio and terrain alerting of the sort found in TAWS boxes costing thousands. Our sister publication, Aviation Consumer, reviewed the 396 in depth. The full seven-page report is available on the magazine's Web site. Don't forget that many of the high-tech gizmos now common on certified airplanes first took flight in the experimental market and that trend continues with PCAvionics, which continues its impressive drive, pushing the leading edge further. PCAvionics, with MountainScope, helped to pioneer software for 3-D moving maps (sometimes called synthetic vision) and it continues to find its way into state-of-the-art hardware for use in experimental aircraft. Watch for PCAvionics to add ADS-B to the highest-resolution terrain-awareness product (its MountainScope software) plus digital approach plates -- all accessed from the same GPS-enabled display.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/leadnews/garmins-newest-a-sure-highlight