Anyone fed up with Garmin might want to look into AvMap. I have the AvMap GeoPilot at half the cost of any Garmin that would do anything comparable & I *love* it, and love the helpful customer service they've given me. This is not the top-of-their-line EKP IV model, but a couple of notches down. It's size also perfectly fits on the "glove box" cover of my 415-C panel and rides right behind the yoke, and AvMap gave me some industrial-strength Velcro, so the installation is fully detachable & portable. It is so thin that even with the yoke fully forward, it clears, and there's no interference! The only downside is that it is cigarette lighter powered, not battery (that's how it's so thin), so to pre-program it at home, I have to use an A/C adapter. In the plane, I run the power wire up over the glare shield and down the right side to the cig lighter, and the satellite-sensor is a tiny square piece that rides unobtrusively on top of the glare shield.
This was my first GPS of any kind, and at first I was on the phone with their tech support and customer service so often that they came to know me. (Not because of any problems but just because I needed to learn how to use it, I am an electronics novice, and it has lots of neat features.) They were unfailingly cheerful, helpful & responsive. I've had it for 2 years and no real trouble with it (except for one instance caused by my own ignorance of the need to periodically clear the past tracks, so as not to overload RAM). I looked at a lot of brands/models and even bought (then returned) a Lowrance, before getting the GeoPilot, and -- while none of them have really good instruction manuals -- the GeoPilot's book was more logically presented than most. Linda N3437H (Sky Sprite) L.A.
