Garmin 276C--for aviation use ?

[Slabfish]

I can get a 276 C for a good price.Can this unit be used for aviation purposes ? I see on the Garmin website it does do the road and marine navigation but no mention of aviation .Any body with the knowledge on this GPS ?

[Stephan van Tonder]

You can of course use it for navigation BUT no you cannot get the damn aviation maps for it anywhere. I have asked that question everywhere and searched high and low for av maps but it's a brick wall. So unless you edit some maps yourself to load up to your 276 you can't get anything pre-made. Of course then it also hasn't got terrain awareness functionality built in or some of the other goodies.

[Slabfish]

Thanx Stephan, it`s a pity . A second Q,I have a Nuvi 710 ,would you say the 276 C will be as usefull or more usefull than the 710 for road use,including off road and over landing using T4a ,backtracking ,and all the nice stuff the 710 can do? I am asking because I know you know ( LCCSA )

[Stephan van Tonder]

I don't know the nuvi at all and I personally use a 276 for road, offroad and even in the airplane. I load t4a and the garmap maps at the same time and then select the mapset I use for the situation we are in. So offroad it's T4A and yes it also tracks so that you can backtrack etc. In the airplane I have the totp maps loaded so you can get an idea of the terrain under you and what the terrain altitude is. Sadly the 276 doesn't have that as automatic where th 296 works it out for you and also has some other nice aviation related goodies. If I had 'known' for sure I was going to take up flying seriously I would have bought a 296 rather but at that point I was not sure and then bought the 276. If you have a nuvi that saves tracks I doubt you will get any benefit from the 276.