When the Garmin 495 was released by Garmin, it provided all the features of its counterpart the Garmin 496, but without XM Weather and pre-loaded City Navigator NT and gave it a smaller price tag. The 495 kept popular features such as SafeTaxi and AOPA’s Airport Directory data. With the new Garmin aera series release, the Garmin aera 550 is the perfect replacement to upgrade from the GPSMAP 495. Similar to the Garmin aera 560, the aera 550 only lacks the XM Weather. Like the 3 other aera series GPS’, Garmin has turned the aera 550 into a fully intuitive touch screen system, giving the user a larger screen than the Garmin 495 in an overall smaller unit. The aera 550 graphical Terrain page offer both overhead and vertical profile views of the topography you’re flying over. The database-driven terrain advisory feature offers TAWS-like color coding and pop-up obstruction alerts. Like all the units in Garmin’s new aera series, this piece of hardware is great for the Road Warriors as well as aviators, providing built-in Bluetooth and voice-guided driving directions.

Garmin aera 550 & Garmin GPSMAP® 495 Side-By-Side Comparison

As I mentioned, the Garmin aero 550 is not as fully functioning as the Garmin aero 560, but it is a more then suitable upgrade to it previous counterpart, providing the users with the option fly/drive option.

The Garmin 296 was built on the traditional Garmin aviation handhelds and offered a faster speed, a rechargeable lithium-ion battery back, and an automatic logbook that calculated your flight time then prior GPS’. But with time comes new products and the Garmin aera 500 is now lined up to replace this now discontinued Garmin 296. The Garmin aera series is a dual-duty GPS providing users with a simple transition from flying to driving. The Garmin aera 500 is the most affordable of the touch screen models and what some would consider an entry-level model. The Garmin aera 500 comes pre-loaded with topographical mapping to help you view surrounding terrain. It is capable of holding up to 50 flight plans with up to 300 points each. The Garmin aera 500 is ready for use straight out of box.

Garmin aera 500 & Garmin 296 Side-By-Side Comparison

Although the Garmin 296 was one of the first to have many of the now standard features at a reasonable price, the Garmin aera 500 is just as user friendly with a sleeker look and wider screen. Want more information on the Garmin aera 500? Click Here.

When Garmin announced in October 2009 that they were discontinuing one of their most popular aviation units, the Garmin 396, I knew something bigger was on the horizon. Or, in the Garmin aera 510′s case, something “smaller” was on the horizon.

Introducing the Garmin aera 510

FINALLY! Garmin implemented their touch-screen technology from their popular automotive units and put them into their new Garmin aera series aviation portables. Actually, it would probably be more accurate to say that they’ve taken their aviation technology and put it into their nuvi automotive line. Regardless, I think they hit the mark with the new Garmin aera 510 aviation portable.

In a nutshell, they took the Garmin 396, put it into a nuvi widescreen body and lowered the price by almost $200. The Garmin aera 510 has a larger screen than the Garmin 396: 3.81″W x 2.25″H; 4.3″ diaginal (aera 510), 3.2″W x 2.1″H; 3.8″ diaginal (GPSMAP 396), and a much smaller body: 5.3″W x 3.3″H x .9″D (aera 510), 5.7″W x 3.2″H x 1.9″D (GPSMAP 396). The aera 510 is also almost 5 ounces lighter than the 396.

Garmin aera 510 & Garmin 396 Side-By-Side Comparison

As I mentioned previously, I’m glad to see Garmin has finally given us aviation portables with touchscreen technology. I was surprised to find that it doesn’t display your aircraft’s position over the charts and plates, like the Bendix/King AV80R Ace, but I don’t think we’ll have to wait too long for that feature.