On February 18, 2011, Garmin announced price reductions to their aera series portable aviation units. The new prices are as follows:
aera 560 – $1,599 (was: $1,999)
aera 550 – $1,249 (was: $1,499)
aera 510 – $1,099 (was: $1,299)
aera 500 – $699 (was: $799)
I’ve had a number of inquiries regarding Garmin’s motivation for lowering these units with most thinking that they’re preparing to release upgraded units. This certainly is a possibility, and if so, I wouldn’t expect to hear anything until Oshkosh at the earliest. Similar to Apple, Garmin is very good at keeping secrets and leaked information is not likely. The aera series units are selling well, but I’m sure the US economic downturn has not discriminated against them. So it could be just a matter of trying to boost their bottom line.
In either case, the new pricing on the aera 560 and 550 should just about eliminate future sales of their GPSMAP 496 and 495 units. Except for the diehard users of these units who for whatever reason don’t want to upgrade to a unit that’s smaller, faster and has a larger screen (touchscreen), I can’t see a reason not to move into an aera.
There are certainly some advantages for aera series compared to the 495/496 units, but in the end:
- the usable screen size of the aera units is not larger when you consider the size of the touchscreen buttons
- readability in direct sunlight exposure (and yes it also happens during flight) is much better on the 495/496 units
- battery life is short on the aera series and this is a critical argument when you are flying (5hrs vs 15hrs)
- aera is equiped with resistive touchscreens (generally used on cheap devices) which not comes close to what Apple is offering on it’s products (capacitive touchsceens), as long as this is the case, I prefer the buttons on the 495/496 units
And no, I’m not a die hard fan of the 4xx series but they became very good over the multiple generations and I’m hoping for the next generation of the aera series to fix what seems inconvenient to me.
I do not like touchscreen as I generally sweat and I think it would be very difficult to touch in any rough weather.Yes I have a 496 and do not want to change.I would not take the new unit even if you swapped me even. I think you need new product research people. Have Fun Jerry