Garmin late last year released a new line of compact handheld GPS units, the aera 500 through 560 series. The four new aera units are priced from $875 to $2,199 and key differences between these and the older but still available 196 through 496 series is inclusion of Garmin’s City Navigator NT street mapping system (almost the same as Garmin’s nüvi automotive GPS units) and a touchscreen display.
With the addition of street mapping, Garmin is now back in direct competition with BendixKing’s AV8OR series, which offers the Navigon street mapping system and touchscreens. Unlike the larger AV8OR Ace, however, the aera series doesn’t include charts or the Ace’s georeferencing (own-ship position display) on approach and en route charts. The aera 550 and 560 units do include Garmin’s SafeTaxi diagrams, which show own-ship position on the airport diagram. Another useful feature available only on the 550 and 560 in automotive mode is lane assist with junction view, speed limit display and Navteq traffic alerts (a separate $119.99 GTM-20 receiver is needed for traffic).
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