Garmin ported over touchscreen logic from its street navigators and the result is streamlined, faster operation with a full feature set.

By Paul Bertorelli

Was it really four years ago when Garmin blew us away with the GPSmap 396, a stunningly capable portable that offered datalink weather and even traffic? Indeed it was and now the 396 is about to be consigned to the boneyard, an inevitable victim of the relentless product cycle. The new arrival doing the displacing is called the aera and it’s being sold by Garmin at four price points, each with a different feature set. (See the chart on page 6 for details.) …