For those of you who have a Garmin 430/530, the "terrain awareness" update is finally available. It's a free upgrade for units bought within about the last 16 months or $200 for older units. I had mine upgraded last week. It requires both a hardware and software change. So far, I have limited experience with it but I think it works very well and is a huge improvement in safety. Especially for IFR. It is smart and knows where the airports are and what the flight profile/ altitude should be during each phase of the approach/ landing. It warns me if I descend to quickly or get too low but doesn't "cry wolf" every time I try to land like my 396 does. In fact, I turn-off the terrain warnings on the 396 when landing because they scare the crap out of passengers every time I land. So, at the precise time when I need it the most, it's not available (on the 396). Does anyone know how to fix this problem on the 396? Anyway, the 430/530 is the the one I'm going to depend on. When it talks I'm going to listen!