Not necessary in the SR22 :-) If the lights go out the flashlight will not help much
If the lights go out the flashlight will not help much
But doesn’t the SR22 have mechanical standby instruments?
But doesn’t the SR22 have mechanical standby instruments?
Yep, its called the parachute! 
Yes – I have a Zebralight dimmable headlamp. They are the best I have ever seen. The wide angle version. Not cheap!
Yes, of course the backup instruments are mechanical, although the AI is electric too …
For GPS, I use a 7" Android tablet loaded with ICAO charts for all the countries I usually fly to. To display the charts, I use Oruxmaps , which is free, has good functionality and, despite not being specifically intended for aviation purposes, is quite convenient for air navigation. In particular, if you drag the moving map with your finger, it displays bearing and distance from your current location to the point you have dragged to the centre of the screen. It can also record and display tracks in 3D (i.e. with altitude), so I use it as a primitive flight data recorder. The hardware is a Freelander PD10, made in China, bought for US$120 new, built like a tank, with two SIM slots and 3G connectivity. Never tried keeping it switched off for months, I just keep it charged because I use it for a lot of everyday stuff, even as a mobile phone. When flying, I turn the GSM/3G part off to conserve power (when out of coverage, mobile phones drain the battery very fast, as the network search mode is quite power-hungry); in the “tracker mode” (with the GPS permanently on but the screen being turned on only occasionally) the battery will last at least 8 hours. With the screen permanently on, I keep it connected to a USB converter plugged into the lighter socket. If anyone is curious, I can measure how long the battery lasts with the screen on at maximum brightness.
For a headlamp, I use an inexpensive Energizer 7-LED one, discovered by chance at Halfords. It has four operating modes, 3 white and 1 red.
Peter, speaking of non-rechargeable lithium batteries (Tadiran?) – those lithium / thionyl chloride batteries are indeed very durable but potentially quite hazardous. In particular, they release corrosive and toxic stuff if mechanically damaged and liable to explode if shorted.
I bought a 196 on Ebay. A very nice little unit.
The 2011 firmware update is easy to find and I did that.
The aviation mapdata is from 2002 and Garmin don’t list anything for the 196. Jepp sell these instead but their site goes only as far as the 496.
Does anybody have any old databases and the upload software? I’d be happy with say 2008, for this emergency-only box, but 2002 is quite old. I have the uploading software for the 496, last used in 2008 or 2009.
I am not aware of any “PDA/tablet/smartphone” product which has a switched-off battery life of more than about a week or two.
Any iPad will happily last weeks if switched off. I don’t always take mine on travels and the battery level after a couple of weeks is identical to when I left it.
Radio: I have an ICOM A24 (i.e. the radio/VOR version) and only recharge it a couple of times a year. Mind you, it’s normally only used as standby, so doesn’t see much ‘action’.
I’ve just measured the power consumption of the Garmin 196 when it is turned off.
It is 0.41mA. That is quite a lot. With a lithium AA battery being about 3000mAh that translates to 304 days before they are flat. A cheaper alkaline one will do about 2/3 of that.
In comparison, the old Skymap 2 draws 0.1mA. And I found something funny: it contains six AA cells, in two groups of 3, and the 0.1mA is drawn from one group. The current drawn from the other group is zero. So 3 of the cells go flat while the other 3 are like new.
Peter doesn’t Garmin offer updated airspace data? I bought mine off e bay and downloaded a database dated 22 Sept 2011 – I need my daughters PC to download and transfer – I think the connectors are quite clunky, and I will have to dig them out!
