Yep - I'll give ya the straight dope on it.
The first couple batches of ATCs that rolled off the line from Control Vision were a bit wonky - always happens with a new type of toy, and they did have some bugs to work out. My ATC only hard-crashed once, and that's while I was trying to do an upgrade, but there were some sluggish features and I was kinda hoping it would improve in short order.
It did.
You have to play around with the settings to get it the way you want it - like, I didn't figure out how to put it in a "night" display mode (with a darker background) until AFTER I was flying one night and having my night vision killed by the brightness. Finally had to cover it with a rag so I could see.
Boy is that sucker bright. You could read the screen standing on the surface of the sun. Really nice during the day.
I like the touch screen. On bumpy days, it's easier than working with the stylus. And, as you get used to it, and you know how you like your views set up and stuff, you'll press fewer buttons.
I bought the XM version thinking I was going to go right into IR training, but that didn't happen. I didn't really need the XM, but I have to admit it's nice to have. It's also kinda fun to hook it up to a 12V inverter and sit on your porch playing with the NexRad display when you're not flying.
The street navigation on the unit isn't the greatest, but it's not awful. I use it a lot when I travel, and most of the time it does pretty good - I wrote a review somewhere else about it...it gets the job done.
But as a small aviation GPS it's really nice. CV has done a lot of little things to it which make it handy. It's like having a GPS, a Sectional, the AF/D and a fuel guide all in one little box.
It's also got a "co-pilot" function that will remind you to do things like switch tanks, check that landing gear is down, etc. The taxi diagrams are kinda nice, too, but I haven't really needed that much yet. The biggest place I fly is KAUS and they usually progressive taxi everyone because the construction has everything effed up there anyway.
Last word - I really like the unit. I was torn between it and a 496, but the price of the 496 was a killer. A lot of people recommended the Garmin, but a lot of
pilots recommended the AnywhereMap products. I'd seen some of their other stuff and it was good.
Customer service at CV is great, too, by the way. The owner of the company personally deals with a lot of customer issues, and that kind of leadership is nice to see.