Sorry for the delayed reply/update on this.

Don't let tech support tell you they've never heard of this. I've spoken to most everyone on their team about this at some point.

I did end up sending back my XRX and cable to have this "repaired". Zaon tech support sent me a brand-new cable - and they apparently replaced the "guts" (main board) of the XRX. My preference was to have them send me a brand-new/different XRX, but they suggested just replacing the insides to retain my unit serial number.

I've since received my "repaired" XRX, along with a new data cable. On every flight since, I've been having the "Traffic not available" alert from my 496 - just like I was having before I sent the unit in. Zaon tech support is never able to reproduce the problem in their shop.

There are really only two basic possibilities that would explain this problem. It's either a problem with the XRX (or cable) - or a problem with the Garmin 396/496. Since several people are now reporting this problem, I would highly doubt Garmin has manufactured this many "bad" GPS units. The common thread is that we all have an XRX.

I did notice a couple of possible clues:

The "Traffic not available" alert seems to happen when I transmit on my comm radios (although not always). The alert also seems to happen just after the unit detects traffic. My theory is that maybe a small voltage drop to (or inside) the XRX is causing a "hiccup" with its processor - thus causing an interruption in the TIS data stream being sent to the Garmin. If the problem is with a voltage drop to the power input of the XRX, one test would be to try running the XRX (and Garmin) off of a 12-volt battery (independent of the aircraft power). I have not tried this yet.

The bottom line is that enough of us are having this issue to lead me to believe it's a problem with the XRX. We need to push Zaon to acknowledge this issue and get it fixed. I did a cross-country flight across several states having to listen to the periodic "Traffic not available" alert the entire time. Annoying.

Just curious - for those who have been having this issue, how new are your XRX units? I think I've had mine since March 2008. I'm wondering if the newer units no longer have this problem (you'll notice the case is now black instead of gray)?

Chad