My cable for the 196 has a USB to Serial convertor, probably the same one you are using as it was supplied by Garmin.

When you plug the Garmin into your USB port, check to see which Com port it has been assigned to in Windows. I find this easiest by right clicking My Computer, select Hardware, then Device Manager, then Ports and you will see Prolific USB-to Seial Comm Port with the comm port shown in brackets eg (COM5).

Once you know what COM port it is on, go into SkyDemon, select preferences, then the Misc tab and set the External Device Port to the COM port that was identified above. It will then work.

Note that I have found I that if you plug the Garmin into another USB port it can be assinged to another com port which will mean you have to look again to see which port has been assigned. So suggest you always plug into same USB port to save messing about.

Also if you are using another application at the same time as SkyDemon they both can't communicate with the Garmin at the same time.

1) exporting the route as a .gpx file (this is one of the options on the export tab)

2) Opening the .gpx file using EasyGPS and load onto the 196 from EasyGPS.

It's a little bit of a pain to have to make the extra step, but on the other hand it only takes an additional 30 seconds to do, so is a fairly minor issue.

Hope this helps T-Bag.