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Garmin GTN650 and Avidyne EX600

I know we've done this one to death, but I think we need to wait till the IFDs are shipping and then see how they do on the bugs side of things, before they can be considered.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I know we've done this one to death, but I think we need to wait till the IFDs are shipping and then see how they do on the bugs side of things, before they can be considered.

Very sensible. The GTNs are only really bug free from the v4 software - and this has only just been released!

EGEO

Back to the original question... I have a GTN750, a GTN650 and the EX600. They all "talk" to each other without any issues - the flight plan entered on the 750 is displayed on the Ex600, which also displays heading, desired track and actual track.

My experience with the GTNs is similar to Jason's : entry of flight plans is so fast and easy that there's really no point putting them on a card. An order of magnitude faster than with the GNS. The screen is stunning, the Ex600 in comparison is like an iPhone 1 vs a Retina display... which is why I'm moving Charts from the Ex600 to the 750. Both are perfectly sunlight readable though.

I haven't encountered severe turbulence so I don't know how easy it will be to use the touch screen then, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be worse than knob twiddling.

Where the EX600 shines is in displaying weather info (storm scope, downlink weather and on board radar can all be displayed) - you can see METARs or TAFs along your planned route, and the radar functions are very good. I have no idea if you can get the DL data DIY with a sat phone without some serious hacking. The question I ask myself is if it would make sense to keep it if I decide to install the Aspen or G500 PFDs.

Unlike the GTNs, there's no VCALC functions to help plan your descent, and AFAIK no link to fuel flow to compute fuel at destination.

EGTF, LFTF

Do you get a decent extended track line, ahead of the aeroplane symbol e.g. as visible here, pointing straight ahead

both on the EX600 and the GTN760?

I recall that some products (GNS?) do not display such a line.

If I was after Jepp charts then high-res would be a primary consideration but I cannot see myself ever paying the ~€2000/year for VFR+IFR Europe terminal charts; an expense which cannot be shared with others.

Any particular reason why the EX600 is preferred for displaying the stormscope? The GTN750 is supposed to display everything of that sort.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

No - the track appears like a cursor on the range circle. The GTN does display stormscope and radar, but I find it very convenient to have a separate screen for navigation and for weather info. A gio feature on the EX600 is the panning: you can pan to your destination area then toggle between that and your current position, seeing the weather at a glance on the map. Is it marginally too much to have all three screens? It would be if I didn't have on board radar to display, I agree.

EGTF, LFTF

the track appears like a cursor on the range circle

I wonder why they did that.

Surely, when you are flying to Point X, you adjust your heading till the "trajectory line" lines up with X.

I find it very convenient to have a separate screen for navigation and for weather info

Me too; that's why I would like the MFD.

My present MFD is 320x240 and is plenty good enough.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Aligning the two cursors works fine... I guess it depends what you're used to. Don't you get a track line on your EHSI?

EGTF, LFTF

Aligning the two cursors works fine... I guess it depends what you're used to. Don't you get a track line on your EHSI?

Clearly I need to look at a picture of this thing to see what you mean.

I can display all sorts of things on the Sandel EHSI but normally one doesn't because it's a small screen. Most of the time it is just displaying the track deviation, and when you select NAV (for an ILS) you get the "cross" to be flown.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

You should be able to display track and desired track.

EGTK Oxford

When flying manually or in HDG mode, I use the Garmin 695 and its projected track line (showing where I will be in x minutes). I have the 695 on the yoke so at the best possible position in the cockpit. Much better than any display in the avionics stack could be.

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