I read on a US site that for some products (the GNS were mentioned) you could buy from either, and one was a lot cheaper than the other.
Does this make any sense for Europe, and which products (which GPS, and which database) is this possible for? I can’t see it being possible for Jeppesen terminal charts because the European pricing of those is high, and tightly controlled.
Hi Peter,
I got the case in the Mustang we just bought.
I took the package from Garmin instead of Jeppesen.
Garmin has a package (PilotPack) for Europe that is really interesting (around 1300$) for all the services including their Flite Chart.
The only thing it’s that our G1000 software had to be reset to remove the chart view option (for Jeppesen)
Romain
WRT to PilotPak, Garmin pricing is especially more public, including when they sell Jeppesen data (e.g. navigation database). It is listed on their website, you order on the website, you pay, you get it. Jeppesen is “call us on the phone and we’ll tell you”. I’ve heard the “Connext/FlightStream update databases over WiFi from your iPad with Garmin Pilot” feature works only if you bought from Garmin, but they promise it will work in future with Jeppesen-bought subscriptions.
However, AFAIK, the Jeppesen navigation database of GNS navigators can be bought only from Jeppesen. Jeppesen navigation database for GTNs can be bought from Garmin. But Garmin now also has their own, non-Jeppesen sourced navigation database, but only for USA and Canada. If you buy this one (maybe only as part of OnePak “whole aircraft” annual bundle), you even get it on a portable “for free”.
Romain wrote:
The only thing it’s that our G1000 software had to be reset to remove the chart view option (for Jeppesen)
For the G500, the latest software (starting at version 7.00), switching from the one to the other is a user-accessible setting. Only it requires a reboot of the unit, so do it on the ground only. It actually has become my trick for when I want to perform a reboot without cycling the master switch.
Nav Data Coverage Central Europe – 28 Day Revision annual price for GTN750:
Jeppesen EUR356 vs. Garmin EUR610 for “International”
I don’t think that I can get a smaller database from Garmin…
ForeFlight uses Jeppesen data. If the GTN or GNS uses Garmin data rather than Jeppesen data, there are occasions where there will be slight differences in waypoint locations. This is usually an error on the part of Garmin or Jeppesen and when the issue is reported to the respective source, it is my experience that it gets resolved in the next AIRAC cycle or two. It is fairly rare, but when there is a difference, the Flight Stream loading of the GNS/GTN will end up with the waypoint or fix locked. To unlock it, the flightplan has to be manually edited with the pilot adding the waypoint.
So if using Foreflight, better use Jepp data in your GPS.
I wonder whether this is the other way round if you are using Garmin Pilot to load the flight plan into the GPS i.e. it may object to the GPS containing Jepp data?
Peter wrote:
I wonder whether this is the other way round if you are using Garmin Pilot to load the flight plan into the GPS i.e. it may object to the GPS containing Jepp data?
I guess so. However, the point is moot in Europe for now, since there is no Garmin navigation data for Europe. Any of Europe, Africa, Latin America, Asia OR Australia Garmin Pilot subscription contains Jeppesen worldwide navigation data.
For Canada, the subscription seems to include (Garmin?) North America navigation data, and offers Jeppesen as an optional add-on priced 49.99 USD/year. Do you then have both? Or does Jeppesen NavData replace the Garmin one?
For U.S., the subscription seems to include (Garmin?) U.S. Navigation Data, and offers both Garmin and Jeppesen North America as (separate) add-ons.
Peter wrote:
So if using Foreflight, better use Jepp data in your GPS.
Based on the number of known differences, this is at best a minor minor issue. It happens, but with extreme rarity,
OK… post #7 makes this whole thing apparently irrelevant to Europe:
the point is moot in Europe for now, since there is no Garmin navigation data for Europe. [my emphasis]
and since (I thought) there are no European terminal charts for panel mount devices other than Jepp, it is doubly irrelevant 
But post #2 talks about Garmin Flitecharts
Garmin has a package (PilotPack) for Europe that is really interesting (around 1300$) for all the services including their Flite Chart.
The only thing it’s that our G1000 software had to be reset to remove the chart view option (for Jeppesen)
which according to this are the free AIP charts, georeferenced.
Presumably, however, the navdata and terminal charts from different vendors can coexist because there is no “database connection” between navdata and terminal charts. When you load a flight plan into the GPS, you are loading it against the navdata database. If you have terminal charts loaded in there, they are just image overlays and if say the navdata and the loaded route both contain ORTAC, the terminal chart will show ORTAC at the same place but only because it is reasonably accurately georeferenced. Have I got this right?
Peter wrote:
Presumably, however, the navdata and terminal charts from different vendors can coexist because there is no “database connection” between navdata and terminal charts. (…) If you have terminal charts loaded in there, they are just image overlays and if say the navdata and the loaded route both contain ORTAC, the terminal chart will show ORTAC at the same place but only because it is reasonably accurately georeferenced. Have I got this right?
On the Garmin G500, the terminal chart is not even an overlay. It is a separate display mode. It is literally the chart bitmap, with an ownship symbol for the location of the plane. That’s it. No data from the flight plan, the navigation database, the terrain database, the the obstacle database, … is displayed.
