Indeed, one aspect in deciding GTN vs. IFD is one’s personal preference for GP (which one might be inclined to use with a Garmin panel) or FF (which one might want to use with an Avidynde panel). So, ideally, one would have some real-life experience with both apps before deciding on the GTN vs. IFD question.
@eal why did you go for Avidyne if you do prefer Garmin Pilot? I assume due to less installation work when going GNS to IFD vs. GNS to GTN? Which, in itself, remains quite remarkable, of course.
NeilC wrote:
Maybe that’s a setup thing. My GP automatically shows the Garmin SafeTaxi chart after landing, so that my wife can tell me where to go 😉
I have been unable to get SafeTaxi to work in Asia. I think Garmin only selectively supports it by region.
boscomantico wrote:
@eal why did you go for Avidyne if you do prefer Garmin Pilot?
I was very happy overall with my panel and enjoy flying behind a mixture of new and mainly old instrumentation with no real urge to change anything else. The 530/430 units have been extremely reliable and capable, but with one eye on the future I decided the writing is on the wall for the GNS units. At some point they will fail with uncertain support moving forward, or just get left behind technologically. The proliferation of RNP LNAV/VNAV approaches here in Thailand was the final push that made me pull the trigger.
I neither had the appetite, nor budget for a major panel rework and all the risk that goes with it, disturbing a perfectly good set up minding its own business.
There are no decent local avionics shops here either so I generally have to take care of the avionics myself :-)
The idea of a plug and play replacement that would easily catapult me into modern avionics was very appealing, and I have to say, so far I am very impressed with Avidyne. Out of the box they have played nice with all the rest of my legacy avionics.
Avidyne also committed to support me in the full knowledge that I had no access to a local dealer or avionics shop potentially needing a lot of hand holding. They seem prepared to let owners access to the innards, just like Garmin used to. ;-)
I am also pleased to report that I have successfully shot several LNAV/VNAV approaches despite not having SBAS coverage here, and all the LNAV only approaches so far have been presented with +V. Both of which have provided the KFC225 with a solid glideslope as advertised.
Having to switch to ForeFlight was the price of admission, and frankly despite my gripes, it is a very usable and capable system but clearly developed/ evolved with a different philosophy to Garmin Pilot. In fairness the Avidyne approach to an FMS based GPS is also taking some getting used to after 13 years of muscle memory driving the GNS boxes, but I am enjoying the process.
Cheers – E
I am also pleased to report that I have successfully shot several LNAV/VNAV approaches despite not having SBAS coverage here, and all the LNAV only approaches so far have been presented with +V. Both of which have provided the KFC225 with a solid glideslope as advertised.
That sounds neat as expected but was not guarateed 
Does IFD give you a “visual approach” to fly when no IAP is published or you have to wait for their next software releases?
Peter wrote:
This is very interesting to me for when I upgrade the TB20 to some modern avionics. My current plan is 2×IFD540.
I would recommend you consider an IFD550/540 combo. The IFD550 can almost act as a backup PFD with an AH presentation and an ARS output to ForeFlight on an Ipad.
At a glance, it also appears that v10.3 new functionality is also favoring the IFD550 much more so than the other models which may well be an indication of the direction Avidyne is going in the future.
Cheers – E
eal wrote:
I am also pleased to report that I have successfully shot several LNAV/VNAV approaches despite not having SBAS coverage here, and all the LNAV only approaches so far have been presented with +V. Both of which have provided the KFC225 with a solid glideslope as advertised.
What are you using to get LNAV/VNAV vertical guidance? Is there an FMS that has Baro-VNAV vertical guidance on your aircraft? I know that the current SBAS TSO C146e allows for +V when outside a SBAS service volume, but that would not apply to LNAV/VNAV.
