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Garmin Aera 500/550 terrain database and speaker output

My impression is that with the Aera and the 795, Garmin went from all custom, ruggedized hardware to a more standard China/Taiwan hardware that was slightly customized. The 695 is a very massive high quality product, custom designed. I love the 6h of battery allowing me to take it with me to other aircraft without a working cigarette lighter socket.

I was not impressed by the Aera or the 795 and would rather use an iPad/Android. I still think the 695 is a good investment but at almost 3x the cost of an iPad/Android, the business case has gotten much worse and I would probably not invest in a handheld Garmin. SkyDemon gives me daily airspace updates with the yearly subscription and it's almost automatic whereas the Garmin requires a map purchase and a lengthy update process.

I was using an iPad with Skydemon for "situational awareness", but decided to buy a proper GPS as a backup for IFR flights, as the iPad is unreliable with regard to GPS reception.

On the ground or in the car, the iPad GPS signal is OK. But in flight I lose GPS signal every now and then. Also, the shown data (heading / altitude) is pretty unreliable.

A friend of mine bought a Aero 500 and I got his 496 for a bargain. Together with the portable radio I bought earlier, I should be sufficiently prepared for an electrical failure...

As a side question: What options are there for backup Attitude Indicators? I remember seeing a discussion here on a iPad app that shows an AI, using the builtin accelerometers. Does it actually work?

I remember seeing a discussion here on a iPad app that shows an AI, using the builtin accelerometers. Does it actually work?

I have a Samsung XE700 tablet PC and use its accelerometers and magnetometers to display AI and HSI using my own software.

The problems basically are:

I don't have a rigid attachment to the airframe, therefore it's easily a few degrees off; also, flying head down is not too comfortable.

The cabin environment has rather strong magnetic fields compared to the earth magnetic field. The heading can easily be 20 degrees off; moving the tablet by 10cm can change the heading by 10 degrees. There's a reason why fluxgates are usually mounted in the tail or a wing.

LSZK, Switzerland

I have used the Levil Mini SW as a back up AI and it works fairly well - would certainly get you out of trouble in the case of an electrical failure.

EHLE / Lelystad, Netherlands, Netherlands
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