Menu Sign In Contact FAQ
Banner
Welcome to our forums

Are GTN650 owners generally happy with their purchase?

I’m putting together prices for equipment and wiring looms for a panel upgrade. I have a non waas GNS430 and G-106 among other things I might sell and go with a GTN650 and G5. I’m interested in the actual user experiences of GTN650 owners, are they happy with it? I can’t afford to sink the extra $k into a 750 because of the other items I want to do. I was hoping the flightstream/Garmin Pilot connectivity would be a great boost to the experience.

The GTN650 would be 40% of the budget for the gear so finding out now about it would be wise.

Buying, Selling, Flying
EISG, Ireland

I dont know about the 650, but am very happy with out 750 in combination w ith the GTX345 that provides ADS-B traffic on both the 750 and the iPad’s Pilot app, as well as AHRS on the latter. The fuel planning functionality works great (especially with the latest SW) in combination with your FF. I would not fly far without it.
For complexIFR FPL’s I am missing the connext capability I could get with the flightstream 510….perhaps for Xmas if I behave…

Antonio
LESB, Spain

WilliamF wrote:

I’m interested in the actual user experiences of GTN650 owners, are they happy with it?

I’m quite happy with the GTN650 my club installed in one of our aircraft. The larger screen of the GTN750 would certainly be nice, but for practical purposes an iPad running suitable software does the job almost as well and to a fraction of the price.

Last Edited by Airborne_Again at 12 Sep 20:22
ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden

I know this is exactly not what the question was, and I humbly apologize in advance, but as far as iPad usage goes, Avidyne has the IFD100 iPad app which makes for a great display for the IFD series navigators.

tmo
EPKP - Kraków, Poland

Very happy with the GTN650. I have not tried a 750.
I also use an Ipad for moving map display.

pmh
ekbr ekbi, Denmark

I have tried it once and it worked very good. Have not tried Avidyne so can’t compare.

ESSZ, Sweden

You might find criticism among people who last looked at the GTN650 over a year ago to say that the keyboard is unusable (and I would have agreed with them.)

But it has now been fixed with a QWERTY keyboard and is now great. So don’t let that hare distract you.

I have GTN750 and 650. The 750 is far preferable, but if you are constrained to the 650, it’s also a great box.

I would counsel against the IFD, both because of the box and the company that supplies and supports it.

EGKB Biggin Hill

I installed a GTN650/G5 combination a year ago and I’m very pleased with it.

LFMD - Cannes Mandelieu, EGLL - London Heathrow, France

I have only really started flying the 2xG5 & GTN650 combination this year, and I am quite pleased with it. Having flown mainly GNS430/530 and G1000 for many years, I would say that Garmin has finally grown up UI-wise now with the 650/750. The 650 simply is more user friendly, and it is very capable. Although still small, the screen is actually 50% larger than the one on the G430, and the resolution and clarity is much, much better. I have been sceptical about the touch screen in turbulence, but my experience is that it is no worse than trying to catch a physical knob or button that is hopping around when you are trying to hit it. I still miss the “CDI” and the “FLPL” hard buttons, but I’ll get used to it. The simulators (for both iPad and PC) are valuable.
The G5’s are fine also. They communicate well with the 650, and there is a GNSS functionality, which turns my old autopilot’s heading mode into a very smooth and precise NAV mode (while I wait for the GFC500 autopilot to get approval for my airplane). But their main advantage is the separate internal GPS & 4 hours of back-up battery that makes you safe from both vacuum failure and electrical failure while still presenting all the flight instruments.

huv
EKRK, Denmark

Very pleased with my GTN650. This drives an Aspen which drives stec 30 giving gps roll steering(GPSS)
Flight planning is a breeze, or SkyDemon routes can be loaded via the sd card.
This works fine for airways, off airways skydemon is far more useful than the 650(and 750 imho) for avoiding cas, SD map presentation being much better imho.
The gtn series has many more tricks than the 430, ie holds, visual approaches, when looking for waypoints it guesses you nearby options, rather than suggesting possibilities thousands of miles away, and a host of easily accessible utilities…..play with the trainers as suggested!

EGNS, Other
31 Posts
Sign in to add your message

Back to Top