A year ago I bought a G695 to replace my aged G296. I also bought the annual update, which was quite problematic since no-one seemed to know what I needed to buy. Garmin were really helpful, but it did involve some long and rather expensive calls to the US.
The subscription has just expired – sadly no email to warn me it was coming – and I want to get it right first time when I buy the next annual cycle. Hence my question.
It seems I have two choices for the update: the full Europe bundle (cost GBP510) or the Europe lite bundle (cost GBP350). As far as I can see, the difference between them is the Flitecharts. Is that right in practice? I am VFR only, so I don’t really need IFR plates.
I currently get my VFR electronic airport charts via Jepp FD on ipad. This was part of the confusion last year – it turns out Czech VFR charts are not available on the 695. Does anyone know if that is still the case?
All suggestions gratefully received.
JTN wrote:
As far as I can see, the difference between them is the Flitecharts. Is that right in practice? I am VFR only, so I don’t really need IFR plates.
That is correct. The Europe Lite bundle does not contain Flitecharts, which are IFR plates. You can see which charts are available for any airport here… Garmin Flitecharts Lookup (ex. LKKV – Karlovy Vary)
For airport charts, I have been quite happy with the SafeTaxi function, which is included in the Europe Lite bundle and works very well on the 695. However, I don’t rely on this exclusively, as occasionally some taxiway or holding point identifiers are not shown, therefore I tend to supplement this with either a local flight guide, the AIP airport charts or SkyDemon. For VFR approach charts, I am not aware of any solution for the 695.
Thanks for confirming Finners.
Now for the knotty decision on whether to replace the Jepp subscription or go for SD…
