Monday, March 29, 2010
I know Where I'm at, Do you?
by Dawn from Elmore OH USA 
Pros: Great service.
Review: It was exactly what we're looking for. The manuals were a little daunting, but the unit does a lot for you. The company was great with the defective piece by responding to our problem immediately. YES, we would recommend the product to someone else and order a second one if our budget would allow it. AWESOME!!!

Thursday, March 11, 2010
Touch and Go with aera 550!
by John from Salinas, CA USA 
Pros: Fabulous graphic detail, terrain/object alerts, decent menu system, customizable
Cons: Anti-glare screen is sensitive to angle and reflections light colored clothing
Review:

Garmin has introduced their new line of portable aviation GPS units for 2010. The aera 500 series are all touch screen, save the on/off power button. Having developed a dependency for GPS in 53W with my old second-hand Garmin 195, I was was in deep pixel envy all through the flight to OSH and back with Prez Jeff and his Garmin 495. It had a lot of "wow" factor. The 495 was just stunning when compared to the old 195 monochrome display and the features were beyond compare. I resisted the temptation to pull out the old Mastercard at Airventure but could not get the utility of that 495 out of my thoughts for the next few months.

When prices started to drop on the 495 and 496 series I suspect that something was looming. To get to the point, I bought an aera 550. It is comparable in features to the 49x's but has quite a different form factor, as there are no mechanical buttons on the face. It looks very much like a big brother to their nuvi automotive GPS line.

My very very first impression was "Dang, I can't get the battery door to open!" It did take a little prompting with a small screwdriver to coax it loose. Once booted I was presented with a warning that there was no aviation database installed. Did I buy the wrong unit? No, as a call to Garmin tech support confirmed that some number of units were shipped without the essential data. After installing a couple of applications on an XP workstation we were able to download the database and upgrade all the others like terrain, AOPA, and safe taxi. Finally I had a functioning unit.

I should note that while driving around town in the aviation mode with the terrain map enabled, the screen is entirely RED. Makes sense as it was only a few feet off of the ground. One feature that seemed to be missing was the nifty compass arc and heading bug on the map page. After another query to tech support I found that one of the many many settings suppressed displaying the arc until some elevation above ground. I had spent a few hours going over the 202 page manual so was somewhat at home with the menu system. The touch screen requires an actual "push" on the buttons as opposed to the "tap" you might be used to on your smart phone.

There is customization galore and your preferences will probably evolve as you get some hours with it. For instance, the NUMBERS page has numerous choices from MEA, to Sunset/Sunrise, ETA, ETE, External Volts, Fuel Timer and on and on. Alerts include parachute jumping areas, adding another level of safety. Building a flight plan route or direct to is very simple, as a QWERTY keyboard is displayed and anticipates your entry by comparing it to the database. That means there is no more pushing arrow keys to spell out the identifier, city, or airport name. Once a destination or waypoint is selected, the AOPA facility information is just another button touch away. Another outstanding feature that came over from the 490 series is the aural alert feed. A standard audio jack allows you to plug into your intercom for warnings about terrain, sink rate, SUA, MOA, restricted areas and such. There is even a "Five Hundred" alert when approaching the airport for landing.

Finally I was able to get a free weekend to install it in 53W and make a flight. The product comes with just about every cable you need plus a nice, but somewhat bulky, yoke mount. The screen contrast is very good with decent brightness in sun. Eventually the unit will be located more centrally on the panel, as the co-pilot cannot see the screen at all when mounted on the pilot yoke. The touch screen works very well and the menu system is pretty easy to navigate. There is no external antenna included but so far satellite coverage is excellent. I still have a little issue with low volume on the aural alerts but that may be as simple as wiring of the "music in" jack of the intercom. Internal battery life is pretty short, so plan on using ship power. The aera series also has a complete automotive mode much like the nuvi models. It even includes lane assist, which can be very helpful on complex highway systems.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010
The Best Portable Ever
by A Customer from Bellevue WA USA 
Pros: very user friendly
Cons: none so far
Review: This is the absolute best portable GPS that Garmin has ever made. If you fly and drive this is all that you will ever need. The touchscreen is much better for entering information. It is faster and easier to use.