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I don't know about you folks, but I think that there is a conspiracy to ensure that there is no head-to-head comparison available on the internet between these two uniTS. I already have a GTN 750, JPI engine monitor, Century 41 autopilot and am thinking of moving to just about full glass for primary instruments and full time traffic, terrain, and weather awareness but looking for the most economical way to do that. Any informed opinions wood be super welcome.

Kinda' hard not to take advantage of upgrade discounts on some new hardware, so I started "round 2" of upgrades last week. Time to complete is about 3 1/2 weeks...with most of that waiting for JPI to process the exchange, programming, and shipping of an EDM930. They took my EDM900 in exchange for what I paid for it 4 years ago under a "Sun 'n Fun" special. Things on the docket for this round... Trade up G500 for G500Txi Install GCU485 PFD controller Trade up GTN750 for GTN750xi Remove KX165, install GTN650xi Trade JPI EDM900 for EDM930 Install Eaton lighted pushbutton to provide ARINC-429 GPS/NAV switching for ESI-500 backup ADI Add GSB15 USB charger underneath audio panel Existing panel... This looks surprisingly-familiar... Dry-fitting new panel, showing GDU1060 and GCU485 PFD Controller... Ready for shaping and clean-up before powder-coating Old and new panels aligned. Never realized how much bigger the GDU1060 is than the GDU620...

I'm still learning the process of using Data Base Concierge and the Flightstream 510 to update the GTN 750 and G500. I know that the Flightcharts data base takes quite a while to synch from the GTN 750 to the G500. Today being a beautiful day to fly (they're all great days to fly, this was even better) I figured it would be a crime not to gather some helpful information. The Flitecharts update was 868 MB. It took a few minutes to upload to the GTN 750 via wifi (didn't time it, but subjectively not overly long). I then flew around the area, periodically checking the progress of the synch on the data base page of the G500. Bottom line: It took about 45 minutes of flight time for the synch to complete. Of course, once it's completed the G500 needs to be restarted to finish the process. So unless you're VfR and feel like flying for few minutes on your backup instruments and Nav this needs to wait until the next flight. Here are my questions: Is 868MB a typical size for a Flitecharts update? Is 45 minutes about what others are seeing for the time for the synch process to complete? Dave Piehler

I did an IPC this week with a much younger, much smarter pilot than am I. He taught me something awesome about the G500 that isn't exactly well explained (or explained at all) in the Garmin G500 Pilot's Guide (through Rev H, in 2015). In all the busy-ness of the PFD HSI display there's this magenta diamond that hangs round the top of the HSI, more of less. It's the Current Track Indicator, according to Garmin's terminology (pp. 2-19 and 2-21 of the Pilot's Guide are the only places it is referenced). Okay, so it shows your current track. What a powerful bit of info to have on that HSI, It allows you to immediately understand wind corrections and course intercepts. If the diamond is dead nuts on the desired course and stays there, then your wind correction is perfect and you're right on the beam. If it's off to one side or the other you have a direct indication of your intercept angle if you're approaching the course, or your deviation angle if you're going away from it. Want to set up an intercept? Choose a heading and see where the Current Track indicator stabilizes and you know exactly what your intercept angle is. Integrating this little tidbit of information into your scan makes checking your work oh so easy. Maybe I'm the last guy in the planet to understand this, or maybe not. For those of you who were clueless as I was, this is a useful indicator. Dave Piehler