Dual 530's

[Eraaen]

I currently have a 530 w with a crap king com an a king 80 rnav. I know I want to upgrade to the new gtx 345 w/ -a flight stream 210 so I can upload flight plans(victor airways) from my IPad. Real question is. If I junk the old stuff and find a used 530 non was. Do I have to then keep two sets of cards updated or just leave the non was 530 withhout cards and use as a map reference /comm only. It would still drive the back up VOR to keep me legal. I'm getting diff answers from aviation shops. Seems most people who have dual 530's keep them both updated.  Might be a garmin tech question, but figured I'd try you guys first

 

[kortopates]

Sounds like a really bad idea to me because there are so many limitations paring a WAAS with a Non-WAAS - meaning their won't be any pairing in actuality.

Although maybe cheap, non-waas units are no longer supported. If repairs are needed they come at the cost of upgrading them to the WAAS unit. If that should happen, you have to ask what you were savings resisting all that time.

Although you mention only updating one, you won't get the substantial discount you would if you were buying a single nav data subscription for a pair of GNS W's. You'd be buying two separate and incompatible nav data subscriptions. As such you will not only be paying more for nav data if did keep both up to date, but would still not have any cross fill capability. The FS210 will only interface with the 530W.

The units don't really function without cards. for example, it won't even show current track in magnetic, only true because it needs a data base to look up magnetic variation and most everything else it displays on the map won't be there without databases on the card. I'd assume though you would have a out of date card because I doubt it will even function without a card. (but not sure) 

I used my old GNS and now GTN to often look up and load airport frequencies but that won't be practical without upto date nav data.

Instead of getting a second 530W, why not get a 430W, one subscription updates them both for not that much more than one alone. And then you'll have all the benefits of a pair of WAAS GPS's.

If you're convinced you don't need the second GPS, why not just get a SL30 Nav/Com radio and at least you'll have two fully functional separate units.

Anyway, just my opinion,

[toto]

Iirc, one advantage to having two 530W units is that they will have compatible NavData cards.  The cheapest approach would be to pay for one subscription at $299/yr, and rotate the cards between the two radios.  The second unit would never have data more than 56 days out of date.

I don't remember the exact difference, but I think the 530 card is an 8MB card, while the 530W is a 16MB card in the same form factor.

If you bought a OnePak for $799, that would cover both units with current data and also get you a Garmin Pilot Premium upgrade for your iPad to use with the FS210.  But $799 is obviously a lot more money than $299.

https://fly.garmin.com/fly-garmin/support/pricing