Bad news for Garmin GNS480/CNX80 owners

[Mooney in Oz]

A few days ago, Garmin released the following Service Advisory re the GNS480/CNX80 series navigator.

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/aviationalerts/service-advisory-1874-gns-480-cnx-80-end-of-service-life/

A great unit. I had mine for 14 years with never any problem with it.  Traded it on a IFD440 to compliment my IFD540 as I knew the imminent service life was soon to be.

Database updates will still be available from Jepp for who knows how long.

[MIm20c]

I would expect updates to be available for a very long time. Many people are angry that (in 8 months) Garmin will no longer fix the units. I give them credit for producing the unit for 5ish years and supporting it for another decade. 

[whiskytango]

This is bad news.  I have been extremely happy with this radio, which was years ahead of everything else being sold when Garmin acquired UPSAT.  I really don't want a touch screen navigator that I have to try and put re-routes in while flying in turbulence.  I would be willing to pay a subscription fee for hardware support to keep it supported, but a Garmin employee on the Yahoo GNS480/CNX80 users group posted this:

"Yes, the software will still be available. As I pointed out earlier, this was not an easy decision to come to and we thrashed it around for quite some time. As most probably know by now when the 480 was discontinued in 2008 we stopped building the internal boards for the units. Over the last 10 years we had depleted our inventory of parts and was getting to the point of acquiring and using recertified parts from core returns to us. We’re down to only 14 units left for these parts and with the NRE costs to redesign these parts well over a million dollars and only 3000 of these still in the field the tough business decision was made."

 

Based on the numbers I can see why Garmin is pulling the plug, but it still stinks.

 

 

 

[Niko182]

5 minutes ago, whiskytango said:

This is bad news.  I have been extremely happy with this radio, which was years ahead of everything else being sold when Garmin acquired UPSAT.  I really don't want a touch screen navigator that I have to try and put re-routes in while flying in turbulence.  I would be willing to pay a subscription fee for hardware support to keep it supported, but a Garmin employee on the Yahoo GNS480/CNX80 users group posted this:

"Yes, the software will still be available. As I pointed out earlier, this was not an easy decision to come to and we thrashed it around for quite some time. As most probably know by now when the 480 was discontinued in 2008 we stopped building the internal boards for the units. Over the last 10 years we had depleted our inventory of parts and was getting to the point of acquiring and using recertified parts from core returns to us. We’re down to only 14 units left for these parts and with the NRE costs to redesign these parts well over a million dollars and only 3000 of these still in the field the tough business decision was made."

 

Based on the numbers I can see why Garmin is pulling the plug, but it still stinks.

 

 

 

If you want buttons IFD 550 and 540 are still available.
 

[kortopates]

3 hours ago, Niko182 said:

If you want buttons IFD 550 and 540 are still available.
 

I was a UPS CNX480 owner as well when it first came out. It was a head of its time for GA but came with a more complicated interface then it needed to be. Can't say I miss flight plan "discontinuities' either.

But Both GTN's have knobs too which can be mostly used in lieu of touch screen. I say mostly because I primarily use the knobs to dial in a frequency which I find faster than using the touch screen. But for navigation I tend to use the touch screen and don't know anything about these rumored challenges of using the touch screen in turbulence after a few years of usage. Its a new technique that anyone can pretty quickly adapt too using the side rail to hold your hand on the box and is much than the dial a letter a time technique we used before touch screens. But with Flight Stream flight plan transfer, most of us have lots of ways to update the flight plan very easily and quickly. 

[Ned Gravel]

I just got my 480 this year and I really like it.  I will want to keep it going for some time.

More than one of us may try and find unused spares to keep around "in-case."  This announcement may have dropped the bottom out of the price for boxes being offered for sale (although I really doubt that is true).  I know two friends that have spares now for just such contingencies and I may join them. 

[Mooney in Oz]

15 hours ago, kortopates said:

Can't say I miss flight plan "discontinuities' either.

Discontinuity was a typical name used in most FMC/S's (Flight Management Computer or Systems) in those days following insertion of an instrument approach, say a RNAV approach whereby Discontinuity is displayed after the destination, followed by the selected IAF and the remaining waypoints.  The user had to select Direct to the IAF to get rid of 'Discontinuity',  however this was a convoluted process that should have been simple.

Despite that shortcoming, the 480's are solid and reliable that have always had a good following by those who learnt to understand the units, albeit not as popular as the 430's as those are easier to use.  

These days the latest navigators are much easier to use, well at least the Avidyne IFD's are and not that much different in that 'Gap in Route' is displayed following insertion of an instrument approach instead of 'Discontinuity'.  All that is needed is to select either 'Activate' or direct to the IAF, which is very easy as it should be.  Not sure what the GTN's do, but I suspect something similar as I believe all FMC/S's use the same protocol, including those fitted in heavy turboprops and jets.

Those of you who still retain a 480 and still wish to do so into the future would be wise to follow @Ned Gravel suggestion and perhaps join the Yahoo support group as mentioned by @whiskytango in case of required component replacement.  @Alan Fox is another good resource.

The GNS480/CNX80 was marketed as a FMC/S and I believe the first GA 146 approved unit in the world.  It was even used in UPS's big iron B767's.  

[smccray]

Keeping a spare around doesn't make a lot of sense to me.  They're still worth what $5K used?  More?  So you you have $5K in your panel and $5K on the shelf.  They're going to depreciate further, and owners won't get value out of the navigators installed in the airplanes.  GTN650 or an IFD440 would make more sense to me, or just run the 480 until it dies then upgrade to a new GPS.  Buying a spare is throwing good money after bad.

I'm sorry to see the 480 gone.  My old J had one and it was a fanatic navigator.

[Mooney in Oz]

6 hours ago, smccray said:

Keeping a spare around doesn't make a lot of sense to me.  They're still worth what $5K used?  More?  So you you have $5K in your panel and $5K on the shelf.  They're going to depreciate further, and owners won't get value out of the navigators installed in the airplanes.  GTN650 or an IFD440 would make more sense to me, or just run the 480 until it dies then upgrade to a new GPS.  Buying a spare is throwing good money after bad.

I'm sorry to see the 480 gone.  My old J had one and it was a fanatic navigator.

I see your point Scott and agree as I did what you are saying.

However there are owners who are satisfied with what they have, which still is a very capable navigator and can either not afford the capital and install cost of a GTN or IFD or they simply may not want to do so at this time while Jepp are still supporting the units. My wild guess is the value of the boxes will reduce further because of this announcement by Garmin.

The same will probably happen to a much larger degree when Garmin eventually pull the support plug from the 530/430 boxes as there are so many of these units out in the wild , but that is many years away.

[MIm20c]

21 minutes ago, Mooney in Oz said:

The same will probably happen to a much larger degree when Garmin eventually pull the support plug from the 530/430 boxes as there are so many of these units out in the wild , but that is many years away.

I think Garmin has sold well over 100k gns units. I would hope the bean counters over in Kansas will come up with a better end of life option than the 480 situation.  A slide in option (even if it has to be sourced from a dealer) should be manditory. 

[smccray]

1 hour ago, Mooney in Oz said:

I see your point Scott and agree as I did what you are saying.

However there are owners who are satisfied with what they have, which still is a very capable navigator and can either not afford the capital and install cost of a GTN or IFD or they simply may not want to do so at this time while Jepp are still supporting the units. My wild guess is the value of the boxes will reduce further because of this announcement by Garmin.

The same will probably happen to a much larger degree when Garmin eventually pull the support plug from the 530/430 boxes as there are so many of these units out in the wild , but that is many years away.

100% agree. For a couple grand, as long as pilots can get database updates, the 480 is probably the best deal in aviation.  That said- still wouldn’t spend the $ on a backup.  If a navigator dies then try to source an inexpensive unit or make the upgrade expenditure at that point. 

Me?  I’m pulling a 530w/430 and upgrading to a 750/255. Harvest the value of those boxes now.