Be Careful Garmin - iPad Killer?

[Bennett]

While I havn't yet seen the 796 dock, it will undoubtedly not be the same size at the 696 dock.  The 793 is a bit longer, and narrower than the 696, and the 696 dock doesn't have much material top or bottom beyond the 696 dimensions.  I have no idea at this moment how I will have to handle this, but I suspect that I can have the annunciator frame (frame is considerabley larger than the lamps themselves) cut down, and then the new AirGizmo 796 dock should be able to fit, top to bottom.  I could then either have a black mask, or sub-panel, made to fill the old hole, or more likely have a new sub-panel fabricated and powder coated to match the new panel. I wish Garmin had used the 696 form factor, as then 696/796 swaps would be so simple.

[M016576]

Quote: Bennett

While I havn't yet seen the 796 dock, it will undoubtedly not

[Txbyker]

Does anyone have any fresh pireps on the 796?  I know some of you were early adopters and I am considering potentially getting one.  I read that heat can be an issue.  Wondering if the yoke mount is acceptable.  I have a 496 on the yoke and would like to put the 796 there.

Thanks

[Txbyker]

I am going to upgrade my Garmin 496 to the Aera 796.  In researching pricing, etc I found that Aircraft Spruce and Sarasota are offering trade-ins for your existing Garmin equipment towards the purchase of a new one.  I am trading in the yoke mounted 496 for the 796 and getting over $1000 credit.  FYI.

[Skywarrior]

Recommend you ask Don Kaye what the current status is with the aera 796. He has had so many problems with his...

[jlunseth]

I saw a brochure or magazine ad for an Avidyne panel that looked really good.  Appeared to include "rubber banding" etc.  Would be nice if someone gave Garmin a run for their money.  Might cause Garmin to get better. 

[Txbyker]

First let me say I am an avid iPAD user with Foreflight and a Garmin user.  I just wanted to post my flight experience with the 796.

I finally got to log some time yesterday with the new Garmin 796.  It is coupled to my GTN 650 and yoke mounted.  I have XM Weather.  My trip was from Houston to Oklahoma City and return.

As far as positioning, the 796 mounts to the yoke shaft as opposed to the yoke like my 496 did.  I state that I guess because I am thinking the weight might be better offset this way and less noticible, especially on your landing flare.  Garmin must have ergonomically checked yoke grip spacing as the 796 width fits well between your hand locations.  I draw attention to this because I think my iPAD might be a bit wide for yoke mounting.

The flight plan sync’d up very well with the GTN outbound.  The display is very quick CPU-wise especially compared to my old Garmin 496.  I have been playing with the unit and knew pretty much how to navigate through the buttons.  I was able to quickly get lots of information.  As a bonus I have XM Radio as well and the music worked well with good muting through the Telex when radio transmissions were taking place.

On the ground the airport and taxiways are very large and easy to read.  You can pinch in and out and it responds as quick as an iPAD, at least to me.

Flipping through IFR, VFR, and MAP view with the charted course on the screen is very nice.  As I track along the route I like to look at VFR charts on IFR trips just to note landmarks etc.  You can switch views very quickly.

I loaded IFR approaches for both airports and the large format course line, missed approach etc was nice.  As far as the IFR approach charts they will have to do.  The ones that come with the Gamin subscription are certainly not as clear as Foreflight and to get good clear ones on the 796 I would have to buy something called Chartview ($500) added with the costs of Jeppessen subscription.

I did not have any heat issues with the display at all as this has been a problem with the early units. It was never really in the direct sun but it was on non-stop.  The display was always cool to the touch.

On the return trip I had a few problems with the routing and weather.  My route waypoints were displayed but the course line was not.  I did not have any weather either, no METAR flags, etc.  When I went to the weather page it said waiting on data.  This could have been an anomaly, not sure. I restarted the unit and once everything synchronized I had weather and routing.

The unit will of course log your track.  I did notice that I had the trailing dotted path line and I saved the log halfway on the way back.  I saved both my trip up and the return to that point in one file.  I have not studied it yet to see what data is provided.

All in all I liked it quite a bit and found it very informational.  Net, net I am out $1300 for the unit after 496 trade-in and a bit for the professional installation so I am happy.

[donkaye]

Finally, with the System update to 2.5 I can finally enthusiastially endorse the Garmin 796.  The long list of software issues that I had sent to them were apparently read and all but a few were addressed and fixed.  

The ones that have not been fixed are minor and most people would not even notice them.  For example the audio alert for airspace will only work when Keytones are enabled.  The System 2.5 notes say this was fixed, but it wasn't.  So, if you want to hear the alerts, you have to also listen to a tone every time you touch the screen.  I just keep Keytones OFF.  Also, the track log records one long multi-flight track and doesn't separate out each individual flight when uploaded, as the 696 does.  You can't measure a distance between two separate points and there is no "rubber banding for flight plan entry as on the 696.  Also, when my unit is exposed to the sun, it gets hot, but the other benefits outweight my going back to the 696, so I will just have to turn down the intensity on a hot day.

On the plus side, the touch screen is a dream.  I can get to anything I want at least five times faster than any other GPS I've had from Garmin.  Garmin added back the user determined data tapes to the top of the screen, and added a couple of really nice additional pieces of selectable data fields; climb gradient and climb percent that can be very useful to instrument pilots.  To the 3D vision page they've added vertical speed and glidepath tapes along with a carrot and bug to nail pre programmed VNAV. In conjunction with the glidepath indicator one should be able to nail a glidepath by capturing the glidepath bug and flying the VNAV VS bug.  Its pretty slick. In split screen mode they have added "field of view" lines like the G1000 has for synthetic vision. Although not obvious, an approach chart the same size as displayed on the 696 can be displayed on the 796.  It requires just a couple of extra button pushes.  Email me if you want to know how to do it.  It's not written up.  I have determined that I now like the Portraint mode best.  It's a little disorienting to switch from one to the other.

I now have nearly 100 hours using it, and like its predecessor the 696, I wouldn't want to fly without it.

[pjsny78]

I fly with a Garmin 530W, 696 and an ipad with wing-x.

The most expensive by far is the 530W. (I use this unit the least)

I have to say I prefer the 696 a lot more generally. I Love up to the minute XM weather on it and radio. Whereas the ipad you need special hardware for this which could cost as much as a 696/796 anyways.

The internal gps capabilities on the ipad are nowhere near as seamless as the Garmin units.

The real advantage that the ipad has that I like is to hold maps and approach plates. I really hate the garmins maps.

Except for the safe taxi feature which is one of my favorite features. It is just simply awesome. Someone told me there is an app for that for the ipad now anyways and that it comes with foreflight.

But this is my personal opinion and I prefer the Garmin over the ipad at the moment. However I think apple is catching up and will overtake Garmin in the future as it seems that this ipad revolution is really changing aviation faster than any other pice of avionics by far.

[donkaye]

I also have had the iPad for about a year now.  It has its place, but for me, at least, it is not primary in the cockpit.  I actually bought it as a backup for approach plates to the 696 and it still remains as such with the 796.  I rarely open it in flight anymore, but it is nice to know that it is there for charts and plates if I need it.  I use the Flight Guide app for unfamiliar airports in conjunction with the AOPA guide on the 796.  While I have foreflight and Jepp's MobileFD I rarely find that I use them either.  Size, placement, ease of and speed of access make the 796 much more useable for me in the cockpit.  OTOH without the backup of the iPad I would not be paperless in the cockpit, as I now am.

[bnicolette]

I have been primarily using my iphone for charts, approach plates, preflight planning, flight plan filing, etc. both personally and professionally.

At my "day" job we generally insert the days airports into a "day" book for quick reference, but I haven't pulled anything out of that book since I can remember.  Yesterday we went from Washington, PA - Teterboro - Jacksonville - Teterboro - Washington.  Obviously we did arrivals everywhere but Washington, PA and approaches into Teterboro and Jacksonville.  Weather was down to minimums in JAX yesterday.  We never pulled a plate from the day book.  The iPhone was all I referenced.  It is a bit small and I'm looking forward to getting the iPad's up and running once we get FAA approval (Part 135 ops).  However, once you set up and brief the approach there's really no need to look at the chart anymore?  I use Foreflight with the geo referencing which is great at bigger airports like KORD for taxi. 

I love Foreflight and it is all I use anymore.  I love the maps page and the ability to overlay weather, pireps, fuel, etc right over the low, high and sectional charts.  It is also extremely easy to switch between taxi, departure, arrival, and approach plates as well as accessing the maps.  They just keep making it better and better.

Has anybody tried the synthetic vision through Foreflight?  

An iPad/iPhone with with Foreflight gives "me" everything I could want for every phase of flight with exception of GPS approaches.  I don't navigate with the iPhone/iPad, but it is dead on with my Garmin 396 all the time.

 

[pjsny78]

Quote: Bnicolette

I have been primarily using my iphone for charts, approach plates, preflight planning, flight plan filing, etc. both personally and professionally.

 

just keep making it better and better.

Has anybody tried the synthetic vision through Foreflight?  

An iPad/iPhone with with Foreflight gives "me" everything I could want for every phase of flight with exception of GPS approaches.  I don't navigate with the iPhone/iPad, but it is dead on with my Garmin 396 all the time.

 

[Txbyker]

I was/am and avid user of Foreflight, but like Don since I got the 796 I rarely open it during flight.  It is mostly a pre-flight thing now.  The 796 does everything and the built in charts are great and fast to get to.