BK AeroVue Touch PFD

[0TreeLemur]

4 hours ago, pirate said:

GFC500 

Let me get this straight.  Your IFD540 is connected to one or both G5's, and then the G5's are connected to the GFC500?    When I last spoke with an avionics shop, they didn't say that was an option.  They told me that to install a GFC500 I would have to ditch the Avidyne, which I do not want to do!   I really have grown to like it.   So your Avidyne is driving  your autopilot?

[EricJ]

8 minutes ago, 0TreeLemur said:

Let me get this straight.  Your IFD540 is connected to one or both G5's, and then the G5's are connected to the GFC500?    When I last spoke with an avionics shop, they didn't say that was an option.  They told me that to install a GFC500 I would have to ditch the Avidyne, which I do not want to do!   I really have grown to like it.   So your Avidyne is driving  your autopilot?

That's not the first time I've seen a GFC500 with a G5s driven by an IFD.    An IFD is backward compatible with Garmin GNS430/530, so it doesn't seem like a stretch.

 

[McMooney]

g5/gi-275 connection to 440 is clearly in the avidyne install manual,   looks exactly the same as  430 install

[pirate]

1 hour ago, 0TreeLemur said:

Let me get this straight.  Your IFD540 is connected to one or both G5's, and then the G5's are connected to the GFC500?    When I last spoke with an avionics shop, they didn't say that was an option.  They told me that to install a GFC500 I would have to ditch the Avidyne, which I do not want to do!   I really have grown to like it.   So your Avidyne is driving  your autopilot?

I originally installed my IFD540 with a S-Tec30 auto pilot then afterwards I added two G5s, worked great. Last spring I had the avionics shop remove the S-Tec 30 and added the 4 servo GFC 500, I also really love the IFD and this set up does everything I need, climbs, descents full IfR navigation, approaches etc. 

[LANCECASPER]

2 hours ago, 0TreeLemur said:

Let me get this straight.  Your IFD540 is connected to one or both G5's, and then the G5's are connected to the GFC500?    When I last spoke with an avionics shop, they didn't say that was an option.  They told me that to install a GFC500 I would have to ditch the Avidyne, which I do not want to do!   I really have grown to like it.   So your Avidyne is driving  your autopilot?

That's been available for a few years now. 

Join forums.avidyne.com and you'll find a lot of neat tricks for the IFD. Avidyne chimes in on that forum and brings the latest info and gives a glimpse into whats down the pike.

[0TreeLemur]

As I wrote, the avionics shop I visited recently to troubleshoot my KFC150 put the hard sell on me for a whole panel Garmin makeover.  They told me that to use a Garmin autopilot I'd have to replace the Avidyne with a Garmin GPS.    Anyhow, with my KFC150 autopilot problems solved and a pile of spare parts, I'm not going to be ditching anything in my setup for quite some time. I love my "anti-establishment" panel! 

[Mooney in Oz]

8 hours ago, 0TreeLemur said:

They told me that to install a GFC500 I would have to ditch the Avidyne

What they told you is simply not true.

There may be more, but to my knowledge you won’t get 2 features of the GFC500. Those are coupled VNAV vertical approaches and Smart Glide. An uncoupled VNAV is easy. You just manually control the descent using the vertical wheel on the GFC and you will still have coupled lateral guidance.

The IFD provides VNAV guidance that is displayed on the G5 and G3X if fitted. It all works well together. Plus being ex airline, I prefer the IFD with its FMS logic.

The GTNs are also a great bit of gear. My IFDs were installed years before I upgraded to the Garmin stuff and I wasn’t prepared to spend thousands of AMUs to get 2 extra features.  No doubt Garmin will add extra features in the future, but for now I’m very happy with my lot.

[0TreeLemur]

On 5/8/2024 at 1:19 AM, Mooney in Oz said:

you won’t get 2 features of the GFC500. Those are coupled VNAV vertical approaches and Smart Glide

With the current setup (IFD540-Aspen-KFC150) I get coupled VNAV approaches.  I kind of have "Smart glide", but it depends on how smart I am, and how much time it takes me to hit the NRST button on the IFD and look at the glide ring on Foreflight .

[Ragsf15e]

On 5/7/2024 at 6:53 PM, 0TreeLemur said:

As I wrote, the avionics shop I visited recently to troubleshoot my KFC150 put the hard sell on me for a whole panel Garmin makeover.  They told me that to use a Garmin autopilot I'd have to replace the Avidyne with a Garmin GPS.    Anyhow, with my KFC150 autopilot problems solved and a pile of spare parts, I'm not going to be ditching anything in my setup for quite some time. I love my "anti-establishment" panel! 

There’s always been some debate on this.  Supposedly the avidyne documentation says the ifd is a slide in replacement for a gns430 and all its connections, however you won’t find the ifd mentioned in the garmin installation manual as an approved gps.  So i think that a garmin installer might tell you it’s not approved, but an avidyne rep might say it’s just fine.  Clearly it works as there’s a lot of them out there.