Garmin OS and firmware updates

[PT20J]

I find Garmin's website is like it's documentation: Stuff is in there -- somewhere. But, you will go on treasure hunt to find it. It's better than it used to be is about all I can say.

You can subscribe to alerts via RSS feeds or email when new firmware is available or issues crop up. I haven't tried it. It doesn't appear that you can filter by product.

Maybe someone who has subscribed to alerts can provide more information.

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[JimB]

On 5/9/2021 at 4:23 PM, Jim Peace said:

for the life of me I cant find what the latest software versions are for my avionics.  Where are they on the Garmin site?

I need them for:

Flightstream 510

GTN 650

Garmin G5

GTX 345

Why is this so difficult for an owner to find. 

Does this help? Most of these appear to be optional or recommended

Flightstream 510                 Software version 2.62 June 3, 2020

GTN 650                             Main Software v6.71 January 12, 2021

Garmin G5                          Certified version Software Version 6.82 December 11, 2020

GTX 345                              Main v2.60 and ADS-B v3.21 March 25, 2021

[Minivation]

In terms of Garmin units that use SD / microSD cards - firmware for those products that are not  part of Garmin's dealer-only install policy can be (sometimes) found under the product page's "Software" section found on the RH side of the webpage:

However, for other units that are still covered under the dealer policy, they can only be accessed by dealers through the dealer portal at dealers.garmin.com.

The products I mentioned that are "under the dealer policy" are as below:

The weird part is (and I asked Garmin about this) - the work in of itself may legally be performed and signed by an A&P and is not restricted to a 145 repair station. Therefore, an A&P who works for a 145 avionics shop with Garmin dealership status can still access this info then perform the upgrades and sign it off under his own A&P without going through the 145 repair station infrastructure, which is the root of the reason behind the 6 shop hours = $600 bill ... all for pushing a few buttons.

[Bunti]

The first few updates had been done free of charge by the shop which did my latest avionics upgrade.

I usually combined the updates with other avionics work. The shop charged his hourly rate for the updates. It was about 1 hour or 1.5 in total for the 345, Aspen, Flightstream and GTN 750. 

In between, some firmware upgrades were free of charge because Garmin or Aspen paid for them. This was the case if the upgrades were required due to an AD or a mandatory service bulletin.

One time the shop said something like that they want now charge a flat fee per unit. I disagreed and continued to pay the hourly rate.