Bennett Posted November 25, 2011 Report Posted November 25, 2011 Currently I have a Garmin 696 in an AirGizmo panel dock. For a host of reasons I will be upgrading to a Garmin 796. Since the 796 is a bit taller and narrower than the 696 (vertical mode), I was concerned that I would have to have a new sub-panel built to house the new dock. The really good news: I spoke to the AirGizmo designer last week, and I have been assured that the new dock will fit into the same size hole as the 696 dock. This apparently was a design criteria. I am told that the new dock will be available in early January. Great to see a manuafacturer be responsive to the needs of their existing client base. Quote
scottfromiowa Posted November 25, 2011 Report Posted November 25, 2011 Glad to hear that Bennett. I have had two Air-Gizmo docks and like them very well. Good luck with your 796. I have zero desire to upgrade to a 796 from my 696. Curious, what are the myriad of reasons to "upgrade"? Quote
scottfromiowa Posted November 25, 2011 Report Posted November 25, 2011 P.S. I just went through your photo library again. What an absolutely BEAUTIFUL airplane. Plane is cleaner than the carpet it sits on, right? Love the chromed pitot and door release handle. Stitching...I could go on and on. Magnificient! Quote
Ned Gravel Posted November 25, 2011 Report Posted November 25, 2011 Bennett, why would you need to have the 796 when you already have the GTN-750 that has more functions?. Just curios. José Quote
bnicolette Posted November 25, 2011 Report Posted November 25, 2011 Quote: edgargravel Bennett, why would you need to have the 796 when you already have the GTN-750 that has more functions?. Just curios. José Quote
jetdriven Posted November 25, 2011 Report Posted November 25, 2011 The Aera 500 we have will do that, as will the 696. Neither of those overheats and burns your fingers (rendering it unusable) , or shuts down in flight from overheat. Quote
sixsixX Posted November 25, 2011 Report Posted November 25, 2011 I will be doing the 696 to 796 swap as well, Glad to see the Air gizmo dock will be in the same footprint. Iam more curious if the cords will be the same , I know the xm reciever and external GPS antenna are the same. However the optional direct power cord looks different. Currently mines wired into the 530 for data transfer and direct power. Guess we will find out ! I belive the best part of the 796 is the synthetic vison and option to zoom as well with it. The unit is a reliable and solid backup in the panel. Data transfer from the 530 is great as well. Quote
jetdriven Posted November 25, 2011 Report Posted November 25, 2011 Ask Don Kaye how the 796 is going. He bought one of the first ones and has used it extensively. It overheats to being unusable and too hot to touch. Quote
Piloto Posted November 25, 2011 Report Posted November 25, 2011 Quote: Bnicolette I would have to guess that it is for backup reasons. I mean to have a unit that will keep you alive, lead you to VFR conditions on battery power totally independant of any other system in the airplane can only be a good thing. It is a "warm and fuzzy" feeling even in the corporate jets to have a totally independant system that will run for hours if we need to "gangbar" everything else and enable us to keep the plane upright, navigate, see weather, and possibly even shoot an approach. It's a beautiful thing. Quote
jetdriven Posted November 25, 2011 Report Posted November 25, 2011 You don't need a COM to get somewhere and land. But you have to be able to navigate. You could also turn off the 796 and fly a couple hours then turn it on inrange. Jose, didnt you fly across the atlantic on vacuum instruments after the whole G1000 failed enroute? Quote
Bennett Posted November 25, 2011 Author Report Posted November 25, 2011 I'll try and answer a few questions. The Garmin 430W is in the panel because I had an incredible opportunity to buy a used, but still under warranty, 430W at less than the new price of the Garmin SL30 that I had orriginally planned to put below the GTN 750. The Garmin 696 is a great unit, but I find myself attempting to touch the screen to enter data, and to change screens, etc. Also, the screen is not as bright as that of the GTN 750, or the demos of the Garmin 796. Yes, I've talked to Don about the hot to touch screens (he had two of themj at MAPA), but my conversations with Garmin suggest that the next batch of units will not have this problem. Garmin has been very responsive to my observations about the GTN 750, and if you look at the original photo I posted for this tread you will see the airplane icon yawing to the left, even while there is no appreciable course deviation. It turns out (after many, too many, observations by which we could find the difficulty) that if a remote slaved compass is synced to the unit, and magnetic variation is chosen as defaut, a software glitch will cause the variation table to revert to true, rather than magnetic. Garmin has now issued a SB, and now that I have decoupled the slaved compass all is well. Garmin will be issuing a software update that will cure the problem, and allow for a slaved compass interface. I wanted a Garmin 696 for a back-up moving map that would run on its own battery. (I also have a Mid-Continent Electric AI that has its own battery as well - I really believe in redundancy, and that if can go wrong, it will). The 696, and the new 796 has the XM weather module, and traffic presentation (Zaon interface), as it is less expensive to do it that way than to do weather and traffic on the GTN 750. (I know, TIS vs Zaon is not a fair comparrision), but having weather on the 696 /796 declutters the GTN 750. For me, a touch screen, shallow menu 796 has advantages over the far less intuative 696. In some ways the 796 mimics the GTN 750, without the radios. Quote
Piloto Posted November 25, 2011 Report Posted November 25, 2011 Quote: jetdriven You don't need a COM to get somewhere and land. Quote
Piloto Posted November 25, 2011 Report Posted November 25, 2011 Quote: jetdriven You don't need a COM to get somewhere and land. But you have to be able to navigate. You could also turn off the 796 and fly a couple hours then turn it on inrange. Jose, didnt you fly across the atlantic on vacuum instruments after the whole G1000 failed enroute? Quote
Bennett Posted November 25, 2011 Author Report Posted November 25, 2011 Just another comment or two. I have an electric back-up vacuum pump, as I did on my prior Mooney. Having lost two vacuum pumps in IMC with that airplane, I am wary. Neither incident was a problem, as I simply switched on the electric back-up pump, and landed at the next best airport. The real problem was the failure of the vacuum driven AI itself, and this was in visual conditions, fortunately - hence the electric AI (with turn inclinomter). As I understand it, the electrical hookups for the 796 in a AirGizmo dock will be different ("a bit") from the 696 dock arrangement. I didn't get the details, but it sounded very minor. Quote
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