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  #71  
Old 03-12-2016, 12:12 AM
dutchroll dutchroll is offline
 
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Location: Sydney, Australia
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Quote:
Originally Posted by g3xpert View Post
Sorry, no idea, but the aera 660 5.1" diagonal display is quite a bit larger than the 4.3" in the aera 5XX.

The outside dimensions of the aera 660 are 5.5" wide x 3.4" tall if you want to check that against your mount.

Thanks,
Steve
Sounds like the outside dimensions of the 660 are only marginally larger than the 500 series. The 500 has a pretty chunky bezel so perhaps improved design here accounts for the much bigger display with limited physical size increase.

I was disappointed with my 550 and actually navigate by iPad as a result. The touchscreen is temperamental and the sunlight readability was much worse than I expected, which is a problem living Down Under where we sometimes have to Google "cloud" to remind ourselves what it is. Sounds like you guys may just have pulled a rabbit out of your hat here and made some substantial improvements, and I'm very interested in an upgrade!
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  #72  
Old 03-13-2016, 07:43 AM
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Lan Vinh Do Lan Vinh Do is offline
 
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Default Battery life

I have a aera 510. The battery life was cery short. How is the battery life of the 660 when compare to the aera 510. ?
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  #73  
Old 03-13-2016, 08:28 AM
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g3xpert g3xpert is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lan Vinh Do View Post
I have a aera 510. The battery life was cery short. How is the battery life of the 660 when compare to the aera 510. ?
Hello,

The aera 660 web page provides this information under battery specs:

Battery life: Up to 4 hours during most daytime conditions, (80% backlight) and wireless connectivity in the cockpit, e.g. GTX 345; up to 6 hours during typical nighttime conditions, (5% backlight) and without wireless connectivity.

The aera 660 has a quick release battery compartment door, and at $29.99 list, the battery is pretty affordable to replace when it gets old and the capacity is reduced.



There is also a drop-in battery charger available for $24.99 that makes it easy to keep a second pack charged if you wish to take a backup.

Attaching a powered mount to your instrument panel takes care of all battery concerns.

Thanks,
Steve
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  #74  
Old 03-13-2016, 09:13 AM
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BSwayze BSwayze is offline
 
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Steve (g3xpert),

Thank you so much for answering all the questions. It's much appreciated. I have one more, and some input as well.

Is there any chance Garmin might consider offering the 660 without the yoke mount in the box? You're dealing with people here who fly RV's after all, and a yoke mount is likely to just sit in the box on a shelf, collecting dust. It looks like a spendy accessory that isn't really needed by most of us, and if you could offer the 660 without the yoke mount at a lower price, I'm sure Garmin would score some points!

Why not give us the option to get these things ala carte?
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  #75  
Old 03-13-2016, 10:40 AM
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g3xpert g3xpert is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BSwayze View Post
Steve (g3xpert),

Thank you so much for answering all the questions. It's much appreciated. I have one more, and some input as well.

Is there any chance Garmin might consider offering the 660 without the yoke mount in the box? You're dealing with people here who fly RV's after all, and a yoke mount is likely to just sit in the box on a shelf, collecting dust. It looks like a spendy accessory that isn't really needed by most of us, and if you could offer the 660 without the yoke mount at a lower price, I'm sure Garmin would score some points!

Why not give us the option to get these things ala carte?
Hello Bruce,

You are very welcome. This is a very good question and one that we struggle with every time we develop a new portable GPS navigator and have to decide what we put "in-the-box".

Like you, many favor the ala carte model where most of the accessories are not included with the base unit while other customers and dealers feel that the out-of-the-box experience should include a powered mount with a cigarette lighter adapter (CLA) so you could buy a unit at a show and fly home with it plugged in and charging the battery even if you couldn't use the yoke mount to which the powered mount is attached.

The last new model we introduced, the aera 795/796, had a large and impressive collection of accessories in the box including a home dock which could be used to hold the unit and charge the battery when out of the plane. The feedback for all of these included accessories was generally quite positive, but we were targeting a much lower entry price for the aera 660 and knew we had to limit the included accessories.

One of the accessories we offer for the aera 660 is a metal home dock stand.



We offer this home dock without the powered mount so our EAB customers who don't use the yoke mount could buy this bare base, remove the 4 screws that hold the powered mount to the yoke mount (that comes with the aera 660), attach it to the home dock base, plug it into a CLA power adapter and have a nice home dock to both charge the unit when out of the plane and power the unit when WiFi database updates are being performed. I have assembled one of these home docks for my aera 660 and love it.

One additional suggestion regarding the supplied powered mount/yoke mount. You may remove the powered mount from the yoke mount, attach a RAM ball (same hole pattern), and use lots of flexible mounting options offered by that mounting system.

Thanks,
Steve
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Last edited by g3xpert : 01-02-2017 at 12:20 PM.
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  #76  
Old 03-13-2016, 07:55 PM
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Mark33 Mark33 is offline
 
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Steve,

I've read through this entire thread, and maybe I've missed it, but would you please explain again on how the 660 would be mounted in the panel if replacing a 496 that is mounted with an air-gizmo. I know you can't speak for another company such as air-gizmo, but do you know of any panel mount options that may be available or that are coming available? Is the footprint of the 660 the same size as the cutout that I currently have in my panel which now houses the 496? On one of your previous post in this thread I saw a picture of an external mount for the 660....so in assuming that I'd have to make a plate to cover my existing cutout and then mount that external mount to the new plate...is this correct?

Thanks,
Mark
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  #77  
Old 03-14-2016, 05:47 AM
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g3xpert g3xpert is offline
 
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Originally Posted by Mark33 View Post
Steve,

I've read through this entire thread, and maybe I've missed it, but would you please explain again on how the 660 would be mounted in the panel if replacing a 496 that is mounted with an air-gizmo. I know you can't speak for another company such as air-gizmo, but do you know of any panel mount options that may be available or that are coming available? Is the footprint of the 660 the same size as the cutout that I currently have in my panel which now houses the 496? On one of your previous post in this thread I saw a picture of an external mount for the 660....so in assuming that I'd have to make a plate to cover my existing cutout and then mount that external mount to the new plate...is this correct?

Thanks,
Mark
Hello Mark,

As shown below, the aera 660 outside dimensions are similar to a 496, but it is significantly thinner. As others have commented, the aera 660 display is also significantly larger and higher resolution than a 496 without taking up more panel space.

GPSMAP 496 outside dimensions: 5.7"W x 3.2"H x 1.9"D
aera 660 outside dimensions: 5.5?W x 3.4?H x 0.8?D

It appears that the hole for an A.G. mount might be as large as 6.25" x 4.25" (flush mounted) with an extra cutout for the release tab on the side.

Since your existing panel hole is larger than the footprint of an aera 660, you could certainly build and install a cover for that hole and surface mount a bare wire mount with 4 screws (drill/tap #6-32 or use nuts).

Surface mounting the aera 660 with a bare wire mount has a couple of advantages over an A.G. mount:
  1. Lower cost than buying something that mounts in the panel.
  2. Less panel space is consumed since the A.G. mount always extends beyond the edge of the portable it is mounting.
  3. Cooling is better since air can circulate around the unit. We have seen many over-heated battery packs in portables that were mounted inside of an enclosure like this.
  4. Easier to insert and remove. You can easily reach a finger around the side of the unit to quickly push the release button on the bare wire mount if you surface mount the unit. Don't forget that you are likely to want to take this unit home with you after each flight to use WiFi to do things like download the latest fuel prices that are updated daily.
  5. Better GPS reception. The aera 660 has a built-in GPS antenna that is more likely to work fine without an external antenna if the unit is surface mounted on the instrument panel.
Also, don't forget that you can also mount the aera 660 in either portrait or landscape orientations. Many of us prefer a portrait orientation (as shown in the first posting) since there is more area shown forward of the plane in track up operation and you can see your destination airport on the map sooner at the same zoom range.

Thanks for your interest,
Steve
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  #78  
Old 03-14-2016, 06:53 AM
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g3xpert g3xpert is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by control View Post
Do you know/except vendors to have it for sale at AERO Friedrichshafen on April 20-23?

I have stayed away from devices like this until now because of the enormous update fees. Not that I am happy about 299/year but it is much better that before and this device looks fantastic!
Hello Control,

Thank you for your interest in the aera 660. We understand that at least one Garmin dealer (SkyFox) will have inventory to sell at AERO.

Thanks,
Steve
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  #79  
Old 03-14-2016, 08:02 AM
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Snowflake Snowflake is online now
 
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Steve,

I just realized that nowhere in this thread does anyone mention the automotive side of the Aera 660. I pop my 500 out of my panel at the end of the day, and use it in my car. That keeps it charged and gives me a nav while driving. The Garmin portable page still says "transition easily from flying to driving with Aera," has this feature been dropped?
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  #80  
Old 03-14-2016, 08:30 AM
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g3xpert g3xpert is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Snowflake View Post
Steve,

I just realized that nowhere in this thread does anyone mention the automotive side of the Aera 660. I pop my 500 out of my panel at the end of the day, and use it in my car. That keeps it charged and gives me a nav while driving. The Garmin portable page still says "transition easily from flying to driving with Aera," has this feature been dropped?
Hello Rob,

Like the GPSMAP 695/696 and aera 795/796, the aera 660 is specifically designed to be an aviation navigator and doesn't share any hardware/software with Garmin automotive navigators (no automotive mode).

Thanks for pointing out the error on the website.

Thanks,
Steve
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