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Panel upgrade with AFS 5500s screens

Aerosport1

Aerosport1

Well Known Member
After I got wind of the new Advanced flight systems 5500 and 5600 Screens I decided to upgrade from my 4500S screens. I love my 4500's and expect I will love these even more. I have just received my new 5500 screens and have been prepping the airplane for them. I decided to due all the changes at my annual and everything fell into place. I am also adding a TCW battery backup for the new screens, new cat whisker Nav antenna and ADS/B from Navworxs. Attached are some pictures of the upgrades.
I will post more pictures and hopefully will be flying them this weekend.
Geoff
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I'm jealous!

Geoff,

Yes, keep the updates coming.

This will be a very nice upgrade!

I too love my 4500!

I wish I had the ads-b upgrade as well....maybe someday, but it's TIS for now.

Regards,
 
Is space the reason you went with the 5500's vs the 5600's?

You have the standard panel vs the 10" panel, correct?
 
just wait until you see the next software release.........

you will not be needing that Ipad in the front seat :cool:

Rob Hickman
N402RH RV-10 Advanced Flight Systems Inc.
 
awesome!

Thats going to be awesome, Geoff. When are you going to fly down this way and show it off in person? :)
 
Finally got the new screens in and a quick 30 minute flight. These screen are really nice. The more I use them the more I like the interface with all the new buttons and knobs. Rob has done a great job to make it very user friendly. I can't wait to get more time on them. And as always with AFS the customer service is awesome.
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Geoff
 
Aerosport1 said:
Finally got the new screens in and a quick 30 minute flight. These screen are really nice. The more I use them the more I like the interface with all the new buttons and knobs. Rob has done a great job to make it very user friendly. I can't wait to get more time on them. And as always with AFS the customer service is awesome.
Geoff
Click to expand...

Hi Geoff, lovely panel. But can you tell me why you have the Garmin 696 moving map in the panel as well as the full screen AFS moving map. Is it overkill or is it indicative of perceived deficiencies in the AFS moving map.
 
Captain Avgas

I use it for the IFR charts, XM weather, XM radio airport info and many other things for navigation. It is a backup to the 430W. It is hooked to Screens and auto pilot. As for deficiencies in the AFS not at all NONE. I just installed ADS/B as well. Over kill depends on each individual. Its what I wanted. Whats in your panel?

Geoff
 
Aerosport1 said:
Captain Avgas

I use it for the IFR charts, XM weather, XM radio airport info and many other things for navigation. It is a backup to the 430W. It is hooked to Screens and auto pilot. As for deficiencies in the AFS not at all NONE. I just installed ADS/B as well. Over kill depends on each individual. Its what I wanted. Whats in your panel?

Geoff
Click to expand...

Geoff, thanks for the response. It was my understanding that in the US the AFS 5500 has the capacity to display georeferenced approach plates, XM weather, and traffic. It can also be fitted with it's own GPS for redundancy.

Based on this I am wondering specifically what features beyond this are provided by the Garmin 696.

Don't get me wrong here. I'm not questioning your desire for redundancy/duplication. I'm just trying to ascertain from some-one with the equipment whether the Garmin 696 actually provides any mapping functions/features that are not available on the 5500. It's just a technical question.

Personally I have a single AFS 5600 on order and plan to marry that to a Garmin Aera 795 for VFR only.
 
Captain Avgas said:
Geoff, thanks for the response. It was my understanding that in the US the AFS 5500 has the capacity to display georeferenced approach plates, XM weather, and traffic. It can also be fitted with it's own GPS for redundancy.

Based on this I am wondering specifically what features beyond this are provided by the Garmin 696.

Don't get me wrong here. I'm not questioning your desire for redundancy/duplication. I'm just trying to ascertain from some-one with the equipment whether the Garmin 696 actually provides any mapping functions/features that are not available on the 5500. It's just a technical question.

Personally I have a single AFS 5600 on order and plan to marry that to a Garmin Aera 795 for VFR only.
Click to expand...

There are several reasons that folks like Geoff made their decisions. I think a major one, is that while there are some fantastic features AFS has put in their panels, they weren't there initially. It took awhile before the wx and charts were available on the 4500. Today, they're redundant and it's up to the builder on how much rendundacy they want in their aircraft. Having two sets of electronic plates in the cockpit is considered good to have by many. If you are only VFR, then you don't care.

The one major thing that the 696 offers that AFS hasn't done yet, is XM radio.

Personally, I went with ADSB and will use either my iPhone or iPad for entertainment. I'll do anything to avoid paying an XM subscription.


bob
 
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