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Garmin G3X system for $10,000+ but no pilot guide!

D

dabney

Well Known Member
Friend
Recently bought a dual screen Garmin G3X system with a GDU 375 and GDU370 MFD and PFD. Neither unit came with a Pilot Guide so I could learn how to use all the wonderful features I had read about. (It did come with an G37X abbreviated guide) I figured it was a packaging error so I called Garmin to check. I was surprised to be told that you don't get a Pilot Guide with your $10,000 dollar expenditure. The tech support rep told me I could download the Pilot Guide (204 pages) and make my own Pilot Guide or pay $160 to order one. That doesn't seem like the usual great product support I have received from Garmin in the past. I bought a Garmin 696 not long ago and it came with a complete Pilot Guide.

When I went to the website to download the Pilot Guide, Garmin recommended setting the printer to four to six (manual) pages per printer page. At that setting you would need a magnifying glass to read it.

Was I having a bad dream, or is this what other Garmin G3X purchasers have encountered?
 
Talk to the dealer you brought it from first, they should be able to help you out with that as the good dealers will treat their customers right. Also, at the moment, their manual is changing frequently because each software release has resulted in fairly massive changes. As far as printing it out that totally depends on your computer, software and printer....should print out fine as it does for most folks. Anyway, like I said - users have different experiences with different dealers....

Cheers,
Stein
 
The .pdf is better

I have to say, ours didn't come with a manual, and it never even crossed my mind. I went online and downloaded the most current version. I keep it on my laptop, and can access it any time I want. I update it when there is a new one, and it works great. I can search it easily, I can put it on a thumb drive and bring it anywhere I go.

Have you bought an iPod or iPhone lately? No documentation whatsoever. It is entirely online. With a product like the G3X that is constantly changing and being upgraded by Garmin, printing and updating a pilot's guide could be a huge cost. Making it electronic is not only more convenient, it is more affordable.
 
Works fine in an IPad

I also downloaded it from the internet (but directly to my iPad). Opened it in iBooks and it ended up to be a fairly good size to read, just like a book. Fact is this is the 3rd version I download as it has changed a lot after some software upgrades.
 
Mine came with a manual (from Steinair) but by the time I had installed it there had been so many changes to software I had to download the .pdf to use the system correctly and safely.

Hard copy manual is close to useless.
 
This is when an iPad or other tablet is priceless. Every manual for every piece of equipment is on mine.
 
I think we have two copies of the paper manual, but we never look at them because of what has been mentioned - the system is new enough that they are pretty much worthless. I told Louise last week to look at a particular section for some autopilot info she needed, and she came back with "that section doesn't exist!" Well, it did in my .pdf version.... we get new software for Beta testing pretty frequently, and it almost always has new features.

Someday the software will settle down, but I bet they learned that the first paper copies were pretty much a waste of time, and quite printing them.

Paul
 
Doug,

First, let me say that we really appreciate your purchase of a G3X system. We are confident that you will be very pleased with this product.

We understand your expectation to open the box and find a Pilot?s Guide. We considered trying to stock current Pilot?s Guides to ship the latest version with each system, but keeping the printed pilot?s guides in sync with rapidly advancing software is quite difficult and often leads to wasted inventory that must be discarded as it becomes obsolete with new software.

Even the inventoried components of the system are seldom shipped with the latest software since they may have spent some time sitting on a dealer's shelf, so the first step after installing the system should be to make sure your software and documentation is up-to-date with the latest available from our website.

Having said all this, we want every experience you have with Garmin to be a great one, so I am sending you a PM to discuss further and find a way to meet your needs.
 
My company has a phrase that shows up a lot on our engineering docs that says:

Obsolete if printed


I think this applies here as well.
 
G3X manual

I just received my G3X from Aerotronics for my RV8A its very nice, same prob, no hard copy so I downloaded to thumb drive took it to Kinko's and printed copy for $30, That was the install manual now for the pilot's manual.
Having a prob with it: Lights up nice oil temp & MP indicate normal (Engine Not Running) but ALL 8 EGT's & CHT's are red X.
Updated software, lowered baseline temps to zero, changed Config Module, changed thermocouple in 732 conn. Looks like changing AHARS box next what a bummer !!!
Aerotronics has been great helping to get it fixed, and eventually I'm sure we will but I have lost weeks troubleshooting.
I expected better from brand new garmin.
If anyone else has ideas please advise. Thx
 
socal said:
Having a prob with it: Lights up nice oil temp & MP indicate normal (Engine Not Running) but ALL 8 EGT's & CHT's are red X.
Click to expand...

Hello socal,

As indicated in the installation manual, "All thermocouple temperature readouts will be red-x?d if the GSU configuration module is not present."

It sounds like you and Aerotronics have already recognized that thermocouple measurements only work when both the solid state temperature sensor in the GSU73 config module and the reference thermocouple in the GSU73 backshell are wired and functioning properly.

Perhaps the config module and reference thermocouple wiring has already been carefully checked, but that is the best guess as to what would need attention if everything is working fine but the EGT/CHT probes.

Let us know if you have additional questions.

Thanks,
Steve
 
How Can?

1.- see the % of power betwin MP and RPM
2.- see the data .csv in excell one number in each cell, not all in one cell
3.- when i shut off Auto pilot gx pilot AP doesnt dissapear in screen
4.- I have VPX pro and see the pitch trim display inverted, any solution?

Thanks
 
HSANTIBANEZ said:
1.- see the % of power betwin MP and RPM
2.- see the data .csv in excell one number in each cell, not all in one cell
3.- when i shut off Auto pilot gx pilot AP doesnt dissapear in screen
4.- I have VPX pro and see the pitch trim display inverted, any solution?
Click to expand...

1. See the "Engine Power" topic in section 12.3.2 of the G3X Installation Manual to learn how to configure the percent power display for a Lycoming or Continental engine.

2. Data log files are stored in .csv format, which stands for "comma-separated value". To open these files in Excel, you need to select "Text Files (*.txt, *.csv)".

3. I'm not sure I understand your meaning on this item, can you elaborate?

4. Pitch trim is displayed in the normal fashion ("up" at the bottom, "down" at the top) using the data from the VP-X unit. Perhaps your senor wiring is backwards?

- Matt
 
I mean that there some messages that dont dissapear for example i turn on the system with IBBS to start the engine, then with the engine running y conect the master avionics and shut of IBBS, but the backup battery message dont disapear. in the same case when i shut off the GX pilot the AP continue in the screen

Thanks, these are little items, the system is great and easy tu use:):):)
 
HSANTIBANEZ said:
I mean that there some messages that dont dissapear for example i turn on the system with IBBS to start the engine, then with the engine running y conect the master avionics and shut of IBBS, but the backup battery message dont disapear. in the same case when i shut off the GX pilot the AP continue in the screen
Click to expand...

Thanks, I think I understand what you are saying now.

If you are removing power to the GX Pilot autopilot unit while it is engaged, the G3X system will interpret this as a fault and will provide an audio alert and display a flashing red "AP" indication that will persist until it is acknowledged. You can acknowledge the "AP" warning by pressing the ENT key, as is mentioned in section 9.1 of the G3X Pilot's Guide. As a side note, it is generally a better idea to disconnect the autopilot using either the "AP" button on the GX Pilot front panel, or the CWS/AP Disconnect button on the control stick.

Regarding your backup battery CAS message, I assume you have the TCW IBBS unit connected to a discrete input on your GSU 73 ADAHRS/EIS unit. The G3X system will simply display the CAS message you have configured whenever the discrete input from the TCW unit is in the state you configured. The TCW IBBS unit we have here behaves identically to what you describe, so it sounds like it is working as designed. Think of this CAS message like a light bulb, it only knows how to be on or off depending on the voltage it sees on its input pin.

- Matt
 
Manual

I'm glad I have the G3X. I have had so many software upgrades and configuration updates that make it better every few months a manual would definitely be obsolete. Now if I could have a flight director and VNAV altitudes on a STAR.:)
 
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