Airgizmo for the Aera?

Anyone talked to Airgizmo about their plans for the Aera?

I sure hope they make there mount fit the same footprint as the X96 mounts.

I bet their mount will be high $ since it has to have that special connector made into it????

My 296 will get replaced within a year and I will either go with a used 496 or the Aera 510.

With the internal battery issue and the X96 series, I hate to invest much more money in that series but I will if the Aera mount takes a ton of panel rework to install.

Brian:

What's the "battery issue" on the x96 units? I have heard some mutterings but nothing really describing the problem. FWIW, my 496 hasn't missed a beat in 300 hours of use. Thanks.

Brantel said:

Anyone talked to Airgizmo about their plans for the Aera?

I sure hope they make there mount fit the same footprint as the X96 mounts.

Click to expand...

I asked Airgizmo about the "Panel Dock" for Area 500, and untill now, I have no answer about. When I get the answer from Airgizmo, I'll post here for everybody.

Cheers

Hey Jamie,

The internal battery issue... People that have always used their units and never just leave them turned off for long periods of time do not experience this issue as much.

The problem is that the internal backup battery is a rechargable battery but it only charges when the unit is powered on. If you leave the unit turned off for long periods, this battery will go dead.

It seems that if this happens a time or two, the battery is toast.

There are many post here about how to change it out but it is a pain to find the right battery and change it.

If the battery goes South, the units lose the correct date and time and have a hard time acquiring the sats correctly. If it is way off, it can take a very long time to get a lock.

There is a way to force the unit to find itself again but it still takes a while.

Bottom line is don't let the internal battery run down. Fly often!!!

Jamie said:

Brian:

What's the "battery issue" on the x96 units? I have heard some mutterings but nothing really describing the problem. FWIW, my 496 hasn't missed a beat in 300 hours of use. Thanks.

Click to expand...

On the AirGizmos website, they say they are working on a mount for the Aera.

Brian,
I just happened to talk to them yesterday. They said it will have the same footprint as the X96 and should be available in about 3 weeks.

I have the aera 500. I'm still building, but it looks like panel dock won't be necessary. The 500 attaches to a yoke mount with a C clamp, very similiar to how most Automotive GPS's mount to in your car. This clamp mounts to the yoke with 4 screws. Simply unscrew the clamp from the yoke, drill and mount some nutplates in your panel, mount the C Clamp and viola, your done.

Vince
RV-7

Got an email from one of the owners of Airgizmo today and he stated that the mount will have the same footprint of the x96 mount and will use the Garmin supplied special connector/cable. 3 weeks from shipping.....

Most of the reviews of the Aera claim you don't need an external GPS antenna
and only the XM antenna is included. If you bury it in the panel in a dock,
you might have to purchase the external GPS antenna. I just bought one today, but haven't looked in the box yet!

I'll take a picture this weekend and post it, but I did as n567vb suggested and repurposed the Garmin-supplied mount from the yoke mount. The previous owner of my -6 had a *96-series GPS mounted on the panel in a mount that screwed to the panel, i've just placed the Aera mount in the same location and it works great.

As for reception, I flew the -6 for 3.5 hours with it mounted to the passenger stick. That placed it below the level of the canopy sides, and well shielded by the panel and rear of the aircraft. I didn't have any signal issues during the entire flight. I haven't flown yet with the Aera on the panel though. The tip-up canopy does cover the top of the panel and will obscure the GPS somewhat from the sky.

Still, my experience with newer GPS' suggests that the antenna is enough better than older GPS' that reception shouldn't be a problem.