New (March 1, 2016) Garmin aera 660 Portable GPS

[g3xpert]

Originally Posted by PCHunt

Thanks for the quick and detailed response!

Next questions: when will the 660 be available with New Zealand maps and data? Same price? Easy to update? Probably the same question for Australia, as well.

Hello Pete,

The aera 660 has worldwide basemap and terrain data. For New Zealand and Australia we offer a Jeppesen Navigation Database and an AC-U-KWIK airport directory.

All of these databases may be downloaded from FlyGarmin using the aera 660 Wi-Fi interface.

I haven't seen the pricing yet for these Australia and New Zealand databases, but if you don't mind contacting us using the phone or email shown below, someone can answer any database pricing questions you may have.

Just a reminder for others reading that the original posting has database bundle pricing for several parts of the world including U.S., Canada, and Europe.

Thanks,
Steve

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by g3xpert

The display brightness and readability of the aera 660 is dramatically improved over the aera 5XX.

Good to know. My 500 is almost unreadable on a sunny day.

I updated the second posting above to include some detail on the new database bundles offered for the aera 660. Customers in Canada will find the "North American Database Bundle" to be the best choice.

$199/year is a great revenue stream for you. What about for people who don't want a subscription? Will there be an option to do a one-time update? Not all of us are IFR or commercial pilots, and a GPS with data valid within the last two years is just fine when augmented with a paper chart.

[g3xpert]

Originally Posted by Snowflake

Good to know. My 500 is almost unreadable on a sunny day.

What about for people who don't want a subscription? Will there be an option to do a one-time update? Not all of us are IFR or commercial pilots, and a GPS with data valid within the last two years is just fine when augmented with a paper chart.

Hello Rob,

Yes, of course. As with all of our products, you can still buy a single database online as seldom as you like. Once you purchase the database it will show up as available to download on the aera 660 download page.

Thanks,
Steve

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by g3xpert

Yes, of course. As with all of our products, you can still buy a single database online as seldom as you like. Once you purchase the database it will show up as available to download on the aera 660 download page.

Can you update the second post with prices? Thanks!

[g3xpert]

Originally Posted by Snowflake

Can you update the second post with prices? Thanks!

Hello Rob,

Bundle pricing is already shown above, but I suspect you are asking about individual database pricing.

Fortunately, FlyGarmin is now updated to show both bundle pricing and individual database pricing for the aera 660. You can go to this page, select aera 660 and see all available databases and pricing.

Let us know if you need anything else.

Thanks,
Steve

[MrMorden]

g3expert, will the connectors and external GPS antenna ('hockey puck') attached to the back of my current panel-mount 496 be compatible with the Aera 660, or will some rewiring be required?

[g3xpert]

Originally Posted by MrMorden

g3expert, will the connectors and external GPS antenna ('hockey puck') attached to the back of my current panel-mount 496 be compatible with the Aera 660, or will some rewiring be required?

Hello MrMorden,

It sounds like you might be referring to either the GXM 30A XM weather receiver and/or the GA 26C remote GPS antenna, and neither of those are compatible with the aera 660.

The aera 660 has a built-in GPS antenna that it quite sensitive, but if you need the remote GPS antenna, it uses the GA 25MCX antenna.

Thanks for your interest,
Steve

[MrMorden]

Originally Posted by g3xpert

Hello MrMorden,

It sounds like you might be referring to either the GXM 30A XM weather receiver and/or the GA 26C remote GPS antenna, and neither of those are compatible with the aera 660.

The aera 660 has a built-in GPS antenna that it quite sensitive, but if you need the remote GPS antenna, it uses the GA 25MCX antenna.

Thanks for your interest,
Steve

I actually meant all the wiring...power, audio, etc. as well.

[Snowflake]

Excellent, thanks for the pricing link. For the edification of others in Canada, here's a summary:

Aera 500:
$100 (or $175 including terrain) for one update, vs. $375 for a subscription.

Aera 660:
$480 (or $555 including terrain) for one update, vs. $199 for a subscription.

You really want people buying subscriptions, don't you?

It looks like I could just update the same things I've updated on my Aera 500, the Nav Data and Obstacle Data, for $90 if I went with the Garmin data. Would any of the other data sets stop working if I didn't update them? Charts, etc.? I know they won't be current, but will they *stop working*?

[g3xpert]

Originally Posted by MrMorden

I actually meant all the wiring...power, audio, etc. as well.

Hello MrMorden,

Yes, to answer your first question, some re-wiring will be required. It shouldn't be bad, however, since both the 496 and aera 660 use wiring for power, ground, audio, and RS-232.

It should be just a matter of comparing your existing wiring to the diagram shown below (left hand side) to determine where to connect your existing wires to the new aera 660 cable wiring shown here.



We have standardized our bare wire wiring colors for years, and for both the 496 and the aera 660 black is ground, red is power, blue is RS-232 #1 transmit, and yellow is RS-232 #1 receive. The aera 660 has an additional handy serial port #2 that the 496 doesn't have and those transmit/receive wire colors are orange/purple. This information is of course in the manuals for both products.

If you have specific wiring questions, it is probably best to email us at the address below since it is so much more effective to share data via email than through a forum where we have to post pictures somewhere to get them to show up.

Thanks again for your interest,
Steve