Rick6a
Well Known Member
Some 2 or 3 months ago, a casual conversation with the owner of an avionics shop revealed to me something I was completely unaware of. When he asked how long my 430 was installed, I replied with something like "over 5 years now." He said the internal battery in the 430 was due to fail any time now. What he described as its costly replacement procedure both surprised and angered me. We agreed Garmin could have easily made the battery field replaceable but instead chose a design that has the battery soldered to a board buried deep within the internals and requires the unit to be disassembled.
Sure enough, yesterday prior to a local flight the 430 warned "memory battery low."
My question is this: Since I don't really store waypoints or other data, with a dead internal battery, will the unit still allow me to point and fly my airplane towards the nearest or next destination that I happen to program into it on a moment's notice?
Sure enough, yesterday prior to a local flight the 430 warned "memory battery low."
My question is this: Since I don't really store waypoints or other data, with a dead internal battery, will the unit still allow me to point and fly my airplane towards the nearest or next destination that I happen to program into it on a moment's notice?