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prkaye

Well Known Member
According to the comparison chart, the Garmin Aera 500 model (the cheapest one) does not come with the "AOPA airport directory". Will it still have basic information such as runways and frequencies for the airports in its database? Will it also display information on terminal airspace (i.e. the inverted wedding cake - will it alert you when you enter terminal space?)
 
aopa data is fluffy...

the aopa data covers things like restaurants, rental cars, taxi cabs, and other useful things at the airport... the navigation data is part of the core for all aviation gps units... typically sourced from jeppesen... i update my nav data once a year or so.
 
Ok, so the navigation data will have the airport COM and lighting frequencies, runway headings, etc?

What about the terminal airspace information? Will it make it easy for me to see when I'm entering Class D Terminal Airpsace, for example?
 
No worries Phil, the AOPA stuff is overpriced info that you can do without or get elsewhere for free....All the good stuff is in the less expensive models!

The 510 offers the weather and that is the cats meow! The only thing bad about in flight weather is the subscribtion cost!
 
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Phil,

I have the 510. It's pretty cool, especially because it has XM capabilities. I think that's the most important feature of the unit. I use XM for every flight. I get surface winds continuously, altimeter settings, and radar. Also TAF's and Metars for selected stations.

The 500 by itself will be useful, you can get the basic airport info (elevation, runways, TPA's, airspace, etc) but again having weather data really makes it better. Personally, I don't "love" the 510. I would go with the IFLYGPS if the choice was between the 500 and it. It's cheaper and I think it does more for the money. I want to upgrade to a 696 ASAP.
 
How much is the subscription for the weather service? I'm not sure it'd be worth it for me... I usually just check relevant reports online before a x-country flight, and when in-doubt in Canada we can always phone 1888-WX-BRIEF and a friendly Nav Canada agent will give us any weather information we want. The Aera 500 is so attractive because of the price.
I just checked IFLYGPS... it doesn't include maps of Canada.
The AVMAP GEOPILOT II loooks to be a comparable unit, similarly priced. Anyone have any thoughts on which (GEOPILOT II vs AERA500) would be better value?
 
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Hey Phil,
The AOPA info won't help you much with canadian airports anyway. I have XM weather on my 496 and it is terrific. But its only useful on x-countries. If most of your flights are local you don't need it.

Matt P.
 
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