Peter.Fruehling

Peter.Fruehling

Well Known Member
I thought you might be interested to see a sneak picture I took today of the Advanced Flight System 4500 next to the new Garmin 696. I have been planning a panel with Stein to include AFS EFIS's for some time and I'm glad to see the 696 will be a natural fit.

Sorry for the quality but I took it with my phone on the bench at Stein's this afternoon.

33tgmtt.jpg


By the way, the features and interface are amazing. It feels like a mini G900X!

- Peter
 
Temtation ??

Oh, my---------that is sweet!!!!!

A quick 10 grand or so??
 
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Pretty sweet setup, $10k.... nice! Now all we need are remote mounted NAV and COMM radios.... :)

(Seriously, look at the progress we've seen in the last 18 months!)

TODR
 
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Very tidy!

WOW, that is a very tidy set-up. Are they indeed exactly the same height as they appear? And will the 696 just mount on the surface somehow?
 
randylervold said:
WOW, that is a very tidy set-up. Are they indeed exactly the same height as they appear? And will the 696 just mount on the surface somehow?
Click to expand...

The back of the 696 is essentially flat, and has four flush 4mm rivnuts to attach a mount - it would be pretty simple to screw it to a panel, and not much harder to build a removable mount. It is relatively thick - with only a little effort, you could build a recess for it in the panel. I like the "regular" shape (A rectangular box) of the 696 better than the more free-form shape of the previous x96's.

Paul
 
We measured them today and they are VERY close, but not identical (somewhere around 100 thou" in difference). As for mounting the 696 on the surface....well....um, "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain". Let's discuss that later after we get them mounted in the panel. ;)

I'm sure Peter will be happy to provide more pics as his panel comes together. It'll be pretty impressive!

Cheers,
Stein

PS...why is it that when Paul and I submit a reply at the exact same time he always ends up ahead of me?!?!!? :)
 
Paul's got seniority (+4000 posts!) and he comes first alphabetically.... Plus a direct satellite link or some such thing....

greg
 
Get to work PJ!

Good to know while I was putting in a long day's work, you were at Stein's playing with toys!

I've never done that, as far as you (or my wife) knows. Just a hint - it is more fun to fly to Airlake than to drive to Farmington (that's what other people tell me, anyway)

Looks Great Peter and Stein!
 
Trying To Find Room!!

Sat in the RV9A for an hour yesterday trying to find room for the 696

By USCANAM
According to Garmin, the unit is 5.7" wide and 7.7" high.
If I remove the Strike Finder and 296, I have exactly 8.0", so the 696 will fit after I fill up the sides where the Gizmo is, which is 6.3 ".
I could scrap the Strike Finder and rely solely on weather on the 696, or put it under the panel below the engine controls.
What I like about the 696 is that all the charts and plates can be pulled up on it too.
Will wait until I start hearing some flight test comments on the unit.
Jack
RV9A
69 hours
 
Our Moto "If you can get it in neatly, install it!!"

RV7Guy said:
Geez, how much more stuff do you need?:eek:
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Darwin
I love stuff!!!

On a more serious side, I've been looking at these portable systems that have all the approach plates on them electronically, and the 696 doesn't cost that much more, plus you have all the other features.
The 296 is the back-up to all the other "stuff", since it has it's own power supply. So it would go back into our aerobatic plane.
I've been thinking about a 496 and the weather feature, so that's my logic.
Now in one unit, I can have both of the features I'd like.
We have a lot more serious weather here in the North East than you do, especially the Cape Cod area, so even mild IFR is nice with full weather info.
Now, if I looks like I might have some retirement money left after the elections, and I see favorable test reports, and if my wife let's me, I think I'm convinced.
Hey, this is my last plane, and I plan to enjoy it!!!
Jack
 
Good plan!!

USCANAM said:
Darwin
I love stuff!!!

So it would go back into our aerobatic plane.
I've been thinking about a 496 and the weather feature, so that's my logic.
Now in one unit, I can have both of the features I'd like.
We have a lot more serious weather here in the North East than you do, especially the Cape Cod area, so even mild IFR is nice with full weather info.

Jack
Click to expand...

I agree. Unfortunately the real estate on our panels is limited. I love the 496 and use in the plane and the helicopter I fly. The weather is indispensable. (when we have weather). I'm a little disappointed the 696 is so large. Almost makes it too large for an add on piece.

BTW, our weather was bad today. We were down to 50 miles visibility, with clear skies and virtually no wind. :cool:
 
RV7Guy said:
I agree. Unfortunately the real estate on our panels is limited. I love the 496 and use in the plane and the helicopter I fly. The weather is indispensable. (when we have weather). I'm a little disappointed the 696 is so large. Almost makes it too large for an add on piece.
Click to expand...

One thing for sure. If it wasn't as large as it is, then there would be no reason to upgrade! :D

I've probably watched the Sporty's video ten times now, as well as getting my navigator wife to sit through it. I'm going to sell off my almost new 496 at a huge loss, and dump the 296 too.

Then I'll have to wear the thing as a knee board until I can remove Van's engine instruments........which will require a Dynon or something to replace my six pac. IMO, sitting in the middle of my panel is a must! It's going to be never ending; but I'm just too impressed with this unit.!

L.Adamson
 
USCANAM said:
Will wait until I start hearing some flight test comments on the unit.
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Hey Jack, I have been flying it for over two months, and can't find anything that I don't like. Judging by your predilection for stuff in the panel, just go ahead and buy it....it is superior to the 496 in pretty much every way (doesn't have auto or marine modes if that is important)....Stike finder? Dinosaur when you have XM weather....(IMHO):D

Paul
 
Ironflight said:
Hey Jack, I have been flying it for over two months, ....Stike finder? Dinosaur when you have XM weather....(IMHO):D

Paul
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Paul
Thanks for the update
Two questions;
1. Since it was just announced for sale, how have you been flying with it for 2 months?
2. I'm totally unfamiliar with the weather feature. Does it update as fast as the Strike Finder?

As an aside, I have upteen hours behind a StormScope, and many a time the controllers would alert me to heavy precip directly in front of me. However the S. S. would alert me to potential thunderstorms in the location the controller would suggest that I deviate to. My usual reply was that I'll take the precip, and avoid the thunderstorms which their radar would not detect.
Do you have the same problem with the Weather on a 496 or 696
Thanks
Jack
 
USCANAM said:
Paul
Thanks for the update
Two questions;
1. Since it was just announced for sale, how have you been flying with it for 2 months?
2. I'm totally unfamiliar with the weather feature. Does it update as fast as the Strike Finder?
Click to expand...

1) I've been really fortunate to be Beta testing the 696 for the past several months, and I'm really glad that now I can talk about it! I wrote a quick review in this thread:

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=35602

2) Of course, XM has a time delay built in, but it is on the order of minutes. My rule is that any weather that is changing faster than that is something that I am going to stay away from anyway. My feelings on the use of XM weather is that I use it to AVOID penetrating bad weather by finding paths around it.

Paul
 
Well looking at the mounting options for the 696 again, the only thing I can potentially see as an issue with screw mounting it in to some kind of sub-structure so its flush with the panel is access to the SD card slot on the side of the unit. I'll need access to it for upgrades etc. and if it's right up against the 4500 on that side, I don't think I can get at the slot.

This is the kind of stuff Stein can usually fix! ...RIGHT STEIN?!?

- Peter

PS - Is there such a thing as a remote SD reader? SD male on one end and SD female on the other?
 
N200PF said:
I thought you might be interested to see a sneak picture I took today of the Advanced Flight System 4500 next to the new Garmin 696. I have been planning a panel with Stein to include AFS EFIS's for some time and I'm glad to see the 696 will be a natural fit.

Sorry for the quality but I took it with my phone on the bench at Stein's this afternoon.

33tgmtt.jpg


By the way, the features and interface are amazing. It feels like a mini G900X!

- Peter
Click to expand...

I cannot find anything on the Advanced Flight systems website regarding a "4500" model so I am presuming this is a yet to be released EFIS. Also the current 3500 model (8.4" screen) has a height of 6.82" and the Garmin 696 has a height of 7.7" so I am presuming from this that the "4500" model is almost an inch deeper than the current 3500.

Can anybody clarify this situation.
 
We refer to it as the 4500, even though AFS prefers to call it the "deck". The 4500 comes from back in the early development/skunk works days when there wasn't a name for it yet (but some of us were privvy to the information). For me, it's easier to remember, and also our computer has to have some sort of part number in it, so we've stuck with the 4500...It is taller than the 3500, partly because it's now front mounted (THANK YOU AFS), so the bezel is a bit larger.

It's no longer "double secret", because we had it to show at OSH, and keep some here (obviously) in the shop for customers to play with (and for us to use when building customers panels).

Believe me, it's a REALLY slick system....so is the 696!

Cheers,
Stein
 
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