I just completed my radio upgrade from the Garmin SL40 to the Garmin GTR 200 and I wanted to post my review of the new radio.
Why did I upgrade?
When I purchased the SL40 about 6 years ago the only other radio I was considering was the ICOM A200. I wanted the ability to monitor the standby frequency and the SL40 had that functionality, the A200 did not. The SL40 had a small display but the A200 had a slightly larger display, but those were my choices. A few weeks after receiving the SL40, ICOM released the A210 radio. It had a bigger easier to read display, monitoring function and remote frequency flip-flop (SL40 does not). I started to regret my SL40 decision and over the years considered changing out the SL40 for the A210. After reading some pilot reviews on the A210 I decided I was better off keeping the SL40.
This summer Garmin released the GTR 200. It had all the features I have been wanting and more. It has a much larger display (my old man eyes need some help these days), more information on the display, remote frequency flip-flop and supposedly had a great internal two-place digital intercom. Not to mention all the same basic functionality as the SL40. It is competitively priced with the A210 and much less than the GTR 225 (SL40 replacement).
I had the opportunity to ?test drive? the radio at the Garmin booth at Airventure 2013 and I was impressed. My SL40 still had value ($$) so I sold it and upgraded to the GTR 200.
My Review:
Installation: The GTR 200 is not the same dimensionally as the SL40 and it has its unique tray. Modifications to the mounting rails (new holes) are required along with changing some of the wiring. I removed my intercom (Flightcom 403) and had to move all the audio cabling to the GTR 200 to take advance of the internal intercom. Not a big deal but it took some time. The installation documentation (which I downloaded) is top notch. One very nice feature of the radio its backshell. It is a special design (I am told this is common with the high end Garmin products) with plenty of room for wires and has a 6 connection grounding rail for grounding shields. Grounding shielded coax to this grounding rail is so much easier than daisy chaining multiple grounds together and connecting to one crimp pin (required on the Flightcom 403).
Function: It is easy to figure out all the radio and intercom functions rather quickly. The user manual is easy to understand. There are many configuration settings you can adjust to set your preferences (mostly how the audio is handled). There also are two user defined buttons you can configure as well.
Performance: The radio performs as good as the SL40. The user interface (display, knobs, buttons, etc) are great. You can easily read the display in bright reflected sunlight. The buttons and frequency knobs have great tactic feel. The audio (intercom) is where the radio really shines. The audio is crisp and much better than the Flightcom 403 it replaced. The 3-D audio really works and is more natural to fly with. The auto squelch works great even with two different brands of headsets (Clarity Aloft-pilot, Zulu-passenger). I didn?t need to make any squelch adjustments. There is independent volume control on the music input and the two mono inputs (no need for resistors to set up alert tone volumes (Dynon D-100 series EFIS/EMS).
Future Performance: The radio is software programmable (and so is the intercom side). This means with only software upgrades, changes can be implemented (via microSD card) quickly giving opportunities for future configuration options.
In my opinion Garmin has hit a home run with the GTR 200. It offers outstanding value to the experimental market.
Why did I upgrade?
When I purchased the SL40 about 6 years ago the only other radio I was considering was the ICOM A200. I wanted the ability to monitor the standby frequency and the SL40 had that functionality, the A200 did not. The SL40 had a small display but the A200 had a slightly larger display, but those were my choices. A few weeks after receiving the SL40, ICOM released the A210 radio. It had a bigger easier to read display, monitoring function and remote frequency flip-flop (SL40 does not). I started to regret my SL40 decision and over the years considered changing out the SL40 for the A210. After reading some pilot reviews on the A210 I decided I was better off keeping the SL40.
This summer Garmin released the GTR 200. It had all the features I have been wanting and more. It has a much larger display (my old man eyes need some help these days), more information on the display, remote frequency flip-flop and supposedly had a great internal two-place digital intercom. Not to mention all the same basic functionality as the SL40. It is competitively priced with the A210 and much less than the GTR 225 (SL40 replacement).
I had the opportunity to ?test drive? the radio at the Garmin booth at Airventure 2013 and I was impressed. My SL40 still had value ($$) so I sold it and upgraded to the GTR 200.
My Review:
Installation: The GTR 200 is not the same dimensionally as the SL40 and it has its unique tray. Modifications to the mounting rails (new holes) are required along with changing some of the wiring. I removed my intercom (Flightcom 403) and had to move all the audio cabling to the GTR 200 to take advance of the internal intercom. Not a big deal but it took some time. The installation documentation (which I downloaded) is top notch. One very nice feature of the radio its backshell. It is a special design (I am told this is common with the high end Garmin products) with plenty of room for wires and has a 6 connection grounding rail for grounding shields. Grounding shielded coax to this grounding rail is so much easier than daisy chaining multiple grounds together and connecting to one crimp pin (required on the Flightcom 403).
Function: It is easy to figure out all the radio and intercom functions rather quickly. The user manual is easy to understand. There are many configuration settings you can adjust to set your preferences (mostly how the audio is handled). There also are two user defined buttons you can configure as well.
Performance: The radio performs as good as the SL40. The user interface (display, knobs, buttons, etc) are great. You can easily read the display in bright reflected sunlight. The buttons and frequency knobs have great tactic feel. The audio (intercom) is where the radio really shines. The audio is crisp and much better than the Flightcom 403 it replaced. The 3-D audio really works and is more natural to fly with. The auto squelch works great even with two different brands of headsets (Clarity Aloft-pilot, Zulu-passenger). I didn?t need to make any squelch adjustments. There is independent volume control on the music input and the two mono inputs (no need for resistors to set up alert tone volumes (Dynon D-100 series EFIS/EMS).
Future Performance: The radio is software programmable (and so is the intercom side). This means with only software upgrades, changes can be implemented (via microSD card) quickly giving opportunities for future configuration options.
In my opinion Garmin has hit a home run with the GTR 200. It offers outstanding value to the experimental market.
