I had a chance to fly with the new Aera 660 today and I also like it. It is replacing my Garmin GPSMAP 496 (which I'll put up for sale on VAF once I get the ad written).
Yesterday when I received the unit I was able to update the databases with the one-time free upgrade coupon Garmin includes in the box. Updating all the databases via Wi-Fi was a little slow, and I attribute that to Garmin's server load and possibly the size of certain databases (totally subjective observation).
However, I noticed that there was a operating system S/W update (V2.40) released on April 5th. You must connect the unit to a computer using the supplied Garmin data cable to accomplish this update via Garmin's WebUpdater program. I tried to do the update on my iMac and MacBook Air, both running the latest versions of OS X El Capitan (v10.11.4). Neither machine recognized the Aera 660, even when I did a Safe Boot and tried again. I also tried different USB ports, and also a USB 2.0 hub. No joy. I also tried to update the Aera 660 using my iMac running Windows 7 via Parallels, and the 660 was again not recognized.
I know Garmin has been having trouble with Apple's USB connection recently (and I know Apple is not totally blameless since there have been issues recently with certain USB devices), but I was hoping that would all be resolved by now.
Garmin, I'd appreciate any help or tips you can offer. Thx.
Hello Carl,
Yes, we just released new software this week with some new features and improvements.
Changes made from version 2.30 to 2.40:
- Add flight plan transfer support via Connext
- Add IFR/VFR charts selector map for Wi-Fi downloads
- General improvements to system operation
What you say above about having to connect a cable to update the aera 660 is incorrect. If you go to the
aera 660 software download page, you will see that there are four choices to update the software on the aera 660.
The first choice is for "Other Operating Systems" and is a simple .zip file software download with instructions to create a software SD card for your aera 660. Your Mac should be able to download a .zip file and copy the software to an SD card which can be inserted into the aera 660 to update the software.
You will click on the Download button which will download a .zip file to your computer. Open this file and you will see that it contains a folder named Garmin. Copy/extract the Garmin folder (which contains a single file named gupdate.gcd) to the root directory of a micro SD card as explained in the provided instructions (and shown below).
To update the software in your Garmin Aera 660, perform the following steps:
1. Insert a FAT32-formatted micro SD card with at least 20 MB of free space into your card reader.
2. Copy the "Garmin" folder to the top level (root directory) of the SD card.
3. Safely eject the SD card.
4. Apply power to your Aera 660.
5. Insert the SD card containing the software update. You will be prompted to confirm before the update is installed.
6. During the software update, the display will indicate 'Loading'. Do not remove power during the update process.
Let us know if you have questions.
Thanks,
Steve