I flew G550 from 2005 until 2012 and Global Vision (only) since then.
I flew the first Planeview cockpits out of the factory and then flew the first Vision also out of the factory. We had big problems with the new G550’s and slow answers, the same level of problems were expected on the Global but they didn’t happen.
Flyingwise... the G550 as a autopilot off machine flies better, the Global is not a pleasure to handfly, specially during approach. The Global has a big rudder so the yaw dumper reactions to gusts during landing makes it an interesting case.
The redundancy of the Global systems are way too much better than the simplicity of the G550, but the simplicity works.
From the pilot’s quality point of view the Global Vision is much better, the noise difference makes a big difference at the end of a 10 hour flight.
All the G550’s that have flown the interiors were not finished by Gulfstream, so the quality and durability were very questionable compared with the in-house completions of Global and also by Innotech. Innotech quality is inferior than the in-house completions done by Bombardier.
Owners love Globals, the ride comfort, the pressurisation and the noise level makes a Global Vision a better ride than a G550.
Product support is better by Gulfstream... an AOG in China of a Global means minimum 3 weeks if the required part needs to come from outside China and this is frequent, whereas the stock of parts for Gulfstream in China is quite acceptable even if the part needs to clear customs Gulfstream has better channels than Bombardier. In Europe the customs is not an issue but parts availability is also better with Gulfstream.