If you go to
Garmin | Manuals you can download the user manual.
To me it looks like a very nice piece of kit. A few things which I would prefer to be different:
1. In aviation mode, the 'reference point' cannot be fixed to a user waypoint, only to a 'nearest' waypoint (VOR, NDB, aerodrome etc). Being able to keep brg and rng to a user waypoint was a very useful feature of the GNC250, for example.
2. In automotive mode, there's no on-screen compass needle.
3. Quite surprisingly, given the price, the aera500 doesn't include FM-based TMC traffic receiver support - you have to pay another £400 for the aera550 to get that included.
With the way Garmin upgrade their systems every other month, or so it seems, I wouldn't be surprised to see an aera600-series before too long.