Hi All,
I recently received my Aera 500 and had my first flight with it yesterday. A couple things I have noticed…
I transferred a whole lot of user waypoints (airfields & VFR rep points) from mapsource to the unit. The waypoints transferred successfully and I could see them under user waypoints, however, they did not appear on the map. If I added a wpt into a flight plan then it would show on the map. I then discovered that if I entered a waypoint manually into the unit it then showed on the map. Spent many hours re-entering all my waypoints and they all now appear on the map.
Does anyone know if there is any way to enter additional info on a waypoint that is entered? Ie, if you enter an airfield, using the airfield symbol, there is no way to enter runway directions or frequencies, only elevation. I have resorted to adding it into the name. Secondly, is there anyway to transfer the GPS database (maps, airfields etc) onto mapsource??
Now to the actual flight. I had read on this thread about the unit switching itself off, but never did I think it would be that bad. I flew 2.4 hrs and at least half of it was spent switching the thing on. Goes off, gets to the main page and as you press anything, whether it’s the map or the HIS it goes off again and takes at least 3 or 4 attempts to get it on again. Tried everything, put some card under the battery – same thing. Disconnected the external power and ran just the battery – same thing. Thought it may be vibration from the yoke so disconnected it and had it on my lap – same thing. Has Garmin said anything about this??
The strange thing is that I spent many hours with it on the ground entering wpts etc and it never switched off. It only does it when airborne!! Maybe it has a fear of flying??
Have updated now to 2.6 so will see what happens next flight.
Aside from the power issue, it seems like a good piece of kit.
Last edited by swaziboy; 17th Jul 2010 at 00:47.