I have had one for a few years but only use it as a secondary display. I have it mounted directly in front of me, below eye level. It is good to use the magenta line for quick reference along with the compass rose. A drawback is that the Aera 500 does not display aviation charts but uses Garmin mapping. It does provide airspace alerts but these can be inaccurate. Updates are frequent, expensive and don't follow the AIRAC cycle. You may be paying for updates which don't apply to your area. I no longer keep it up to date.
My main electronic display is my iPad running Oz Runways? It is approved by CASA to display Australian charts for VFR operations. A year's subscription costs about the same as a single Garmin update. No doubt you would have similar products available.
The Aera 500 has a number of bells and whistles, which for my 100 kt bug smasher are rarely, if ever used. Navigation through the pages is fairly logical. Just spend an hour or two with it on the verandah where you have satellite coverage. The terrain alerting is useful but in hilly country can be annoying as it will alert with just about every heading change.
One good feature on the Aera 500 is the MP3 player. Load it up with your favourite tunes and it is great on long trips if you can run it through your intercom so it cuts out when the radio is transmitting/receiving.
Last edited by fujii; 14th Dec 2014 at 06:46.