GARMIN Aera 500 GPS v Garmin 495 GPSMap
 

Just been weighing up which portable GPS to buy and have settled on a Garmin. The 2 I was interested in was the Garmin Aera 500 (GARMIN AERA 500 GPS WITH FREE MAINS ADAPTOR WORTH £29.95!) & the Garmin 495 GPSMap (GARMIN 495 GPSMap With FREE Professional Flight Bag Worth £59.95!)

The thing is, I don't really understand what difference I get on the £400 premium you pay on the Garmin 495, over the aera 500. Anybody got any sage words of advice ?

I bought the basic Aera 500, I think there are more advanced models. The 495 offers many features not available on the Aera 500, but I expect many if not all of those features are available on the more advanced models of the Aera. There is already an Aera 500 thread running.

Generally I am very happy with the Aera 500. My only dis-satisfactions are with the automotive fuctions of the unit, not the aviation functions. I have seen in operation, but never used the 495. I did use the 295 quite a lot though, and was quite happy with it, back in the day...

I went around that loop recently.

Basically they're the same software, and both have excellent satellite reception. The 496 has much better battery life, doesn't rely on the touch screen for everything, and is probably a slightly more robust box.

I bought the Aera 500! I'm very happy with it.

G

I think the 550 is equiv to the 496 in terms of software and other bits, for example terrain resolution. (I have both, and prefer the Area as it is a better 'shape'. I also like the touch screen).

Aera 500 = 495
Aera 550 = 496

I think?

Why did they have to give it just a silly name?

I suspect that the real cost difference is in the hardware. The 495 family are only really used for small volume aviation and marine markets, whilst the Aera is basically a mass-market Nuvi unit, which they can churn out for a few tens of pounds, so you're only really paying for the software.

With the screen brightness as low as keeps it readable, I'm getting about 2.5 hours life out of the Aera without recharging. When I bought mine, I did also order a spare battery, which has turned out to be a good idea. So far, I'm very happy with my Aera 500 - the higher resolution ground map of the 550 would be pretty, but I doubt would give me any extra real benefits.

There are a few things I'd like to change on it, but not many. I'd prefer the audio warnings to be A LOT louder, given I'm normally wearing headphones when I'm using it. Airfield diagrams would be nice (I did have those on my old Pocket Flymap, but that had so many other deficiencies that I stopped using it), and it's irritating having to take the back cover off to plug it into my laptop to charge or transfer data. That said, it's still by far the best aviation portable GPS I've used. I am still getting used to it however, so may well have a few more comments in a few months.

G

Aera 500
 

I have a 500 and it’s great for what I need. The 495/6 units are a bit like a house brick but the slim 500 made mounting easy. The yoke mount is cumbersome, puts the unit too close and of course moves with the control column. The actual clamp was also too large for my column and slipped. I made a simple T bracket and put the mounting unit from the yoke clamp on the bracket. The lot now sits on my instrument panel shade, slightly below my straight ahead line of sight and easily included in my scan.
If you have a suitable fixed or portable intercom with an audio or “recorder in” function there is provision to run the alerts to headphones. The MP3 player also allows you to play your favourite music on long trips but is automatically suppressed if through an intercom.
Some touch areas can be tricky in turbulence but having it mounted above the instrument panel allows you to steady your hand rather than chasing the control column.
The simulator mode is great for previewing a plan and practicing the menus which quickly become intuitive.

External aerial for the Aera 500.
 

I bought the GA25 MCX external aerial, to see what I could do with it.

I think it is designed for car roof-tops, and so it is magnetic, and I don't want to put magnets near the compass or even the instrument panel.

Peeling off the plastic film, and unscrewing the four corner bolts, the back plate lifts off to reveal two bar magnets, which are easily removed. Replacing the back plate and film leaves a non-magnetic external aerial. You do not need to open the actual sealed unit.

It seems to work fine. Can anybody see any drawback to this? I can't imagine the magnets improved the satellite reception, and this is obviously better for the compass!

We have a hull mounted antenna which plugs into the Aera 550. I thought you could get one with a sucker on it to sucker onto the windscreen?

Thanks.

The only external antenna listed by Garmin for the Aera 500 is the GA 25, and that comes with magnets, although they can be removed.

Garmin do list the GA 26/27 suction mount, on the same page, and looking at the bolt holes in the picture, I think they might fit the GA 25. I will give it a try.

== updated ==

I called Garmin, and apparently the GA 27C (MCX connector) is the antenna to go for, despite their web page.

My Aera 500 works fine without the external aerial in a cockpit (steel framed) that gives trouble to just about every other GPS that's been used in there.

Possibly because the hardware is designed to be used in a car?


Anyhow, personally I'd try it without first before spending money on an external antenna that you may not need.

G

To be fair, I have also used it for at least 20 problem-free hours in a C172, yoke-mounted with no external antenna. I just felt you could never have too many satellites!

You can never have to much reception especially when you can buy the antenna for £26 on the internet if searched for. I found that the sat page showed a great improvement with it.

Quick question to anybody else using an Aera 500/550.

Can anybody tell me how to download flight track records to my PC? It's definitely in there, because I can see it via the touchscreen, but plugging it into my PC and treating it as a drive, I can't find anything which looks like flight track data.

Ideally I'd like to be able to import it into Excel - or use with various other mapping packages, but Excel will do.



Actually, whilst I'm here, I'll ask a second question. Has anybody got an easy trick or cheap device for connecting the audio output (which is on a 3.5mm jack on the bracket cable) to a standard headset/intercom combination?

G

One deficiency I've noticed in the 500 is that it can't use EGNOS, whereas the 495 can. Shame really, as it's now available for use in aviation, according to the BBC here.

I've seen wires that have a 3.5mm jack on one end and a connector to plug into a spare mic input on the other. I'm not sure how useful that arrangement is as it wouldn't cut out when someone is talking to you on the radio.

There is a 'gpx' file which contains the track data. I found mine in:

\GPX\Aviation\Current.gpx

The GPX file format is standard and you should be able to find a conversion program to translate it into a 'flat' text file. If not, I can post a link to a simple Windows program I wrote.

24 - many thanks, just found it. I shall get one of my students to try and extract the data then tell me how he did it!

1800 - given I'm only going to set it for airspace and terrain warnings, I probably don't mind it stamping over RT! I'll go and have a look in a few catalogues.

Cheers chaps - PPrune is always a great place for technical answers!

G

Ghengis,

You can upload the tracks into google earth - joust point it at the gpx file. Can be quite interesting. If you want to know more let me know when you're next at Wycombe and I see if I can show you.

Brooklands

Hi All,

Does anybody know if it is possible to have two different sets of databases loaded at the same time? My unit came preloaded with Europe and I want to keep that but I am currently in the USA/Bahamas and want to load the US Lite bundle onto my unit. I get the impression from the Garmin site that doing this will overwrite my Europe database which is not what I want as I travel back to Europe frequently and want to be able to use the unit when there.

I think it "should" be possible to have one set on the unit drive and another set on a micro SD card but I can't find any evidence to support this. Has anyone been able to do this?

I can always call Garmin to check but I thought that it might help to check here as well just in case.

Cheers,
HF

Hi,

it is not possible !!!

My question to you, why do you want that ?

I took min with me to Canada and loaded some extra stuff on it manually .. like all the airports.

For me that was enhough, maybe a tipp for you ?

c.u. Paul