Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)The adjustable back lighting is great. One of the brightest displays seen in full sun. Found it to be very easy and intuitive to use. Although there were some changes buried deep withing that were a surprise. Love the yoke mount and car mounts. Both worked great for me. Love the single power cord. Very clean setuup. The unit is packed with features and can manupulate many of the fuctions to your liking. The size is just about right for the way it will be used. Has a good decent manual. Super easy to unclip from the mounts so you can prevent theft. Bluetooth available for vehicle use (but not why flying).
This device uses the inferior resistive touchscreen technology with a too-large bezel that makes it impossible to touch anything near the sides of the screen. The effect is that the touchable area of the buttons that hug the right side of the screen in map view are significantly reduced. Even after a calibration, I would regularly miss these buttons. The cursor simply wouldn't go as far to the right as my finger asked it to. Another problem related to the touch screen is with dragging the map in any direction. It was a frustrating experience, as the device would detect my finger at times and ignore it at other times. The touchscreen's lack of sensitivity is frustrating when entering numbers, letters etc. I wish they would using capacitive touchscreen (like the iPhone). Using the flight planner for me was cumbersome. And it is difficult to enter your own waypoints accurately due to the small screen size and lack of terrian detail. But the task can be accomplished. Battery life is an issue, but that was known before hand. I always use the plug-in power. I think this product should come with a means to plug it into 110v for charging purposes. It is an after purchase option. The vehicle mode was a little disappointing. I really liked the idea to have dual GPS capabilities, flying and vehicle travel. But the sophistication level for driving just isn't any better than whats been out there for years now. Two features I immediately found lacking were a nearest airport function in case of engine loss, and the ability to navigate to a point I touched on the map screen. To perform either function, you must exit the moving map and enter the Direct to menu.
Overall other than the unresponsive touchscreen, I am very pleased with what I mainly purchased this unit for: Flying. Haven't had it long enough to comment on durability, but so far (Knock on wood), I haven't had any issues with it at all after about 30 hours of flying with this unit.
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Garmin's aera series of dual-duty GPS portables offer easy transition from flying to motoring--by combining the best in moving-map display features with intuitive, menu-driven touchscreen control. With aera, fingertip navigation has entered a whole new era: One that streamlines operation. Eliminates knobs and buttons. Simplifies the pilot/motorist interface. And lets you think in terms of door-to-door guidance, not just runway-to-runway.
The Garmin aera 500 There are four aera models in the Garmin lineup, offering a full range of cost/capability choices. The first and most affordable unit in the series is the aera 500. Featuring a crisp 4.3-inch QVGA wide-format touchscreen and pre-loaded graphical mapping, this versatile, feature-rich unit comes ready for takeoff, right out of the box.
Fly Anywhere In aviation mode, the aera 500's detailed chart-style shaded mapping and extensive terrain and aviation databases help you visualize your flight path in relation to nearby navaids, terrain, SUAs, obstructions, and so on. To help keep pilots aware of special airspace activity, over 683 parachute drop zones are detailed in the Americas navigation database. Plus, the addition of private airports and heliports to the database affords even more navigation and emergency �nearest" options. A database-driven terrain advisory feature offers TAWS-like color coding and pop-up alerts when possible obstructions or ground proximity conflicts loom ahead. And with terrain/obstacle data shown at standard 30 arc-second resolution, you'll enjoy a surprising level of detail on the display. The unit's graphical Terrain page offers both overhead and vertical profile views of the topography you're flying over. What's more, there's an IFR map mode that lets you display and navigate on high or low enroute airways. You can also pull up MEAs (Minimum Enroute Altitudes) and distances between intersections by touching the airway on the map. As in all the aera models, GPS updating is provided at a super-fast 5 Hz rate. And for added safety, an optional power/data cable (sold separately) makes it easy to interface your aera 500 with the Garmin GTX 330 Mode S transponder in your aircraft, so you can access and display TIS traffic alerts in busy terminal airspace. What's more, you can also use the aera to load communications frequencies into your Garmin SL 40 Comm or SL 30 Nav/Comm transceiver.
Built to Fly, Born to Run Once your aircraft returns to terra firma, the fun of aera navigation continues with full automotive GPS capability and preloaded City Navigator NT street mapping. Operating much like Garmin's popular n�vi line of touchscreen auto navigators, your aera 500 offers voice-guided turn-by-turn directions with text-to-speech audio technology that calls out streets by name. In addition, there's built-in Bluetooth support for wireless hands-free calling with your compatible mobile phone. And the aera's built-in �points of interest" database offers helpful guidance to millions of motels, restaurants, gas stations, ATMs, and other local attractions. To further speed your transition from aircraft to automotive mode, a unique "smart mount" for the aera offers instant clip-and-go car navigation.
About the Jeppesen Database The aera includes an internal Jeppesen database that provides location and facility information for thousands of airports, VORs, NDBs, and more. Updates to the Jeppesen database are available every 28 days online, and the database includes the following information:
Airport--identifier, facility name, city/state/country, latitude/longitude, field elevation, available fuel types, runway designations and layout, runway surface, runway length, runway width, runway lighting, communication frequencies, and published approaches.
Weather--frequencies associated with an airport (ASOS, ATIS, and AWOS).
VORs--identifier, facility name, city/state/country, location (latitude/longitude), frequency, service volume (high, low, terminal), and type (such as VOR-DME, TACAN, and VORTAC).
NDBs--identifier, facility name, city/state/country, location (latitude/longitude), and frequency.
Intersections--identifier, nearest VOR, radial and distance from nearest VOR, location (latitude/longitude), and region/country.
ARTCC--Air Route Traffic Control Centers.
Airspace--boundaries (Class B, Class C, Control Zones, SUAs, and MOAs), controlling agency, and vertical boundaries.
FSS--Flight Service Stations.
Americas Terrain Database Enhance situational awareness with the Terrain Aviation Database. This digital database contains the elevation data which represents the topography of the earth. Using this information, your Garmin aviation GPS monitors your current position in relation to surrounding terrain to provide alerts--giving you additional time to make critical decisions regarding the flight path. Since Terrain data does not include man-made objects (towers, airports, VORs etc.), updates to Terrain data do not occur on a regular basis.
The download process for Terrain updates is simple and convenient. Simply plug in your aviation device, download and go.
About City Navigator NT With nearly 6 million points of interest and road coverage for U.S., Canada and Mexico, plus Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and the Bahamas, City Navigator North America NT gives you everything you need to travel North America. Powered by NAVTEQ, a world leader in premium-quality digital map data, City Navigator brings you the most detailed street maps available so you can navigate with exact, turn-by-turn directions to any address or intersection.
Provides nearly 6 million points of interest, including hotels, restaurants, parking, entertainment, fuel and shopping.
Includes new extended coverage for Mexico.
Includes highways, interstates, and business and residential roads in metropolitan and rural areas.
Includes turn restrictions, roundabout guidance, speed categories.
Gives turn-by-turn directions.
Includes postal code support for Canada.
Speaks street names (example: "Turn right on Main Street.").
What's in the Box aera 500, Free Single Database Update, Yoke Mount with Power Cable, Battery Pack, Portable Friction Mount, USB Cable, Vehicle Power Cable, Pilot's Guide and Owner's Manual
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