Just to start off, I want you to know I’m a cheapskate, out of necessity. I’ve been flying my coupe with a Garmin aera 500 GPS for around 15 years. I also had a Garmin SL40 radio installed in 2006. I had an AirGizmos dock installed for the aera 500 and it was wired so it had power, intercom, and radio connected. When I enter a waypoint in the GPS, it preloads all the frequencies into the radio. Kind of cool. Back then there was no ADS-B data available.
This last year either my GPS or my eyes have dimmed and I’ve had problems seeing it. I even replaced the screen on the aera but to no avail. So I started looking for alternatives. Garmin has a newer GPS, the aera 660. The unit is the same size as the 500, but the screen is bigger (it uses the entire front of the unit) and brighter. It will preload my frequencies just like my old one, but this one can display ADS-B traffic and weather, too. Of course, it will only work with a Garmin receiver.
So I started looking. I found an ad In Barnstormers for a used aera 660, an AirGizmos panel dock, and a bare wire harness all for $750. I emailed them and they threw in a GDL39 ADS-B receiver for another $250. So now I have an aera 660, harness, dock, and GDL39 on the way. The only work required is to replace the 500 harness with the 660 harness.
I will remove my Stratux and replace it with the GDL39. I looked it up and while the Garmin GPS won’t work with a non-Garmin receiver, Foreflight will work with the GDL39.
Last year I was approaching Lakefront in New Orleans with very spotty weather and right in the middle of it my iPhone decided it was too hot and shut itself off. I had to get vectors from Approach to avoid the weather going in to NOLA.
So now I have a complete solution to my navigation issues at a pretty good price. I’ll have weather and traffic on my navigation screen plus my waypoint frequencies loaded into my comm radio. What fun!
