Garmin Unveils Long-Awaited 430/530 Replacements
| 25 March 2011
The long-awaited successors to Garmin's GNS 430/530 GPS navigators - the GTN 650/750 - were unveiled to the aviation media Wednesday evening at the Aircraft Electronics Association's annual convention in Reno, Nevada. The larger, more capable touch screens keep all of the best features of their predecessors, plus they're easier to use. Let CAMFLIGHT help you with your training of these very capable units
Garmin’s all-in-one nav and com GNS 430/530 GPS navigators have been the best-selling panel mounted avionics ever with more than 110,000 delivered since the 430 was introduced in 1998. But for the past several years Garmin engineers and pilots have been working to create even more capable and pilot-friendly systems that cost only a little more; the result is the new GTN 650/750, which was publicly unveiled late Wednesday. (March 23)
The headline feature of the new GTN family is touch screen operation, and that is certainly a first for certified panel mounted avionics, and is very easy to use. The other attention grabber is the GTN 750’s display size, which is double that of the 530.but the most important features are operational because Garmin has added missing capabilities - particularly to the larger 750 - to make the new units complete flight management systems (FMS) including airways, audio control function, and transponder operation.
Garmin has more experience with touch screen electronics than any other avionics maker because of the millions of consumer GPS devices it has designed and built. Garmin had already announced touch screen control systems for its turbine level avionics systems, so we all knew where the company was headed. Despite its success, making touch screen GPS navigators for everyone from drivers to joggers to airplanes are different. Garmin has spent several years in the lab and in the air perfecting touch screen controls for the GTN series that work in the GA environment.For more info click here
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