Garmin GTN 6xx/7xx thread

[MAKG1]

CAP still uses GX55s and GX60s in the steam gauge airplanes, and people still despise them. So much so that a fair number have GNS400s as well. The GX series has the grids and search patterns, but the GNS and GTN series never did.

I find a GTN750 substantially easier to use than a GTN650, largely because of the alphanumeric interface. It still has the big knob/little knob, and sometimes that's necessary. But it takes too much focus to move the "window" to the six characters you're interested in. There are a whole bunch of tricks to reduce button presses, like going to the map from default nav instead of home, so you can see the susp and obs buttons faster.

Honestly, except for airways, I find GNS4xx to be preferable. They behave rather similarly, just without the touch screen (or airways). The airway interface in the GTNs is real nice. It's even nicer in G1000s. And stuff you need in a missed approach or hold takes one button press instead of two.

 

[iamtheari]

Is there a decent interface in the GTN 650 to see your distance from a waypoint on an ongoing basis? In other words, is there a substitute for DME other than a flight plan direct to the VOR or repeatedly going into the Nearest VOR page? The manual seems to be silent on this concept.

EDIT: Played around more with the simulator. It turns out that one of the user fields you can show is the radial/distance for the tuned VOR. I'll have to sacrifice another useful field to show it but it does the trick for VORs. For an ILS localizer, it shows the airport and runway, instead, so it's not a DME replacement in the general case.

 

[texasag93]

We had a problem with our 750 picking up radio stations. The biggest problem was north of our home drome and most of our landings are to the south.

We switched antennas on Comm1 (driven through the 750) and Comm2 (King KX155) and it went away.