Hi everyone, my name is Joey and full disclosure, that I work on the Garmin Aviation team. Hopefully, I can help address some of the questions here.
When pairing the GI 275 with the G500, the GI 275 is required to present the three primary standby instruments full-time. So it will display primary Altitude, Attitude and Airspeed as well as other indications like vertical and lateral guidance from your GTN 750 or GTN 650. If the GTN 750 and GTN 650 were to become unavailable, the GI 275 can provide direct-to GPS navigation and lateral course guidance.
Replacing the GI 106B with the GI 275, adds additional MFD capability. So in addition to the display of your lateral and vertical course deviation indications, MFD pages can be accessed. These include a moving map page that can overlay weather and traffic from compatible sources, waypoint information page, traffic page, weather page and a terrain page. You'll also have the additional backup GPS navigation mentioned with the other install example.
The GI 275 configured as either a CDI or MFD are the same price, $3,195, since they do not require the version with the built-in ADAHRS or autopilot interface. The GI 275, with built-in ADAHRS, configured as a standby flight instrument is $3,995.
The above examples help illustrate a couple of the value propositions of the product. But there are others, the GI 275 is a great alternative for replacing any old, failure prone, mechanical gyro-based instrument. A popular replacement is the older KI 256 ADI which can cost thousands to overhaul. Instead of using those thousands to overhaul an instrument that will eventually fail again, the GI 275 provides an alternative solution with modern, solid-state electronics that provides much better reliability, long-term cost of ownership and modern capabilities. Unique to the market, a version with a built-in autopilot interface allows the GI 275 to drive several existing autopilots on the market, like Century, KFC and many others. Additionally, the EIS system brings novel, new features to market. With an iPad using Garmin Pilot, you’ll see real-time engine instruments with the ability to ‘scrub’ back in time while in-flight just like you would a YouTube video – it’s so cool! Garmin Pilot will automatically sync the flight and engine information safely in the flyGarmin.com cloud once it connects to the internet. You can view or download any of these logs from your flyGarmin.com account at any time. Once you start adding up the price of multiple GI 275s, you'll definitely want to start considering a whole glass panel solution like the G500 TXi or G3X Touch systems. But we've heard from some customers that they absolutely want to preserve the existing look of their panel, so this solution provides a great solution and opportunity for them to do that.
I would invite anyone interested to attend our webinars we're hosting this week in lieu of giving them in person at the Spring shows originally scheduled for this week. We will presenting on the GI 275 on Tuesday, March 31 and Thursday, April 3. Unfortunately, this is my first post and I'm unable to share a link, but if you Google "Garmin Aviation Webinars", you'll find them. Thank you all for your interest and either being a Garmin customer or considering becoming one!