Transition from Garmin GNS 530W to Avidyne IFD 540

SoCal 182 Driver

SoCal 182 Driver

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SoCal 182 Driver
Has anyone made the transition from a 530W to an IFD 540? If so, what would you recommend as sources of training on the 540?

Thanks.
 
SCCutler said:
Avidyne has a very good series of videos on YouTube. In addition, there's a great book about using the Avidyne navigators on Amazon.
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Got the book, but haven't read it yet or looked at the videos. I'm trying to come up with a strategy that makes sense.

What was your experience in making the transition, Spike? Relatively easy?
 
I didn't transition from a 530, but the app is a great way to poke around with things, and the book is pretty good too. I made a copy of the quick reference section at the back of the book and put it on my phone/tablet for reference in the plane. IFD 100 app. IFD Trainer app.
 
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paging @Martin Pauly

If you watch some of his recent flying videos, you can start to see some of the utility that is baked into the device beyond moving map
 
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SoCal 182 Driver said:
Got the book, but haven't read it yet or looked at the videos. I'm trying to come up with a strategy that makes sense.

What was your experience in making the transition, Spike? Relatively easy?
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Pretty straightforward, with a caveat or two.

Hardest part is simply forgetting the "body memory" of how things got done in the GNS - for instance, I still remember the sequences for direct-to (enter-direct-enter), vs activating a leg (enter-enter-direct). Neither made much sense, but it was something you just had to learn.

The Avidyne is a lot more logical, but you have to forget some of that legacy "stuff."
 
SCCutler said:
Pretty straightforward, with a caveat or two.

Hardest part is simply forgetting the "body memory" of how things got done in the GNS - for instance, I still remember the sequences for direct-to (enter-direct-enter), vs activating a leg (enter-enter-direct). Neither made much sense, but it was something you just had to learn.

The Avidyne is a lot more logical, but you have to forget some of that legacy "stuff."
Click to expand...

The good news is that I have little, if any, muscle memory for the 530W. I have struggled with anything more than its basic functions since Day 1. Thus, the decision to upgrade.
 
I traded a 530W for the IFD540. Would do it again in a heartbeat! Much easier to use. The book referenced above is excellent. There are also Avidynne webinars that are available and you tube videos that are helpful. If you have an IPad you can download an app that allows you to train on the IPad and simulate shooting approaches, cross country flights, etc. I practice with this app prior to my instrument currency flights with the cfii. You will not regret upgrading!
 
If you have already made the swap I would be interested in any "gotcha's" you might find. I looked into doing that swap but found that the 540 is not totally "plug compatible" with the GNS 530W. In my installation the Flight Stream 210 (flight plan to and from the 530W plus weather and traffic to iPad based ForeFlight) and GDL 88D (ADS-B in/out) are not supported by the 540. Moreover, since the GDL 88D works with my existing transponder, I would have to buy a new transponder, as well as remove the FS-210 and GDL-88 and associated wiring. So a simple "swap" would turn out to be much more expensive than it is worth. The 530W works very well with my 2 G-5s so I am saving the $$ that such a swap would cost for more important things. Someday a total panel re-do, for example!!
 
Get the Avidyne iPad training app. I used that and was fairly comfortable with the user interface in under an hour. The Avidyne book and videos add more details on the finer points.

Also get the IFD100 for in cockpit.
 
SoCal 182 Driver said:
Got the book, but haven't read it yet or looked at the videos. I'm trying to come up with a strategy that makes sense.
Click to expand...
If you are not going to get together with a transition instructor, read the book and look at the videos is a strategy that makes sense :D

As already mentioned, Avidyne has a very recent series from basics to advanced. Excellent stuff. Yes, there is some marketing involved ut the marketing is to show Garmin folks how to do things. They are still doing them via live webinar so you can even ask questions and get the benefit of questions from others. Go to the site and sign up.

And, as always, Martin's explanations are superb and as others mentioned, he just did a transition.

The big picture is understanding that Avidyne and Garmin use different logic. A GNS to GTN transition is relatively easy for most because, flow-wise, Garmin is Garmin is Garmin. The IFD will do everything your 530 can - more actually; it's newer after all - but how to do it can be very different. So part of your self-training should include using the IFD emulator to run scenarios of things you have actually done with the GNS, both common and uncommon.

That last part is pretty much the strategy I used. I don't fly with an IFD but I periodically do recurrent training in an airplane with one, so I felt I needed had to know the system fairly well. The result was, as a COVID stay-at-home project, a series of videos (three at this point) comparing Garmin navigators with the IFD: holding at a waypoint a distance from a fix (which I think was referred although not by name in one of the Avidyne webinars), creating a user waypoint, and intercepting an assigned radial or course to a fix. Not sure how helpful they are to others but the YouTube playlist is here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmolGJZEeVA4ivopGnB7nG4CckULY22QY
 
Arrow76R said:
n my installation the Flight Stream 210 (flight plan to and from the 530W plus weather and traffic to iPad based ForeFlight) and GDL 88D (ADS-B in/out) are not supported by the 540. Moreover, since the GDL 88D works with my existing transponder, I would have to buy a new transponder, as well as remove the FS-210 and GDL-88 and associated wiring. So a simple "swap" would turn out to be much more expensive than it is worth. The 530W works very well with my 2 G-5s so I am saving the $$ that such a swap would cost for more important things. Someday a total panel re-do, for example!!
Click to expand...

Don't know about the GDL or the existing transponder, but I have been told by my avionics guy that the Flighstream functionality is built-in to the IFD 540, and therefore I won't need the Flightstream any longer. Part of the delta on the upgrade was being able to sell the Flightstream.
 
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