Garmin 480?

How difficult is it to master the Garmin 480? What instruction material comes
with the unit?
In one of the advertisements it states that you can program clearances into the
unit as fast as one can write them. I find this hard to believe, I use
shorthand to copy the clearance on my pad. C R A F T
Hank

In article ,
(Hankal) wrote:

How difficult is it to master the Garmin 480? What instruction material comes
with the unit?
In one of the advertisements it states that you can program clearances into
the
unit as fast as one can write them. I find this hard to believe, I use
shorthand to copy the clearance on my pad. C R A F T
Hank

I've been flying with the CNX-80; as far as I can tell, the 480 is
exactly the same unit with upgraded software.

It's certainly easy to enter a route into the box. You enter the first
fix, and it gives you a menu of airways departing that fix. You pick
the right airway, and you get a scrolling list of fixes along that
airway. You end up entering the route in the same format as ATC read it
to you.

Imagine your route is CMK V3 AUG. With the CNX-80, here's what you
would do:

1) Hit FPL to get into flight planning mode, then select the menu item
to create a new flight plan.

2) Enter your origin by spelling out (for example) KHPN using the big
and small knobs to scroll through the alphabet.

3) Enter your destination the same way.

4) Enter your first fix (CMK) the same way.

5) Select "airway" from the menu, and then V3 from the list of airways
presented.

6) Scroll through the list of fixes along V3 until you get to AUG (in
this case, pretty soon, because they're presented in alphabetical order).

7) Hit EXEC to execute the flight plan.

Contrast this with a GPS that doesn't have airways in the database.
You'd have to pull out a chart and trace V3, finding all the fixes along
it and entering each one. You could save a little time by only entering
the fixes where the airway changes course, but better practice would be
to enter them all. For the CMK V3 AUG example, that's probably about 2
dozen waypoints.

I think it's somewhat of a stretch to say you can program it as fast as
you can write it down, but it's still a whole lot faster than entering
every fix. The next step up in convenience (and speed) would be to have
a full alphabetic keyboard instead of having to scroll through the
alphabet by spinning knobs. That's the way the big boys do it, but that
takes a lot more panel space than a typical light plane can dedicate.

Where the training requirement comes in is not entering routes, but
mastering all the other functions. For example, there's, IIRC, 4
different ways to navigate to a waypoint (Present Position Direct,
Course To, Course From, OBS).

I found that after about 10 hours, I pretty much had the box mastered,
but I was still running into "gotchas" where I would get stuck in some
unexpected mode and not know how to get out of it. It wasn't until I
had 20 or so hours on it that I really felt comfortable relying on it
IFR.

The unit comes with a user's manual, which I found was good for
explaining the basics, but seems to be missing some of the details.
There's also a simulator (Windows only) which is very useful.

You cannot program clearances as fast as you can write them.
Some marketing weenie may have become overenthusiastic.
But '480 programming _is_ pretty easy and fast, overall.
Download the Windows Simulator for the GNS 480 and try it.
http://www.garmin.com/software/simulators/GNS480Sim.zip
It's completely mouse-activated, by clicking on buttons and knobs.

The 148-page Pilot's Guide is completely rewritten from the
44-page Pilot's Guide for the Apollo CNX80, and it's very clear.
(It has some minor typographical errors, but nothing serious.)
The Guide is loaded with B/W screen shots to accompany the text.
In addition, there's a new 23-page Quick Reference Guide
loaded with color photos of enough pages to give a clear idea
of what's behind most of the menu options in the unit.

Both of those guides come with the GNS 480, but you can
download them if you want to see them before buying.
http://www.garmin.com/products/manua...3D013-00181-11

Honesty makes me warn you the 480 is not easy to _master_
(as you asked), because the feature count in the box is huge.
But the design of the unit is good enough that you can begin using
its basic features quite easily, before learning the advanced parts.
Like all GPS units, you could start out with a simple "direct-to"
for basic enroute navigation without ever opening the manual.
But you'll progress beyond that stage within a few minutes.
---JRC---

"Hankal" wrote in message =
...
How difficult is it to master the Garmin 480? What instruction =
material comes
with the unit?
In one of the advertisements it states that you can program clearances =
into the
unit as fast as one can write them. I find this hard to believe, I use
shorthand to copy the clearance on my pad. C R A F T
Hank

IMO, the 480 is not any harder than anything else. BUT unless your an
IFR pilot or going to be then I think it would very difficult to use.
The 480 "speaks" IFR, and does IFR excellant, furthermore it makes the
IFR pilot a better IFR pilot, IMO. Just discovered today that with
Version2 the CDI screen is actually a HSI providing vertical and
lateral guidance for all lnav/rnav approches and actual ILS, think
about that... redundancy for the panel HSI. Furthermore, a guy
contemplating HSI for say 3-5k, doesnt need it anymore, not how I
would go, but hey.... There is so much there...........I am really
really happy with mine.

IMO, the 480 is not any harder than anything else. BUT unless your an
IFR pilot or going to be then I think it would very difficult to use.
The 480 "speaks" IFR, and does IFR excellant, furthermore it makes the
IFR pilot a better IFR pilot, IMO. Just discovered today that with
Version2 the CDI screen is actually a HSI providing vertical and
lateral guidance for all lnav/rnav approches and actual ILS, think
about that... redundancy for the panel HSI. Furthermore, a guy
contemplating HSI for say 3-5k, doesnt need it anymore, not how I
would go, but hey.... There is so much there...........I am really
really happy with mine.

jrf wrote:
IMO, the 480 is not any harder than anything else. BUT unless your an
IFR pilot or going to be then I think it would very difficult to use.
The 480 "speaks" IFR

I absolutely agree. For VFR use, the 480 (or, probably, any IFR GPS)
is way overkill, both in terms of cost and complexity of use.

"Roy Smith" wrote in message =
...
jrf wrote:
IMO, the 480 is not any harder than anything else. BUT unless your an
IFR pilot or going to be then I think it would very difficult to use.=20
The 480 "speaks" IFR
=20
I absolutely agree. For VFR use, the 480 (or, probably, any IFR GPS)
is way overkill, both in terms of cost and complexity of use.

Roy, I wouldn't be so 'absolute' about it.
How about this benefit for VFR as well as IFR...?
With the astounding databases in the CNX80/GNS480,
I rarely unfold my enroute charts in the cockpit anymore.
If I'm expecting a visual approach, I might not even break out
my approach plates.
Airport data, frequencies, runways, etc., all are available at my =
fingertips.
Pre-flight planning has become my chief use for my charts.

OK, I'll admit a key point, here...
My MX20 display is a terrific augmentation for my CNX80,
as it actually supplies the moving map versions of IFR and
VFR charts, along with terrain and obstacle-clearance alerts.
If not for the MX20, I'd probably actually unfold a chart enroute =
occasionally.
---JRC---

John R. Copeland wrote:
Roy, I wouldn't be so 'absolute' about it.
How about this benefit for VFR as well as IFR...?
With the astounding databases in the CNX80/GNS480,
I rarely unfold my enroute charts in the cockpit anymore.
If I'm expecting a visual approach, I might not even break out
my approach plates.
Airport data, frequencies, runways, etc., all are available at my =
fingertips.

It's certainly handy to be able to look comm frequencies up in the
database, VFR or IFR. No question about that. I didn't say it wasn't
useful, just that it was overkill for VFR-only use. Can you really
justify a $10k box just to give you an electronic frequency directory?
If you can, you must have a fatter wallet than I do :-)

I would imagine a list of all ATC frequencies for the whole US would
fit in a Palm Pilot. Surely somebody has made that into a product by
now, havn't they?

"Roy Smith" wrote in message =
...
=20
It's certainly handy to be able to look comm frequencies up in the
database, VFR or IFR. No question about that. I didn't say it wasn't
useful, just that it was overkill for VFR-only use. Can you really
justify a $10k box just to give you an electronic frequency directory?
If you can, you must have a fatter wallet than I do :-)
=20
I would imagine a list of all ATC frequencies for the whole US would
fit in a Palm Pilot. Surely somebody has made that into a product by
now, havn't they?

I'm not into comparing wallet sizes, Roy . I'd lose. :-(
But I don't think any *single* feature of the GNS480 is likely to be
the reason a VFR-only pilot would justify the box, either.
It's always going to be some combination, and the '480 is rich there.

A data package for a palm-top computer? Maybe. It would fit.
Of course, such a package would need refreshing every 28 days,
and that's why Jeppesen gets the big bucks for their data subscriptions.
I'm reasonably sure I can trust the numbers I extract from my CNX80,
but I'd want to cross-check data from a palm-top package.
---JRC---

IMO, the 480 is not any harder than anything else. BUT unless your an
IFR pilot or going to be then I think it would very difficult to use.
The 480 "speaks" IFR, and does IFR excellant, furthermore it makes the

I am an IFR pilot and file IFR most of the time.
Hank