GNS 430W vs GNS 480

Robert M. Gary wrote:


The 480 is more capable (has holds, etc), but the 430 is *MUCH* easier
to use.

I disagree. If you are unsullied by having used the 430, it's much
easier to run the 480. The user interface is FAR superior on the
480. The only thing that the 430 has going for it is it carries
forth the legacy of the entire Garmin previous handheld/panel mount
behavior.

Ron Natalie wrote:
Robert M. Gary wrote:


The 480 is more capable (has holds, etc), but the 430 is *MUCH* easier
to use.


I disagree. If you are unsullied by having used the 430, it's much
easier to run the 480. The user interface is FAR superior on the
480. The only thing that the 430 has going for it is it carries
forth the legacy of the entire Garmin previous handheld/panel mount
behavior.

The other thing the 400/500 carries is the foundation for understanding
the nav aspects of a G-1000, irrespective of aircraft the G-1000 is
installed in.

Ron Gordon wrote:
I'm going to add either the GNS 430W or GNS 480 to a Beach Bonanza and am
wondering if any of you who fly with these GPS units have a recommendation?
I'd like a very capable IFR GPS with integrated NAV/COM abilities, which
I'll couple to my S-TEC 50 Autopilot with GPSS. Both the 430W and 480 are
WAAS capable. Either will fit into my panel. (I consider the 530 out of my
price range and I'm not g


The 480 is a far superior unit in many ways to the 430. It excels
at IFR work. You enter flight plans/mods to the plans as you would
expect. You enter the destination and then starting at your
source you can enter the next waypoint (as the 430 does) or you
can enter the airway at that point and then scroll through all
the waypoints on the airway to find the next point.

The NAV/COM unit is based on the SL30 and is far superior to
anything garmin has ever done.

The thing has full approach sequencing through the autopilot
which I thought Garmin would have added as part of their -W
conversion but early reports seems to say otherwise.

Ron Natalie wrote:
Ron Gordon wrote:
I'm going to add either the GNS 430W or GNS 480\

Another handy feature of the 480, is that it (as
well as the MX20 and the GMX200) use insdustry
standard memory cards for the database. There's
no need to lug around nor purchase the overpriced
Skybound reader. All you need is a Windoze
recognized CF (or for the 200, SD card) reader.
The 480 comes with a $30 Sandisk USB interface
but the cards program just fine in my PCCard
CF interface I use for my digital camera as well.

Ron Gordon wrote:

Do you have any recommendations? Which unit is the most capable? Whichever I
get, I'm going to work diligently to learn, including any quirks.

You can take advantage of lots of user experience with the 480 by
joining the gns480-users yahoo group and paging through the message archive:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gns480-users/

Dave