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.