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Aera 660 or a Tablet with WingX or FltPlan?

Pilot135pd

Well Known Member
So I'm kind of in a rut on what to do. I'm trying to decide what to sell to streamline my cockpit. I have dual certified G5s (both with batteries) so I'm not as interested in the synthetic vision part on either one (660 or tablet app), not even as backup.

I currently have an Aera 560 in the panel to feed the fuel flow info on the JPI 830 and for navigation and spacial awareness, and also use an Aera 660 on my yoke for navigation and to look up things (airspace, frequencies, etc). I'm basically using the 660 like I've always used my tablet with WingX and FltPlan before. For IFR I use dual Nav/Com with ILS.

If any of you have had this issue, which one did you end up keeping and why?

Would you keep the 660 on the yoke, or sell it and use a tablet with WingX or FltPlan on the yoke? ** ADS-B IN isn't a concern for this choice because I can feed whichever one I keep with traffic and weather.
 
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I'd ditch the 560 and replace it with the 660 in the panel. Then get a 7-8" tablet for your kneeboard and put FltPlanGo on it.
 
I could swap the 560 for the 660 on the dash but bouncing around flying I've noticed it's harder to use than on the yoke. That's why I left the 560 there just to feed the JPI830 fuel info.
 
I'm with Rob on this one... Put the 660 in the panel and the tablet on the yoke. Let the 660 feed RS232 data to whatever else in the airplane that requires the data. Keep the tablet on the yoke and update it for free. You can cross-check the tablet against the panel-mount if you happen to have missed a ($$) update on the Garmin.
 
When I had my RV8 the panel was right there in front so I would have left the 660 in the panel but in the Cardinal I have to stretch my right arm (and I'm left handed) so using it in the panel is awkward for me and the pinch to zoom and everything else is hard to do with my right hand bouncing around in flight. That's why I left the 560 in the panel (you have to really press the screen for it to do anything while the 660 you just slightly touch it and there it goes doing something you didn't intend it to do...).

So basically between the 660 or the tablet you suggest it's better to just just use the tablet on the yoke, and that's what I'm leaning towards.
 
Ah, that makes sense. In a high-wing, the limitations of the 500-series Aera's aren't as apparent... They become almost unreadable when the sun hits them, which makes them nearly useless in an RV.

I mounted my 660 on the panel using the Yoke mount... I unbolted the bracket from the yoke mount and screwed it to the panel, so the 660 sits about an inch off the panel. That lets me rest my hand on the edge of the case to steady it when selecting things on-screen. So far, it's worked great even in turbulence. I can see if you've flush-mounted it with a Gizmo mount or equivalent that you'd have a hard time steadying your hand to use it that way though.
 
Bingo ! I'll keep the 660 until I've really put the Android tablet on the yoke and the 560 on the dash a good testing in flight and in as much sun as I can. If all goes well then I'll sell the 660 with yoke mount, gps antenna, data cable, regular 12vdc cable, and whatever else from it that's in the hangar. Thanks !
 
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