These certainly look interesting.http://www.simflyer.net/shop/Greg

I wonder if anyone has purchased one yet and if how is it preforming. There doesn't seem much information on the web site.I should like to know if it is any better than the 250 & 500 that are with FS2004 as default.RegardsLaurieUK

A more detailed feature list would be helpful. The product description is rather vague. They should consider offering the manual as a preview or something.

Agreed. I'd love to have just a 430 to be a companion to the RXP 530 - I'm sure this won't be it, as the RXPs can't export info to xml gauges...(right?).Best,sg

I ordered the package an hour ago. It's distributed just like Bill Lyons' planes, so you send the money via PayPal and have to wait for a human sent mail."Captain Keith" is a well respected member of the FS community in my opinion. I'm not sure if he's active over here as well, but I have read a lot of his posts over at the SimFlight Network. He hase done some very nice repaints, panel modifications, and was a beta tester on at least one FSD project. Seems like a very decent guy, so I was not afraid to send the < 10 EUR in advance.I love tweaking panels, and even though I have been using the RealityXP 530XP for a long time, I'm always open for new stuff. I don't assume Keith's package will be closer to reality (that's hardly possible, Jean-Luc's 530XP is pretty close to perfection), but I always wanted a GNS 430 and the possibility to have several 530/430s combined on one panel. A little more information can be found here:http://forums.simflight.com/viewtopic.php?t=24037I'll report back as soon as I have tried the package and would like to hear from other people who already have it.Just my 2c (EUR),VOlker :]

I would be very interested, since the plane that I am currently training in has a Garmin 430 in it and I would like to know how to use it other than tuning COM1 :-)

I'm also interested to know the differences between this stuff and Don Kuhn's freeware Garmin 430 and 530 (fsgarmin.zip) Don also did the 330, the complementary transponder set (garmin_gtx330.zip).These are streets ahead of the default, and were specially updated by Don when I included them in my DC-3 IFR panels.Why is this new work called donationware, though, I wonder? Feel-good marketing? It is not donationware at all. You can't try it without paying for it, so it is payware, surely. Maybe I'm missing something (apart from a brain; of that, there is no doubt).Mark "Dark Moment" Beaumonthttp://www.swiremariners.com/newlogo.jpg

Hi,I bought it yesterday but I'll stick to the GNS530 of Reality-XP for sure.As far as I can tell, the Simflyer 530 is the stock FS2004 500 GPS + extra COM/NAV radio's in a 530 wrapper. But I guess that was the purpose.The Reality-XP has more features and is more realistic.

>Why is this new work called donationware, though, I wonder?I wondered the same thing. Back in the "old days" I use to do some "donation-ware" programming. The concept was that if you really liked the program then you should donate money to a charity listed in the read-me file. I guess that the Paypal donate ability allows someone to setup a business without the government strings being attached. Don't get me wrong; I'm not criticizing anyone doing this. I'm just trying to figure out the donation-ware concept of today vs. the one I'm familiar with.Have a nice day,Jon

Hi all, for a nicely rendered GNS430, I prefer the FSGarmin 430 module from SimSystems/FSAvionics that

Okay, received my package about two hours ago. Some first impressions ...Installation of the gauge package is done by an installer. I simply agreed to the default FS9 directory because I wanted to get things working quickly ;)There don't seem to be any pre-modified panels included in the package, nor any panel modification program, so you have to do all the editing yourself. A short readme explains which lines to add to the panel.cfg to get a GPS popup window. No problem for me because I have tweaked a number of panels by hand already.Besides the readme in txt format there is a PDF file that shows the click spots on both GNS units.The first panel I tweaked was FSD's Navajo panel that already contains either the default GPS 500 or RealityXP's GNS 530. No big problems after I realized that I had to turn pause off in the sim (it was automatically paused because I had switched to my editor) so the GNS 530 initializes properly when turned on (default is power off).Keith's GNS 530 is clearly based on the default GPS 500 gauge. I normally use RealityXP's 530XP, so I'm not too familiar with the default unit. It seems that Keith has added (at least) a new surrounding bitmap, the NAV/COM unit that distinguishes the real life GNS 530 from the GPS 500, a switchable waypoint information bar at the right side of the map (or is it there in the default as well?), and a seperate waypoint information page with CDI indicator. Please correct me if I made any omissions or credited something to the new gauges that's alread there in the default! This is not a review, just a first personal impression!The GNS 430 has about the same features as the 530, but a smaller map display area. The map is extremely crowded unless you zoom in very far or take out a lot of information by pressing "clr" several times.Both gauges don't have built in click spots to pop up a bigger version, but there's an additional transparent gauge included that does just that. Aligning this gauge may become a bit tricky ...Okay, that's it for now from me. I'll continue to fiddle around especially with the GNS 430. I have added this gauge to my RealAir Scout, but I have not added the transparent popup spot yet. Tomorrow I'll try to determine whether the GNS 430's small map area is still usable, and how I like flying the Scout with it.Just my 2c (EUR),VOlker :]

POSKY is donationware...this stuff is pure payware. No problem, but the guy ought to be clear. Im very interested in these because I have the RXP, but dont like a couple of things about them (like lack of XML capability, and the need to run a 16 bit "trainer" in the background.)EJ