I own both Flight 1 Cessna 421 Golden Eagle and Piper Meridian. One of them or both (don

Hi, the GNS50 from RXP is installed to (but limited to) the Meridian. The C421 has a custom gauge installed with less functionality. What do you gain when you purchase the GNS530 separately? The gauge could be added to all your aircraft, and/or could replace the default MSFS GPS in your planes. If you have used it frequently in the Meridian, you

I would be interested in knowing what are the advantages of the Reality XP Garmins over the FS9 default GPS.Bruce

Hi,the gauge is programmed as closely to the real world unit as possible. The main source of information is the original Garmin manual. Your main advantage will be the dynamic flight plan programming you are used to in an FMS equipped aircraft. You can enter a flight plan on the ground or airborn and fly it manually with or without the aid of the FD or automatically with the AP. You can direct-to a fix and resume your fligh tplan afterwards. You can enter your own fixes and waypoints, either by coordinates or by place/bearing/distance or place/bearing - place/bearing. It features VNAV advisories and a zillion other goodies!You

>I would be interested in knowing what are the advantages of>the Reality XP Garmins over the FS9 default GPS.>how about this fundamental one: Reality-XP unit actually works (and looks) like the real thing. FS9 default unit is some sort of (very poor) Garmin-like imitation both in functionality and how the display looks.Michael J.WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2

>Hi,>>the gauge is programmed as closely to the real world unit as>possible. The main source of information is the original>Garmin manual. Your main advantage will be the dynamic flight>plan programming you are used to in an FMS equipped aircraft.>You can enter a flight plan on the ground or airborn and fly>it manually with or without the aid of the FD or automatically>with the AP. You can direct-to a fix and resume your fligh>tplan afterwards. You can enter your own fixes and waypoints,>either by coordinates or by place/bearing/distance or>place/bearing - place/bearing. It features VNAV advisories and>a zillion other goodies!>>You

>1.- Is the Garmin included with the Meridian the exact same>one Reality-XP sells?.Same. But you can't use it with other aircraft (in case you are thinking about it).Michael J.WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2

>>1.- Is the Garmin included with the Meridian the exact same>>one Reality-XP sells?.>>Same. But you can't use it with other aircraft (in case you>are thinking about it).>>Michael J.>WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB>Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2Thank you. What about their other products?. Which ones do you like or think that are good values or make the most difference in FS?.Juan

Hi,the most difference IMO in FS you

One issue worthy of note in any discussion of the RealityXP GNS530 is that it incorporates a 2+ year old nav database that cannot be updated. You can find an in-depth discussion of this issue on their forum...for some people, 2-year old data is not a problem. For some... it surely is.Also, the Reality XP GNS530 is really just an interesting interface to Garmin's own training simulator...the Garmin software (which runs in the background) is a 16-bit Windows application that can cause some real performance problems if you use an Intel CPU with hyperthreading.The Meridian version and standalone versions are essentially the same, except that the GNS530 included with the Meridian has been booby-trapped so that it can't be used in other panels.RegardsBob ScottATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-V L-300Washington, DC

Bob,I noticed you recently grew sour towards Flight1/Reality-XP products.But given the choice between outdated database and unrealistic GNS530 (in terms of features) I would always pick the latter. In my opinion the fact that Reality-XP just provides the wrapper to the Garmin's trainer is the strenght, not the weakness of this product. There is little chance we would ever see in the FS world that someone would try to duplicate GNS530's 100% functionality from scratch.Michael J.WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2

Let me just add these comments from the Reality XP forum:================================================================Let me reassure you about this: the Garmin Trainer is the best solution for a full featured Garmin simulation to date, as it is a 100% exact simulation of the real Garmin GNS. It is in fact a mixed 16 and 32 application (the GNS simulation) wrapped in a Win16 shell (to make it run on Windows).There is no issue whatsoever in running a Win16 designed/compiled application on Windows XP: it is fully supported and featured at the core system level. By the way, 32 bits applications running on a 64 bits windows O.S. will be running the same way a 16 bits application is running on a 32 bits O.S.... (thunking and the likes).Our new versions are taking a step further (quantum leap step?) in re-wrapping the Garmin Trainer in a different way: we are dynamically stripping down the Win16 shell, and only keeping the GNS simulation core code running in our own Simulation Shell...================================================================As for the database you are referring to, here is one of the discussions you have participated and shared your opinion with several other Reality XP customers...http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_post...p?TID=8358&PN=6The key is that:1) the GNS databases are pretty accurate in respect to the FS Navigation Database and BGL files2) the GNS databases are consistent with integrity in their data, and the cross reference to this data (for example no missing navaid in the database if the navaid is part of a procedure)As for your comments: "is a 16-bit Windows application that can cause some real performance problems if you use an Intel CPU with hyperthreading."Please make sure to1) review the Reality XP technical support about this:http://www.reality-xp.com/support/knowledgebase/1006.htmNB: this is a general "tweak" which regardless of the GNS 530XP may improve up to 100% the performance of your FS9 setup (as to why, please do a search in the Avsim forum about Hyper Threading and my comments about this).2) the next version of the 530XP (and the 430XP) is Hyper Threading Aware and compatible as documented somewhere in the Reality XP forum.Hope this helps!

>Bob,>>I noticed you recently grew sour towards Flight1/Reality-XP>products.>But given the choice between outdated database and unrealistic>GNS530 (in terms of features) I would always pick the latter.>In my opinion the fact that Reality-XP just provides the>wrapper to the Garmin's trainer is the strenght, not the>weakness of this product. There is little chance we would ever>see in the FS world that someone would try to duplicate>GNS530's 100% functionality from scratch.>>Michael J.>WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB>Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2Hi Michael; No, I'm really not sour towards Flight1 or Reality XP products. I still recommend the RXP Jetline gauges highly. I have a number of F1 products, and for the most part they are good ones and worthy of my recommendation. The Flight1 ATR, for example, is evolving to be a good one...and has a support team that actually provides timely fixes to documented bugs. On this particular issue (the Garmin 530), I think I was fair enough...I noted my issues, and made the prospective buyer aware of an existing thread where these issues have been discussed at length. But any new guy asking about the product deserves to know that he is, in fact, buying a product with an obsolete database that can't be updated. Likewise, the HT issue is another one to be aware of...not insurmountable, but still a potential problem. There are some opposing viewpoints in the discussion thread I referenced. The gent asking for information now has some informed choices to make. As it should be. Many new people come into these discussions every day, so it's not product-hating or sourness towards a publisher that drives me to repeat some previously-offered critiques...especially considering the lack of truly objective product reviews across the hobby in general. I see conflicts of interest like Andrew Herd over at Flightsim.com publishing reviews with a "buy this product and get a 3-month membership to FlightSim.com free" link posted at the end (now there's some objectivity!), and read other reviews that flush their credibility by glossing over big things like provably hideous flight dynamics, and realize that peer review in discussion groups like this has a much better chance of having some pro-con balance than the commercially-biased hype that goes for reviews these days on some of the popular sites. In the end, though, it's an individual choice of the buyer. Caveat Emptor.CheersBob ScottATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-V L-300Washington, DC

>>As for the database you are referring to, here is one of the>discussions you have participated and shared your opinion with>several other Reality XP customers...>>http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_post...p?TID=8358&PN=6>Yes...this is the discussion I referred to in my previous post.>The key is that:>>1) the GNS databases are pretty accurate in respect to the FS>Navigation Database and BGL filesYes...true...my comments are meant mostly for the large number of simmers who use current real-world data rather than the 2002 nav data built into the default MSFS scenery and encoded into the Garmin trainer within the RXP Garmin. As I said...for some simmers this obsolete database is a problem. For others, it isn't. For those who don't use current high-quality add-on scenery, or download current approach plates, or fly in the VATSIM virtual environment where current nav data is needed, it's not an issue. For the others, I think they should be aware before buying. >As for your comments: "is a 16-bit Windows application that>can cause some real performance problems if you use an Intel>CPU with hyperthreading.">>Please make sure to...Understood. True, most folks have been able to mitigate the unhappy performance effects of running the 16-bit Garmin trainer with hyperthreading, but again, people should be informed that to make the RXP Garmin run without a potential serious performance hit, they have to disable a performance capability which may be otherwise important to them, or alternatively write a processor affinity mask into the FS9 executable--which also prevents FS9 from taking advantage of HT when using any other panel that doesn't have the RXP product incorporated within it. It is not possible to force the Windows Virtual DOS Machine to run on a single vCPU without having to manually force the change in Task Manager each time the program is run. Again...not a showstopper or meant to imply unuseability, but a fact of life I think a potential buyer needs to know. It sounds like you may have a solution for the 16-bit shell plus HT on the horizon...glad to see you've taken steps to truly solve the problem with this product and hyperthreading.Anyway, hope that helps!Bob ScottATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-V L-300Washington, DC

Once again, thanks very much for your well ilustrated opinions and knowledge. It has been very helpful!.Since I already have the F1 Meridian and it comes with the GNS530, I will study it and enjoy it as much as I can. While I do this, I will wait for the new version of the Reality XP Garmin 530 to come out and see what I think then.Thx again guys,Juan