Can anyone comment on the effect the Reality XP Garmin 430 has on the smoothness of FS2004, please?Thanks you for any info.David

Hi there, Well all I can say is look at this screen shot:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/114284.jpgIts a panel Mod I did for the Carenando Piper P-180At most I have lost maybe 1 Frame if at all using thease guages.They are wonderful, and dont forget Ive got 3 of them in there, The 430 / 530/ WX500, all beautiful.Go get em, dont worry about the FPS.Jason

JasonThat sure does look neat !!Thanks for your reply.David

No Probs David..Im sorry if my Reply seemed like an advert for RXP, but they are truly Nice gauges, and they seem very fluid in the the 3D Pit.Jason

I'm another total RealityXP convert, although I have to admit that I haven't and wouldn't put it into an aircraft like the Carenado -180F, it just doesn't seem right to me! ;-)I have and use all of their gauges except the Apollo set, but especially the GNS GPSs, which get put into the vast majority of my aircraft. JetLine2 is in a worrying number of them as well.I think the fact that you have to install them yourself and this can be a little tricky puts a lot of people off the JL gauges. If you are using the GPS systems though, they are a very useful addition indeed.Back on exact topic, I have noticed no frame rate loss at all using either of the GNS units on their own. Put *everything* in an aircraft and I might lose one or two fps, but nothing dramatic.Cheers,Ian P.

Can you use the reality-xp GPSs on any aircraft, and is it easy to do? I noticed that they have a professional expansion pack and it seems like it comes with a utility to install these gauges painlessly, does the 430 or 530 itself come with a utility like this and also, which one should I get the 430 or the 530, I want to put them in my CS 727 and 707 and the timouse 737-200? Also, I've heard you can enter professional flight plans into them just like an FMC, is this true?Thanks,Jeff

In the single package you get the GNS config program. This allows to configure the GPS and place it (in a popup solution called by a dropstack) in any plane.In the pro package you get the gns config pro that allows the above and other things like checklists, units and of course the crossfill between GPS.However there are several solutions in the RealityXP site made by users that integrate these gauges in the panels and that is of course the best solution.Jos

Thanks Jose, but which one should I get?Jeff

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The 430 and 530 are pretty much functionally equivalent, although the 530 has more buttons and is slightly more user-friendly.The bigger issue is how much space you have in the panel. Think of a car. You rip out the radio and go looking for a replacement unit.Some cars have skinny radios, others fairly tall ones, so the size of the panel cutout matters. Same with the 430 and 530. The 430 is less tall and fits into a "half-height" slot compared to the 530. To be specific, the 430 is 500x210 pixels in size, the 530 is 500x360.Now, if all you do is pop up the GPS and do not need to fit it into a predetermined slot, I would choose the 530 because of its bigger screen .For an airliner, I would think the 530 is the more logical fit.For many GA aircraft or even a regional turboprop like the PC12, the 430 looks better. http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/114369.jpg

Thanks for the help, I think I'll be getting the 530, nice screen shot too.Jeff

I use the 530 more than the 430 because I like the nice large viewable area for the "top down map" view. Obviously it also means that you can see more waypoints in plan mode, etc. as well.That said, in smaller aircraft where the user's budget is likely to be lower, I tend to use the 430 even where I don't include it in the panel and only use it as a pop-up. It just seems more "in-keeping" with the aircraft.I would agree with you that, as a first product, the GNS530 is probably the way to go.Cheers,Ian P.

I have the 430 and it works great and it works just like the real thing which I use in my Cessna 172 trainer for real flight training.I have mine installed in all my FS aircraft and never use the default GPS at all anymore.Bob S