Getting the 650 and 750 to communicate?

[n8whinnery]

I have the assumption that this should work, but before I get too frustrated, I'm hoping it's possible to use the map on the 750 to scroll around the map for way points to put into the 650 for flight planning, and for said flight plan to then also show on 750. Since there is only one folder storing flight plans, I'm assuming the 750 and 650 get their info from the same places, although while I can get the import function on the 750, it does not show on the 650. As it's been mentioned already, the path for the FPLN folder is wrong in the manual, so that's frustrating. What's also confusing is that the flight plan that shows in the 750 is not the flight plan that shipped with the plugin.

 

[RXP]

Hi,

What you are referring to is better known as 'cross fill'. This feature is not implemented in our GTN. It is only implemented in our GNS devices.

However, you should be able to import flight plan files in both GTN device types from the same flight plan file folder.

Can you please let me know what is wrong exactly in the manual?

Can you also please further detail what do you mean with "no the flight plan that shipped with the plugin"?

[Ted Striker]

One of the reasons I bought both the RXP and F1 GTNs was because I thought all of the RXP devices had crossfill. This is dissapointing to read that the RXP GTN versions don't have this either. My error for not doing better due diligence. To get around this can a flight plan be entered into either the 650 or 750, saved, then loaded into the other device so you can reference the map on one and flight plan on the other?

Ted

[RXP]

Hi Ted,

Only the GNS V2 can also 'export' to file any catalogue route for now. You can always plan ahead a flight plan and save it to a .gfp file which you can later load in both devices though. I know some of our customers would love to have GTN cross fill but it is not there for now, yet.

[Ted Striker]

Hi Jean-Luc,

I just got the GTN last month and have only been inputting flight plans manually from the cockpit so far. Are you saying that if I use a separate flight panning software to create the .gfp route file and save it that I can then load it into both devices and they will both track my flight? I assume that I will have to enter all departure and arrival procedures separately into each device.

Thanks,

Ted

[fppilot]

2 hours ago, Ted Striker said:

Hi Jean-Luc,

I just got the GTN last month and have only been inputting flight plans manually from the cockpit so far. Are you saying that if I use a separate flight panning software to create the .gfp route file and save it that I can then load it into both devices and they will both track my flight? I assume that I will have to enter all departure and arrival procedures separately into each device.

Thanks,

Ted

Ted,
There are three methods I have found for creating .gfp flight plans for import into the RXP GTN GPS's.  One is the freeware program Little Navmap, one is a flight planning site iflightplanner.com, which after a 30 day trial requires a paid subscription, and the last is using an Excel spreadsheet to manually build flight plans that can then be text pasted into Notepad and saved for import.

I pursued the import ability through a passionate learning curve that consumed considerable time.  It became more about the challenge than about any efficient result. What was not evident when I started, became evident over time.  Here is a link to a previous topic here that may provide some clues:

Click here to go to related topic

The Garmin GTN series (Garmin, not RXP), as designed by Garmin, uses logic and parameters that can be restrictive, especially over time. Those include (a) a built in trapping error when you attempt to use a nav point that has a duplicate in it's database; (b) a time and/or naming-sensitivity inherent in including departure and/or arrival procedures in .gfp files for import; and (c) a lack of capability to import an approach type when more than one approach of the type exists for a given runway.

In regard to (a). Have you noticed with both the GTN or GNS when you enter the name of some  NAV's that Garmin will prompt you to choose which when more than one exists?  An example is BUNKA.  Try entering BUNKA into a flight plan and Garmin will ask you to choose between BUNKA in the Great Lakes region of USA., or BUNKA in the country of Ivory Coast.  That's as you enter BUNKA letter-by-letter into the gauge.  If you have BUNKA in a .gfp file for import, the Garmin units lock the flight plan and forces you to edit it.  That because Garmin does not want to choose one of those NAVs for you.

(b). Departures and Arrivals have names that are incremented.  CHICKN3 becomes CHICKN4; SLVER1 becomes SLVER2, then becomes SLVER3, etc.  These become problematic.  If your source for flight plan information matches the database in use in the Garmin Trainer that is the base for the RXP gauge then you are fine.  But when time creates a mismatch it stifles the import.

(c). If an airport has only one approach of a given type, say RNAV (GPS) 35 then if the approach is contained within the ..gfp file everything works smoothly.  But if a runway has say an RNAV (RNP) Z approach and a separate RNAV (GPS) Y approach, just like the example of the duplicate nav points above, the Garmin's logic will not allow it to pick for you, so it cannot distinguish and it locks or blocks the import.

Summary is this.  You can create simple .gfp flight plans for import.  Origin airport code; destination airport code. Insert and punctuate the first waypoint and the last waypoint.  Then after importing you can insert the departure and arrivals with transitions, and load the airways, and perform that more successfully as well as more quickly than fooling around with building more sophisticated .gfp files, which will have time lifes. These are restrictions built in Garmin's logic, not something due to RXP.

Been there, done that!

 

 

[Ted Striker]

1 hour ago, fppilot said:

There are three methods I have found for creating .gfp flight plans for import into the RXP GTN GPS's.

Frank, Thank you for that very thorough and clear explanation. I forgot about the duplicate waypoint names and can see where this would be problem with importing flight plans. I am amazed how quickly you can build a flight plan in the GTN compared to other GPS and FMS/FMC devices Based on that and what you described above it seems like the most efficient process is just to input the flight plan manually into each device. I generally do not make real long flights that require a lot of waypoints. I was not aware that procedures could be imported from a .gfp flight plan file but again, based on the potential hiccups you mentioned with those, it seems that manually loading them into each device would be more efficient.

Thanks again,

Ted

[fppilot]

2 hours ago, Ted Striker said:

it seems that manually loading them into each device would be more efficient

Ted,
One more thought.  Do a web search for "gfpconverter.zip".  It is touted to being a converter that can convert .fpl, .pln, and .gpx files to .gfp format.  I found it at one time and could not get it to work.  It appeared to place forward slashes "/" into an output filename and Windows reads those "/'s" as path indicators, so it was returning exception error.  You might see if you can get it to work.  I was unable to find out how to contact the author, even after following leads to his website for another program he wrote.

[n8whinnery]

On 1/27/2019 at 9:25 AM, RXP said:

Hi,

What you are referring to is better known as 'cross fill'. This feature is not implemented in our GTN. It is only implemented in our GNS devices.

However, you should be able to import flight plan files in both GTN device types from the same flight plan file folder.

Can you please let me know what is wrong exactly in the manual?

Can you also please further detail what do you mean with "no the flight plan that shipped with the plugin"?

The manual states flight plans are to be stored at "C:\ProgramData\Garmin\Trainers\Databases\FPLN", however in order to see the flight plan that is contained at C:\ProgramData\Reality XP\Common\GtnTrainer (KLSE to KLSE), I had to put it in C:\ProgramData\Garmin\Trainers\GTN\FPLN in order to trigger the ability to import a flight plan.  

[RXP]

@n8whinnery Hi and thank you for your feedback.

Which GTN Trainer have you installed?

The documentation is changed in the upcoming update. It'll say:

 

This folder must be named FPLN and be located in the GTN Trainer Data folder, typically (12):

"C:\ProgramData\Garmin\Trainers\Databases\FPLN"

(12) The "FPLN" folder must reside in the folder "GTNNAVDATA" for GTN Trainer 6.50+ and "GTNAPPDATA" for previous versions. See Configuring Alternate Paths chapter for more information.
Trainer 6.41: "C:\ProgramData\Garmin\Trainers\GTN\FPLN"
Trainer 6.21: "C:\ProgramData\Garmin\GTN Trainer Data\GTN\FPLN".

 

And the 'Configuring Alternate Paths' chapter mentions:

GTNNAVDATA="C:\ProgramData\Garmin\Trainers\Database"  (Trainer v6.50, v6.41)

GTNAPPDATA="C:\ProgramData\Garmin\Trainers\GTN" (Trainer v6.41)
GTNAPPDATA="C:\ProgramData\Garmin\GTN Trainer Data\GTN" (older Trainers)