5 minutes ago, btacon said:

Current data was just updated in the the past month and brings the TDS databases to Dec 2022 dataset which makes them just six months behind. Also I have never had an issue where an airport or named fix was missing.  Approaches maybe, airports never. YMMV,

-B

Well what good is the airport being listed, but no approaches? 

39 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

Well what good is the airport being listed, but no approaches? 

Well as I never said no approaches I’m not sure of your point. I said approaches are missing sometimes and in my experience it’s not missing but just renamed, as in approach 1 becomes approach 2 but still usable. 
-B

3 hours ago, btacon said:

Current data was just updated in the the past month and brings the TDS databases to Dec 2022 dataset which makes them just six months behind. Also I have never had an issue where an airport or named fix was missing.  Approaches maybe, airports never. YMMV,

-B

I did a flight out of Scotsdale near Pheonix.  Planned the flight in Garmin pilot and had to route around some areas where fire fighting was taking place. Two of the three waypoints for the diversion were in Garmin Pilot/PMS 750, but were not in the TDS 750.

The TDS 750 is a great unit, but there will be missing data. The PMS 750 data is up to date as I have a Navigraph subscription, but there are fewer features.

Edited August 2, 20232 yr by MrBitstFlyer

21 minutes ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

but there are fewer features

What features?

Main difference is the TDS is a 750xi and the PMS the older 750. Most other differences were mentioned already. The TDS is a real GTN based on the trainer with all its functions, the PMS predicts to be a GTN and is close to a real GTN but you will see even slight differences in the visuals compared to a real GTN. In the end it's coming down to a religious question. I was always on trainer based GNS and GTN in p3d and XP before and always wanted to have it as real as it gets, even if the db is slightly older (except you are a real pilot or know one and have access to the Garmind dbs 😉 ). The main reason driving me off the PMS is the pricing model. Subscription is a nogo and the onetime fee is way too high in imho. But in the end both are doing a very good job.

Cheers T.

6 hours ago, Dominique_K said:

 

you can try the timed full pms demo and check out everything for yourself.  https://pms50.com/msfs/free-premium-test/

if you have navigraph, you'll be able to show world wide charts on the panel.  

a no brainer for me.

The TDS GTN 750Xi is a front-end that interfaces the sim with the actual Garmin trainer, which gives you a choice between somewhat dated versions of either a fairly complete North America procedure database or a worldwide database that only includes mid-to-larger airports with runways over (I think) 4000 ft.  So if you're flying GA outside North America, some smaller airports will be missing.

The PMS 750 is an emulation of the GTN 750 that uses the native MSFS nav database, so what's there is accessible in the GTN.  The PMS version isn't as complete feature-wise or faithfully representative of the real-world unit's operation as the real Garmin trainer used in the TDS version, but it also has some features that the Garmin-based unit doesn't, like ability to load MSFS flight plans natively.

At present, I've opted for the TDS version, as my limited GA flying is done in the US and I retain my old FAA D-tpp digital procedure archives so as to have a US AIRAC procedure set that matches up with the date of the latest Garmin trainer database.

Thank you all, quite helpful.

The data freshness is not a problem for me. I am interested  in the technical challenge of flying an approach profile even if it is a year old or more. And LNM gives me all the detailed profiles I need.That is why I am not very much interested by Navigraph, overpriced for my needs. 

The extent of the database would be more of a problem. But checking at random with the Trainer, I’ve not found so far a missing procedure airport out the US/EU.

7 hours ago, Bob Scott said:

The PMS version isn't as complete feature-wise or faithfully representative of the real-world unit's operation as the real Garmin trainer used in the TDS version, .

That is an important point that I raised in the first post, specifically the Utilities page. The 750 is more than a moving map driving an autopilot. It is a nifty piece of kit helping you to draft and monitor your FP. With all the UI user-friendliness that the 530 has not.

What are the features missing in the PMS ? 

 

Like you, I had to choose between PMS 750 and TDS GTNxi 750. As I never used before this unit in my old times in MSFS X and P3D. I went for TDS unit because I looked for a higher fidelity unit and that fact of missing nav datas from MSFS base data were not a problem for me. As flight planning I use LNM and then add the waypoints manually which would take maxim 3-4 minutes. For now I mostly fly Milviz Cessna 310R in Australia. It happened to find some airfields which missed in database, but you have possiblity to add the missing airport/airfield after geographic coordinates, and you have possibility to save it as an airport for further flights to the same airfield. I always took the coordinates from LNM.
An other missing feature for TDS in comparison with PMS (I’m not very sure here, maybe someone can confirm) is weather radar functionality which you can find it only on PMS unit. In TDS unit you can enter in the weather radar menu but is doesn’t work. The only thing you can see regarding weather is METAR for every airport around globe which have this. But if take other features, especially, in the Utlity menu, the TDS version is more complete very close to the real unit.

 

I think you can’t go wrong with what you choose. It depenend more what features do you want and what expctation do you have.

 

13 hours ago, Bob Scott said:

he TDS GTN 750Xi is a front-end that interfaces the sim with the actual Garmin trainer, which gives you a choice between somewhat dated versions of either a fairly complete North America procedure database or a worldwide database that only includes mid-to-larger airports with runways over (I think) 4000 ft.  So if you're flying GA outside North America, some smaller airports will be missing.

This is what made me choose the PMS50 GTN. I fly mostly GA outside of North America and with the TDS many airports are missing. If I fly in the Seychelles or Maldives or PNG all the small airports and airfields (even the addon 3rd party ones) are there, which wouldn't be the case with the TDS. 

21 minutes ago, Alvega said:

This is what made me choose the PMS50 GTN. I fly mostly GA outside of North America and with the TDS many airports are missing. If I fly in the Seychelles or Maldives or PNG all the small airports and airfields (even the addon 3rd party ones) are there, which wouldn't be the case with the TDS. 

I lean towards it because of  this. I remember not too fondly  adding user points  by Long and Lat in the F1 version to show a strip in PNG. 

Do you use the Utilities page ?

2 minutes ago, Dominique_K said:

I lean towards it because of  this. I remember not too fondly  adding user points  by Long and Lat in the F1 version to show a strip in PNG. 

Do you use the Utilities page ?

Yes I do. Fuel planning, VNAV calc, satellite map with a Bing map key, you even have a full autopilot in the utilities page.

32 minutes ago, Alvega said:

This is what made me choose the PMS50 GTN. I fly mostly GA outside of North America and with the TDS many airports are missing. If I fly in the Seychelles or Maldives or PNG all the small airports and airfields (even the addon 3rd party ones) are there, which wouldn't be the case with the TDS. 

What Bob Scott said in his post about below 4,000 foot runway airports missing, now I remember why I hated  the Garmin Trainer data base, In P3D, I flew only GA for years, and in Europe, all the small airports I liked to fly in and out of , didn't have any data in the F1 GTN 750. 

On 8/2/2023 at 10:19 AM, Dominique_K said:

The PMS uses Asobo's.

Any other features is, of course, open to discussion (TAWS etc.). I don't own Navigraph so I didn't raise this issue.

It's more than that, it also uses the WTT.

Like I said in another post, I've spent 10 years in P3D always trying to Sync the sim database, the charts and the GTN and it was a major PITA

Here's the the main undeniable point of the PMS50. Now the Navigraph Hub is able to update the MSFS database with the latest cycle and the PMS50 uses that cycle. Now no matter what, when I open MSFS, Navigraph, PMS50, LNM everything is sync'd to the latest cycle guaranteed.

The other thing I like with PMS is that every Airport Approach that has either and ILS or RNAV the glide path will show up in the GTN itself.

 

4 minutes ago, FPStewy said:

It's more than that, it also uses the WTT.

Like I said in another post, I've spent 10 years in P3D always trying to Sync the sim database, the charts and the GTN and it was a major PITA

Here's the the main undeniable point of the PMS50. Now the Navigraph Hub is able to update the MSFS database with the latest cycle and the PMS50 uses that cycle. Now no matter what, when I open MSFS, Navigraph, PMS50, LNM everything is sync'd to the latest cycle guaranteed.

The other thing I like with PMS is that every Airport Approach that has either and ILS or RNAV the glide path will show up in the GTN itself.

 

And another feature is with the WTT, you can make visual approaches almost like flying an ILS or Rnav approach.