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I've had great reliability with this product over 2 years of ownership. Never had to do anything but open it, and let it do it's thing. METARS always within 1 hour old. This week I've been getting METARS at least 3 hours and in some cases as much as 10 hours old. There's something they've done or not done that's causing this. I've never had to go into the program to fix anything, and shouldn't have to now.

I respect you guys who do these mods, but if I was going to mess around with the F1 G600, I would divert my attention to the Carenado Citation S550. This S550 can often be found with a G600/GTN-750 mod. You won't find a G600 in a CJ2 or 2+. You could also juice the performance and weights of the S550 to equal the Citation V (560), which is basically a stretched S550.

The FMS is very basic, and missing such things as accurate fuel planning. Behavior of the autopilot is not the best, with poor modeling of the VNAV function. The main attribute is that the FMS database is updatable with Navigraph. Many simmers have chosen the Flight 1 GTN-750 to use in lieu of the stock FMS. If you can justify the cost, it's probably the best way to go.

As it turns out, the improvements appear to be attributable to improvements in the Flight 1 GTN "Complete" upgrade and new throttle hardware.

Just got a new computer, and had to download and reinstall the CJ2. Small changes. The NAV button on the AP, now works with the F1 GTN. FLC is much improved also. Some of these were improved with the Mod Squad GTN integration. Seems Carenado incorporated them with the update. The FLC appears a further improvement over the Mod Squad tweaks. N1 changes with power settings appear more precise as well.

As you're dealing with the default ATC, approach plates shouldn't be necessary. I'm speaking strictly from a hobby sim point of view of course. Plates are always required in the real world. Given nearly all the approaches in the default FSX used by ATC, are ILS', there's only 4 values you need to know. Altitude at the Final Approach Fix (where you intercept the glideslope) will be the last altitude given by ATC. You need to know the inbound course heading (where the localizer needle will be centered). In simple terms, take the runway number and add a zero (Rwy 18= 180 etc). Next is Decision Height, the point where you need to see the runway in instrument weather. This can be done by taking field elevation and adding 200 feet. This will be a 1/2 mile distance from the runway. I assume you know how to find the frequency of the ILS. ILS approaches are pretty straight forward, and for sim purposes, an approach plate isn't going to add too much to what the default ATC gives you.

Great! I'm only interested in the 2D gauge. I gather this is still a work in progress, so I'll monitor this thread to see when it becomes available.

When you say "screen portion of the GTN", does that include the engine gauges as well, or just the original GTN display? If it doesn't have the engine gauges, it defeats the purpose of the pop-up, as it would be nothing more than the stock F1 2D gauge.

Having flown the Carenado CJ2 extensively for about a year now, with and without the mod, I would say the main issue with the Carenado PL21 is it's lack of functionality compared to the real PL21. My biggest issue is it's lack of radius to fix turns, when the F1 GTN performs them flawlessly. The PL21 comes upon a fix with a heading change, and makes abrupt turns circa FS2002 style. Bottom line, there's no suitable PL21 available for FS, that performs as good as the F1 GTN. Being most of us don't actually have physical FMS keyboards, I see little difference in punching numbers on a GTN, compared to a PL21. The goal is the same, and the F1 GTN gets better results.

Where are you trying to import flight plans from? My impression has been that only the database in the Garmin trainer can be used.

Is there anything involved other than a HDMI cable in making that work?

Many private owners in the US, have modified them with Garmin G600 PFD/MFD's. Look around on some of the aircraft broker sites under warbirds, and there's often good panel photos.

I went straight from FS9 to Steam. Tried FSX boxed when it came out, and had a slow slide show for FPS. Never could justify the hardware investment to make it work, although I think there was some embellishment on forums of what it actually took to run it adequately. The reduced price of hardware and the arrival of FSX-SE kind of coincided for me.

Anyone tried running the 2D panel in the Carenado CJ2?