Garmin Database Concierge

[iamtheari]

I recently switched from ForeFlight to Garmin Pilot. I alternate every few years. I fly two planes with Garmin avionics. One supports Database Concierge. The other does not. I don’t see a way to turn this feature on in Garmin Pilot on a per-plane basis. Is there any problem with turning it on and still updating the unsupported plane the old-fashioned way using the Garmin Aviation Database Manager software?

 

[Hang 4]

After reading all the database concierge issues people seem to be having, I know they all fall back to just using SD cards. So I'm 99% sure there's no problem doing it both ways.

 

[Jim K]

I have two planes set up in GP, mine which I update via concierge, and a club plane which obviously I don't have a subscription for. I can't really answer how "manual" updates work because I love concierge, it works great for me, and consequently I'd have a very hard time leaving GP just because of that feature.

That said, like hang 4 mentioned some people can't get it to work and revert to SD cards. I think @NealRomeoGolf uses concierge for his gtn and cards for his garmin navcom in the same plane. I'm 99.9% sure you can do it either way.

For that matter I have multiple tablets that all download the updates and are capable of pushing them to the gtn. Garmin seems to lock the file to a serial number rather than only allowing you to have one copy.

 

[Pinecone]

The subscription is tied to the unit serial number and ID. If you don't have a Flight Stream, the tablet will not see the unit wirelessly, so DC won't do anything.

I mainly use FF for flying, but still keep a subscription to GP for Database Concierge. Love it. Shortly, I will be switching my subscription to a One Pack (adding some stuff), so will only have to pay for the basic GP, the Premium upgrade will be included with the One Pack.

 

[NealRomeoGolf]

My 255A can't do concierge so it gets updated via USB stick. My 750xi goes via concierge. You can do them either way. Garmin doesn't care and doesn't restrict you on how you download stuff via the download manager. I've downloaded my 255A data multiple times because I keep grabbing the wrong USB stick it requires FAT32 formatting only.

 

[Gary Ward]

After reading all the database concierge issues people seem to be having, I know they all fall back to just using SD cards. So I'm 99% sure there's no problem doing it both ways.

I have been using my iPad with garmin pilot and the fs510 to update my 650 since 2018. It always works but sometimes not the first time.
I think I discovered that it is best to put everything/other iPads and cell phones in airplane mode except for the iPad you have GP on.
I am pretty sure every time I had a little trouble it was self inflicted
It always worked the next time I try it. I have never once used a SD card to update the GPS.

 

[iamtheari]

The reason I want to use Database Concierge is that the Windows Garmin Aviation Database Manager is so terrible about refusing to recognize SD cards. I wish my G3X Touch could handle Database Sync so I could use Concierge to feed databases to it through the GTN in the panel.

Anyhow, it does appear that the Aviation Database Manager software is happy to write an SD card for me (once I found the right sequence of rebooting, reformatting, installing the right SD card reader, and plugging in the right SD card to magically get it to show up in the software) even after Garmin Pilot had downloaded the updates for Concierge use.