Garmin GDL-50 question

Ozone

Ozone

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Aug 10, 2014
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206
Location
Minnesota
Display Name
Ozone
Home Airfield
KSGS (power) KSYN (soar)
I am toying with the idea of getting a GDL-50 as a backup. I like that it has bluetooth. That said, does anyone know of any sales/coupons/upcoming sales with any of the aviation supply companies out there? I am looking for a wee bit of a bargin if possible.
 
Buy a used 39...
 
i think when the 50/51/52 came out, there was a very brief period of time where the 39s were 50 bucks off. So "not likely" to your question.
 
I've spent a few months hoping for a 'bargain' on a gdl50, failed.. Off to Copperstate fly-in later this month and if the Garmin booth doesn't have a 'deal', I'll surrender and just pay the $760 (ish inc sales tax) and finally have a cool AHRS to play with.
 
when I bought mine I managed to get a $100 mail in rebate but that was way before the "covid supply chain isssues" that has made us all beg for companies to produce things for us and make us be glad to have it at whatever price they charge. Sad state of affairs. That said. The GDL 50 is an awesome little box. I installed a remote stubby antenna in the belley of the plane and a remote GPS antenna on the glareshield and stashed the unit behind the panel. It turns itself on and off and has a battery back up. It does the same thing as a GDL 50R and is $100 less and has a battery back up
 
Thanks, everyone, for the input!

I ordered a GDL50 and tried it out this weekend. It was connected to my phone and tablet simultaneously, and there were no problems. Never dropped the data stream across 2.4 hours of flying. I am very happy and I appreciate the advice and thoughts from my fellow pilots.
 
Yep, for ease of use & lack of install, hard to beat the simple GDL-50.

Onboard weather is a large safety component & makes flight adjustments easier. That’s true even if the weather is 10-15 minutes old.
 
I can't get the weather part to work, beside tech support, any ideas?
 
PIREP on the GDL50:
1) really reliable signals- much better than my stratux
2) doesn’t drain my battery b/c using Bluetooth
3) very short battery life, so have to keep it plugged in all the time (I’m using panel usb power)
4) sticky back needs to be (carefully) wiped down with wet cloth every 4-5 uses.
5) easy pairing with multiple devices
 
Why the GDL-50 versus the Stratus 3?
 
Pinecone said:
Why the GDL-50 versus the Stratus 3?
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GDL-50 uses bluetooth. It's much less taxing on the batteries of the receiving devices (like an Ipad or iphone). I friend of mine recently bought the sentry, but i think it still uses wifi
 
Juan Vallejo said:
GDL-50
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What I meant by that is: are you depending on ADS-b from other planes, or your own plane's ADS-b?

If your own plane is broadcasting just the 1090ES mhz signal ( like what's in the uAvionix tailBeaconX ), then you wont get weather.

If, on the other hand, your own plane is also broadcasting the 978mhz signal, then you will get weather every time you pick the data up from a ground station.

I stand corrected. Sorry for any confusion (clearly i need to read more). Anyway, here's a nice article on how it all works: https://ipadpilotnews.com/2020/07/a...=ADS-B uses a network,then you'll get weather.
 
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Ozone said:
What I meant by that is: are you depending on ADS-b from other planes, or your own plane's ADS-b?

If your own plane is broadcasting just the 1090ES mhz signal ( like what's in the uAvionix tailBeaconX ), then you wont get weather.

If, on the other hand, your own plane is also broadcasting the 978mhz signal, then you will get weather every time you pick the data up from a ground station.
Click to expand...
This is incorrect; you will receive weather irrespective of whether your transponder is on 978 or 1090, or even if you don't have ADS-B out at all. In 2016 or so, I had a stratux with just a 978 receiver for exactly this purpose.
 
Ozone said:
What I meant by that is: are you depending on ADS-b from other planes, or your own plane's ADS-b?

If your own plane is broadcasting just the 1090ES mhz signal ( like what's in the uAvionix tailBeaconX ), then you wont get weather.

If, on the other hand, your own plane is also broadcasting the 978mhz signal, then you will get weather every time you pick the data up from a ground station.
Click to expand...
FIS-B is an ADS-B In product. You don't have to have any ADS-B out at all to receive it. If you do have ADS-B out, it doesn't matter which band.
 
Ozone said:
What I meant by that is: are you depending on ADS-b from other planes, or your own plane's ADS-b?

If your own plane is broadcasting just the 1090ES mhz signal ( like what's in the uAvionix tailBeaconX ), then you wont get weather.

If, on the other hand, your own plane is also broadcasting the 978mhz signal, then you will get weather every time you pick the data up from a ground station.
Click to expand...
I think you might have things a little bit backwards. TIS-B traffic is transmitted from the ground to the aircraft (ADS-B In) on both 1090ES and 978Mhz UAT. FIS-B weather is sent from the ground to the aircraft (ADS-B In) on only 978UAT and does not depend on the aircraft's transmit frequency (ADS-B Out).

For example, the Garmin GNX375 and the Lynx NGT-9000 both receive/display traffic and weather via dual-band receivers (ADS-B In), but they both transmit from the aircraft to the ground only on 1090ES (single-band ADS-B Out).
 
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