Garmin GDL 50

S

Steven Sesto

Filing Flight Plan
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May 21, 2021
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Steve
Does anyone have the GDL 50. I have the Garmin Pilot app and wanted to know your guys thoughts on the ADS-B.
Thanks

This is my first post. Just joined the forum
 
Welcome to the Forum, Steven.

We have the GDL 39, which preceded the GDL 50. I have been using it now for about three years. It was initially mounted on the glareshield with its battery. I had a lot of problems with overheating, then the GDL would either shut off or just lose connection to the iPad. I worked back and forth with Garmin for a while to no avail. I finally figured out that with the battery underneath, it was causing the overheating. I removed the battery, and now the GDL works well most of the time. It still very occasionally loses connection, and I have to turn the GDL off, then back on to reboot. I am running Garmin Pilot as well. The ADS-B In is fantastic. Try it -- you'll like it. :)
 
I have the GDL 50. Great little device. It gets pretty hot to the touch on the glare shield, but I have not had any issues with overheating yet, and I am in Florida. ADS-IN is the bomb, and GDL integration with G Pilot is seamless. I pair it with an iPad mini.

PXL_20201002_182821691~3.jpg
 
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I have a GDL50 on my glareshield and am very happy with it. It feeds traffic, weather, and AHARS to my panel mounted Aera 660. I dealt with the heat issue by making a cover for it out of some scrap plastic sheet and it has done well with that - but a cover is probably a necessity up on the dash.

One minor issue I learned about: mine is wired into a cigarette lighter-type USB charger with a 90 degree micro USB cord. Works great but I need to manually turn it on each time. By contrast if I were to use the micro USB to cigarette lighter adapter that came with it, apparently it would power up on its own; it apparently senses the difference. Not a big deal but an interesting quirk.

The GDL50 and Aera 660 is a great combination. I justified pulling my standby vacuum system because of it - the AHARS-driven AI is very good. And ADS-B weather on the 660 is nearly identical to the XM weather I used to have - and is free. Stopping the XM subscription was how I rationalized the upgrade.
 
Ed Haywood said:
I have the GDL 50. Great little device. It gets pretty hot to the touch on the glare shield, but I have not had any issues with overheating yet, and I am in Florida. ADS-IN is the bomb, and GDL integration with G Pilot is seamless. I pair it with an iPad mini.

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Thank you soo much for the reply. I just ordered it!!
 
somorris said:
Welcome to the Forum, Steven.

We have the GDL 39, which preceded the GDL 50. I have been using it now for about three years. It was initially mounted on the glareshield with its battery. I had a lot of problems with overheating, then the GDL would either shut off or just lose connection to the iPad. I worked back and forth with Garmin for a while to no avail. I finally figured out that with the battery underneath, it was causing the overheating. I removed the battery, and now the GDL works well most of the time. It still very occasionally loses connection, and I have to turn the GDL off, then back on to reboot. I am running Garmin Pilot as well. The ADS-B In is fantastic. Try it -- you'll like it. :)
Click to expand...
Thanks soo much!! Fly safe
 
Llewtrah381 said:
I have a GDL50 on my glareshield and am very happy with it. It feeds traffic, weather, and AHARS to my panel mounted Aera 660. I dealt with the heat issue by making a cover for it out of some scrap plastic sheet and it has done well with that - but a cover is probably a necessity up on the dash.

One minor issue I learned about: mine is wired into a cigarette lighter-type USB charger with a 90 degree micro USB cord. Works great but I need to manually turn it on each time. By contrast if I were to use the micro USB to cigarette lighter adapter that came with it, apparently it would power up on its own; it apparently senses the difference. Not a big deal but an interesting quirk.

The GDL50 and Aera 660 is a great combination. I justified pulling my standby vacuum system because of it - the AHARS-driven AI is very good. And ADS-B weather on the 660 is nearly identical to the XM weather I used to have - and is free. Stopping the XM subscription was how I rationalized the upgrade.
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Just ordered it. Thank you all. Fly safe
 
I have a GDL39-3D for Garmin Pilot in the Cessna and a GDL39R feeding the G3X in my Cub. Both are hard wired to the radio master and both have been flawless.
 
I use mine extensively. If you toss it into a backpack enough times with the cord attached, you will eventually break off the micro-usb port. I have had it reflowed once already (Garmin does not do repairs on these, strangely -- annoying for an $800 doodad) -- and it is currently broken again. In that scenario, you should consider one of the 496/696 or other data+power cords that they make for these -- they're the same cords as used with the GDL39. They're about $70 new and quite durable -- just heavy cord and a bit long and obnoxious in the cockpit.
 
LOL, after saying how great mine is, appears the last firmware update bricked it. I tried various resets and webupdaters without success. If tech support can't help me tomorrow, I guess I will send it back.
 
Welcome! We have a GDL 52 on the glare shield. It is hardwired to ships power, the audio panel, and to the Garmin 760. I bluetooth to GP on the iPad. It works great, if it is really warm out and in direct sun, I fold a piece of notebook paper and create a little shade tent for it. I have not noticed any signal issues when I tent it, and it keeps it much cooler.
 
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