Garmin GDL 50

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machkhatib

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Mach
For those that have the Garmin GDL 50, how does it work for you? Reliable? I've heard some people prefer it over other ADS-B in products because it uses Bluetooth (while Sentry, Stratus, and Stratux use Wifi and some have had issues with the Wifi signal disconnecting in flight).

I have a cigarette lighter in my plane (with USB charging ports, too). If I always leave the GDL 50 in my aircraft and keep it plugged into the cigarette lighter, will I have any issues? Said another way: Is the GDL 50 a power hog such that a cigarette lighter can't keep up?

Thanks in advance.
 
Reliable. Moreso than the GDL39 I had before.

The micro-USB port is fragile and I've broken it off 2x in my (admittedly rough) usage. I switched to the 496-style data cord and it is much stronger. No issues yet. Cigar lighter will charge it from zero to hero while being used in about 2h or so.
 
I have mine hardwired to power and the Aera660 in the AirGizmo panel dock. I have no issues with my iPad/ForeFlight connecting to it. Pretty flawless in my case...knock on wood. I love it.

I don't think you'd have a problem powering it via cig lighter but the Garmin GSB-15 is a pretty simple install to get you some USB charging ports. If you have an old clock that needs replacing there are several MidContinent options too for a good bit of $ more: Clocks (mcico.com)
 
Mine has been reliable.
UPDATE: Mine finally did break. Garmin would not help........at least reasonably. Chris Short repaired mine.
 
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baboss said:
I have mine hardwired to power and the Aera660 in the AirGizmo panel dock. I have no issues with my iPad/ForeFlight connecting to it. Pretty flawless in my case...knock on wood. I love it.
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I have a very similar setup. The GDL-50 is on the dash of my Warrior and I have it “permanently” wired to a 4-place USB cigarette lighter charger from Amazon, which works great. The charger also powers a Samsung tab, a Bluetooth connector for my iPhone, and the iPhone. The GDL doesn’t draw much at all.

The one very minor caveat is that, because it’s powered via the USB instead of the proprietary Garmin 12v plug or hardwiring it, when I power up then start up (which temporarily kills power to accessories), it doesn’t automatically power up so I need to press the button on the left side.

The unit has been rock-solid. With the 660, the ADS-B weather is equal to XM Wx, in my opinion, which is why I canceled the latter.

I did end up making a plastic sunshade for it, though I’ve never had a heat problem.

I have a second, “remote” version in my gyro. The layout of the gyro mandated the remote version. It, too, is tied to a 660 and it, too has been reliable. Both are connected by Bluetooth. I would personally avoid the “remote” version if possible: more expensive, especially when you add remote antennas, although Amazon makes those more affordable.

The other nice thing about the GDL-50/660 combo is it gives you AHARS and a great AI backup.
 
Mine was reliable until a Garmin firmware update bricked it. Then I discovered Garmin does not service them, and since the one year warranty expired, my only recourse was to buy a new one. I did not want to remain locked into the Garmin Pilot software, so I chose to replace it with another brand.

While I had it, the Bluetooth was reliable, and there are some advantages of BT over wifi. The unit did get alarmingly hot to the touch, but never overheated.
 
I bought the GDL-50 and flew with it the first time today. It interfaced with my iPad / Foreflight perfectly. One issue I noticed was that the GDL-50 seemed to be consuming the battery despite being plugged into the aircraft’s cigarette lighter. I started the flight with 20% battery on the GDL-50 and ended with 12% battery. The GDL was receiving power. I flipped the master back on after the flight for a minute and increased the battery to 13%.

Should I be concerned? Would the GDL-50 continue to operate even if the battery drained the 0% so long as it is plugged into ship’s power?
 
Flew again last weekend after charging the GDL-50 to 100%. This time the GDL-50 remained at 100% charge throughout the entire flight, so charging via the cigarette lighter is keeping up with the power draw.
 
out of curiousity, are you flying a 12V or 24V plane? I've never seen that inflight drawdown before, I'd be curious too if the thing shuts off or just coasts when it's out of juice
 
love it. I remote mounted mine with external antennas and bare wire connections to the 796 and power. It finds my iphone fine with bluetooth but no so fine with the 796 so I hard wired it. It turns itself on and off with power so no problems there
 
Unreliable in temperature extremes. Would not work in cold or heat, even if plugged in. Would often require a disassembly to pull the battery in order to reboot the damn thing. I guess it worked for Garmin... ended up buying a GTX345
 
schmookeeg said:
out of curiousity, are you flying a 12V or 24V plane? I've never seen that inflight drawdown before, I'd be curious too if the thing shuts off or just coasts when it's out of juice
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12V (1968 PA-28-140). I’ve since flown multiple times with the GDL-50 and its battery, as seen on the Foreflight “devices” tab, has always remained at 100%. I leave it plugged in.
 
baboss said:
I have mine hardwired to power and the Aera660 in the AirGizmo panel dock. I have no issues with my iPad/ForeFlight connecting to it. Pretty flawless in my case...knock on wood. I love it.

I don't think you'd have a problem powering it via cig lighter but the Garmin GSB-15 is a pretty simple install to get you some USB charging ports. If you have an old clock that needs replacing there are several MidContinent options too for a good bit of $ more: Clocks (mcico.com)
Click to expand...
Can you share a photo of your setup?

Where do you keep your GDL50 and do you have to manually turn it on?

I’ve noticed being in sunlight is not the best for the unit and would cause it to shut down, so planning to get an external antenna so that the unit can sit in the shade and still get full gps signal through the external antenna. Hoping the adsb / traffic / wx still works without line of sight. Anyone know how the adsb traffic wx signals are transmitted ?
 
mandm said:
I’ve noticed being in sunlight is not the best for the unit and would cause it to shut down, so planning to get an external antenna so that the unit can sit in the shade and still get full gps signal through the external antenna. Hoping the adsb / traffic / wx still works without line of sight. Anyone know how the adsb traffic wx signals are transmitted ?
Click to expand...
I keep my GDL 39 on the hat shelf next to a D window. Weather (FIS-B) and some traffic (TIS-B) data are uplinked from ground stations, other traffic (ADS-B) traffic is air-to-air. I haven't had any problems with the internal antenna.
 
GeorgeC said:
I keep my GDL 39 on the hat shelf next to a D window. Weather (FIS-B) and some traffic (TIS-B) data are uplinked from ground stations, other traffic (ADS-B) traffic is air-to-air. I haven't had any problems with the internal antenna.
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Then it is not accessible in air? How do you turn it on / charge / reboot, if needed?
 
mandm said:
Can you share a photo of your setup?

Where do you keep your GDL50 and do you have to manually turn it on?

I’ve noticed being in sunlight is not the best for the unit and would cause it to shut down, so planning to get an external antenna so that the unit can sit in the shade and still get full gps signal through the external antenna. Hoping the adsb / traffic / wx still works without line of sight. Anyone know how the adsb traffic wx signals are transmitted ?
Click to expand...
I'll be damned but I don't have a recent pic. I'll try to get one this week.
The GDL50 sits on the top right of the glareshield and the power/data cable runs behind the panel and up the side. I've not had it shutdown from overheat yet. It has lost traffic every once in awhile this summer. Not sure what the cause was but it came back after minutes.
It's connected to the Aera660 that's in the panel in an AirGizmos mount. The 660 is also wired to ships power, the audio panel, and the fuel flow computer. Both turn on with the master switch and have auto-off features that start when the master is turned off.
The 660 replaced a GPSMAP296 that was wired to an external GPS antenna behind the rear window. I've not replaced that with a compatible external antenna for the GDL50. Maybe I'll get around to that eventually.
 
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