Garmin has always been the easiest unit to use.

I may be naive, but I thought the weather feature was not an extra cost add-on as I read it in the product description. Would have purchased basic unit had I known this fact.

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Easy to navigate
Good tools included

Battery life is not even close to advertised. Using XM and higher back light the battery lasted well less that 40 minutes.

Suggest Sporty's discuss this in the advertisement in more depth. Using an 12vdc adapter made it a minor issue but I feel Garmin does a poor job on talking about this problem. Suggest Sporty's push back to Garmin on this issue since they have the clout that we as your customers don't.

Aera 510 is easy to use, very quick, easy to read, and has many very usable features that aids in safe flying. I highly recommend it to other pilots.

Took eight days to get the weather feature functional due to the receiver being coded as an automobile GPS receiver.

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ease of use.

Would prefer another channel for marine, topographic along with auto & aviation.

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Touch screen allows for faster access features. Easy to use.

Cannot change fields on the HSI page. I was used to a 496 and enjoyed changing fields and HSI layout on my HSI page for flying survey. This is not the case with the Aera. Your fields are fixed and all you can do is increases CDI scale.
Battery is useless

Its alright....I went for it cause it was cheaper then a used 496 and I got what I paid for. Less features. Why Garmin took away some options I dont know? Bummer.. I like it but my statisfaction is only about 70% out of 100% If I had a 496 and Aera to pick before a flight I would go for the 496.

Too new to tell. However, since it came from Sporty's I trust it will meet my expectations.

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Battery Life less than 2 hours,advertised as up to 4 hours.

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Great gps.

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everything i need and more

nothing at all

thanks sporty's!!!

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I love this machine! Being in a /A aircraft in IMC it is easy to start getting disoriented. This machine gives so much situational awareness. It has way more features than I expected. It is just like flying with a MFD. I am much less apprehensive while flying through the bad weather now that I have it. Many people have complained about the short battery life. If you don't have a cigarette lighter then you should choose a different product. If you suffer an electrical failure, the battery should provide plenty of back up until you get to your destination. I would highly recommend this product!!!

Absolutely great and extremely easy to use! Installed in vehicle on "Aviation" mode for a couple of days to get familiar with the interface while on the ground. Ten minutes of use was all that was needed for the Aera to feel completely familiar in every way. Easy to install in Piper Archer using the supplied yolk mount. XM proved itself invaluable in the first week. XM allowed the completion of a 300nm VFR flight back to home airport after a 4 day trip that I would not have been comfortable making without it. Was able to divert around rain and MVFR with only adding 10 minutes to overall flight. Animated weather and METARS through the Aviator LT reduced workload and made cross country flight much more enjoyable.

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The versatility of using the car and airplane mode is simple. I like the tracking of a flight function. It is easy to plot a flight plan before the flight or during the flight.

The battery life is not very long and recommend having a plug in option in the plane. I think 3 hours is pretty close to its max battery time.

I havent used the XM weather yet, but plan on it. I had to play with the GPS before feeling comfortable in the plane. Fairly easy to pick up with out much reading.

Easy to use, easy to get to the information you need.

Battery life at full backlighting (required in my aircraft to see the unit) is less than an hour.

Backlighting does not stay on steady but rather must use some sort of flashing backlighting (to reduce power draw?)

Can't charge it without a dock of some sort (no direct cable plug in)

It took me three tries to get an acceptable unit from Sporty's and 2 weeks of hassle. When I did get the working replacement, it's backlighting was not as good as expected. I had kept hearing about how great the screen looked but I think the screen on my 296 looks better.

The battery life at a useable setting is dismal. Using the XM and full backlighting gave me about 45min of life.

Overal I am not unhappy with my purchase, but I would seriously consider another comparable units.

great gps. touch screen works well easy to use

nothing yet!!!

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Very easy to learn and to use.

Very acurate.

Touch screen buttons are hard to hit in smooth air and are difficult to hit when bumpy.

Was expensive, but the functionality is very good.

Haven't had a chance to use the Weather function yet, but it should prove invaluable.

Easy to use setup
Worked as advertised
Has lots of information available tom the pilot inflight
Map display is outstanding
XM weather information and display is excellent

XM weather takes 5 minutes to load initially
Some of the paths (clicks) to infomation is not intuitive

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Extremely easy to understand and use.

It would've been nice to have a carrying case!!!

Better value than I expected....I love it!!

Simple to use and though there's a detailed manual included, I still haven't read it. Crisp display, good touch pressure, quick initialization, great database, fantastic features for setting up user defined waypoionts. Terrain and rate of sink aural alerts are great last-ditch situational awareness tools. NexRad and XM radio are great add-ons.

I bought this because it's compact but with full features, and it fulfills that goal. If I was building it, I might add another diagonal inch though.

Bang for the buck is tremendous! I'll be buying another for my helicopter.

I love everything about this product. It’s loaded with features and it is very intuitive. The touch screen makes all the difference in the world. If you have a weather subscription for about 49.00 dollars a month ( that’s about the best all around one from XM radio) you can see all the weather and get all the weather information you need while flying. Garmin has really out done themselves!!

I would have reated is product higher, but there is one problem, however, that makes all that wonderful stuff I mentioned above just completely worthless though… And that is the battery life on this thing. There is no way that it’s a five hour battery!! Saying it is should be considered false advertising… This is barely a two hour battery. If you’re flying and super imposing weather and have all types of movement on the screen and you’re jumping back and forth between menus, then forget it because it’s barely an hour and a half battery.

If you don’t have a cigarette lighter in your plane or some way to get power to the device, you better carry more than one battery and be prepared to switch while you’re flying… If you have the power socket, you’ll love the device… I don't have a cigarette lighter!

Do something about the battery life. Quit saying it is a 5 hour battery. On its best day it's barley a 2 hour battery in aviation mode and aviation mode is why we buy this thing from Sporty's. Most of us are pilots and that why we want this device. In Auto mode it last longer, I don't care about auto mode. I have a Nuvi for that and it works great. I recommend this product, but you better have a cigarette lighter in the plane.