Announces New G600 Avionics Suite

Garmin has established itself as a major force to be reckoned with when talking about OEM glass panels... and at EAA AirVenture Sunday afternoon, the company announced it will soon be shaking up the retrofit market, as well, with its new G600.

The G600 incorporates two individual displays -- a PFD and MFD -- in a customized package designed for easy retrofit installation. Garmin designed G600 is designed to communicate and integrate with Garmin's panel mount products, and provides essential information such as attitude, air data, weather, terrain, and traffic.

"The G600 lets owners of existing aircraft upgrade their avionics panel from steam gauges to a modern glass cockpit," said Gary Kelley, Garmin's vice president of marketing. "With its outstanding features, easy operation, and the finest situational awareness, the G600 makes a glass cockpit an affordable option for thousands of aircraft owners."

Garmin says the G600 builds on features introduced on its G1000 integrated avionics suite, by incorporating multiple features and functions that dramatically reduce pilot workload. The G600 combines critical flight data and displays it in a digital format on dual LCD displays. This user-friendly presentation allows pilots to quickly and efficiently scan the data so that they can stay ahead of the aircraft during all phases of flight.

The G600 replaces traditional mechanical gyroscopic flight instruments with a solid state Attitude and Heading Reference System (AHRS) for superior reliability and accuracy. Garmin's AHRS features rapid alignment while moving, including in-flight dynamic restarts.

The bezel framing the G600's PFD and MFD (10"w x 6.7"h) allows for easy installation into the existing instrument panel in most aircraft. The system is designed to take the space that is currently occupied by the instrument six-pack (attitude, airspeed, altitude, vertical rate, turn coordinator and directional gyro).

Major System Components:

• 6.5-inch (diagonal) PFD and 6.5-inch (diagonal) MFD with VGA resolution
• Interfaces with Garmin navigators for GPS, flight plan and navigation data
• Display for TIS and various TAS and TCAS systems
• Solid-state Attitude and Heading Reference System (AHRS) with tri-axial magnetometer
• Worldwide terrain and U.S. obstacle database
• Digital Air Data Computer
• Optional Class-B Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS)
• Optional ChartView for displaying approach, departure, arrival charts along with airport surface diagrams

Real-time weather is also available as an option via XM WX Satellite Weather™ (U.S. only) through Garmin's GDL 69 or GDL 69A. Graphical weather depictions of NEXRAD, METARs, TAFs, TFRs, winds aloft, echo tops, precipitation type at the surface, lightning strikes, storm-cell data, AIRMETs, and SIGMETs can be received and displayed on the G600 so that pilots can make informed navigation decisions. The weather data may be laid directly over Jeppesen and topographic map databases. The G600 also provides a user interface for the more than 170 channels of XM audio.

Garmin's newly announced SafeTaxi is another feature of the G600. SafeTaxi provides pilots with detailed diagrams of over 650 airports so that they can navigate unfamiliar taxiways with ease. These electronic charts identify runways, taxiways, and structures, and are geo-referenced to the aircraft's exact position on the field.

Garmin anticipates that the G600 will receive the FAA's Approved Model List Supplemental Type Certification (AML STC), which will simplify certification for approximately 400 different aircraft models. The G600 includes the GDU 620 display/control unit, GRS 77 AHRS, GDC 74A digital air data computer, GMU 44 tri-axial magnetometer, and GTP 59 temp probe.

The G600 will be available in mid-2007, at a suggested retail price of $29,772.

FMI: www.garmin.com