- Joined
- Jun 1, 2016
- Messages
- 1,187
- Reaction score
- 368
PIREP to all those with Garmin Avionics. I recommend you think long and hard about switching to Jeppesen Data Bases when using Garmin Pilot and FS510 to update, or just switching in general. Total Charlie Foxtrot I'm dealing with now.
Since my panel upgrade I've had Garmin DB's and bought Electronic Charts from Jepp. Mostly due to Garmin DB's were the only way to work with Pilot and FS510. Updates have been a breeze and worked perfect every time. Well, renewal was last month, and Jepp talked me into switching to their DB's along with their Charts because I could get a Full US Chart subscription along with all the DB's for less than I was paying Garmin for DB's and Jepp for just the North Central US Charts.
Well, 3 weeks later and multiple phone calls to Jepp, Garmin, and my Avionics shop, and I'm still trying to get it to work. The GTN's seemed to update ok from Garmin Pilot, but my G500 wouldn't budge. The G500 is supposed to sync from the GTN after update. I ended up having to wipe the G500 SD Card, reformat it, and hard download the DB's directly from Jepp JDM. That seemed to work, but my Charts still won't download. The main issue seems to be Jepp needs your specific avionics hardware system ID's attached to each specific DB. If the system ID is not correct it won't download or work. Seems simple right. WRONG. Jepps system is so effed up that it is dang near impossible for them to get the system ID's entered correctly for each specific DB. The IT folks at Jepp don't have access to the system to change it. Only the Sales folks have the ability to change system ID's, and they were minimally trained at best, and are pulling their hair out trying to fix it.
To put it bluntly, it's been a nightmare so far. Still working on it. If you are considering changing to Jepp DB's, I'd think twice. I did only for the full US Charts. If you aren't using Jepp Charts I would recommend a hard pass on the Jepp DB's and stick with Garmin.
Since my panel upgrade I've had Garmin DB's and bought Electronic Charts from Jepp. Mostly due to Garmin DB's were the only way to work with Pilot and FS510. Updates have been a breeze and worked perfect every time. Well, renewal was last month, and Jepp talked me into switching to their DB's along with their Charts because I could get a Full US Chart subscription along with all the DB's for less than I was paying Garmin for DB's and Jepp for just the North Central US Charts.
Well, 3 weeks later and multiple phone calls to Jepp, Garmin, and my Avionics shop, and I'm still trying to get it to work. The GTN's seemed to update ok from Garmin Pilot, but my G500 wouldn't budge. The G500 is supposed to sync from the GTN after update. I ended up having to wipe the G500 SD Card, reformat it, and hard download the DB's directly from Jepp JDM. That seemed to work, but my Charts still won't download. The main issue seems to be Jepp needs your specific avionics hardware system ID's attached to each specific DB. If the system ID is not correct it won't download or work. Seems simple right. WRONG. Jepps system is so effed up that it is dang near impossible for them to get the system ID's entered correctly for each specific DB. The IT folks at Jepp don't have access to the system to change it. Only the Sales folks have the ability to change system ID's, and they were minimally trained at best, and are pulling their hair out trying to fix it.
To put it bluntly, it's been a nightmare so far. Still working on it. If you are considering changing to Jepp DB's, I'd think twice. I did only for the full US Charts. If you aren't using Jepp Charts I would recommend a hard pass on the Jepp DB's and stick with Garmin.
