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Old November 23rd 03, 12:16 AM
Roy Smith
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Paul DeSmet wrote:
It looks like the new CNX-80 is the way of the future. Has anyone used
one?


I've got about 7 hours over 4 flights behind a CNX-80 and I love it.
There is definately a learning curve to the thing, but then again there
is a learning curve for any of the competing units. My guess is the
CNX-80 is the primary reason Garmin bought UPS-AT, and my expectation is
that the 430/530 line isn't long for this world.

I've got a little bit of time with the 430, and a little time with the
Apollo GX-60 too. I'm not sure I really spent enough time with either
unit to do a fair evaluation, but my impression was that the 430 was the
simplier of the two to operate. The CNX-80 blows them both away.

Part of the reason, of course, is the larger screen real-estate
available which lets you display more information at one time, but it's
more than that. The CNX-80 just seems to be better thought out.
Certainly the ability to enter flight plans by picking airways and
waypoints out of a database menu is a real improvement over spelling
every fix out with big-knob, small-knob gymnastics.

It doesn't take long to get used to pulling frequencies out of the
database (NRST, INFO, FREQ) instead of dialing them in digit by digit.
At first it seemed like a pain, but you quickly realize it's actually
much easier. My club's new Bonanza has a CNX-80 coupled to a 2nd nav
com (SL-30?), and 2nd radio gets access to the database information too.
I still havn't figured out exactly what frequencies the CNX-80 decides
to send to the SL-30, but it's a testiment to good design that the one
you're looking for always seems to be there.

We also have the blind xponder controlled by the CNX-80. Again, at
first this seemed awkward, but you quickly get used to it. The only
thing you ever really have to do is tap in the xponder code. It goes on
when during your takeoff roll and shuts itself down when you land (all
based on groundspeed). Neat.

It used to be the standard panel was 2 nav-coms, plus adf, dme, and
xponder. That amount of panel space will now hold a CNX-80, MX-20, and
SL-30.

All in all, it's just a great box.