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GTN 650/750 Firmware Upgrade

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 1:43 pm
by jpfli
For those of us with GTN navigators is upgrading the firmware worthwhile?

Will the VNAV ver 6.50 firmware VNAV capabilities be able to be sent to and seen by the HXr?

Regards,
John

Re: GTN 650/750 Firmware Upgrade

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 5:11 pm
by Bobturner
You’ll need GRT to give you a definitive answer, but probably not. The GTN VNAV data is being sent out using a new arinc format (Garmin429 instead of gamma1) that most Garmin products cannot read either.

Re: GTN 650/750 Firmware Upgrade

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2018 3:32 pm
by jpfli
Bobturner wrote:You’ll need GRT to give you a definitive answer, but probably not. The GTN VNAV data is being sent out using a new arinc format (Garmin429 instead of gamma1) that most Garmin products cannot read either.

Thanks Bob!

I'll wait for Jeff's response on both the above, and the next question below:

Since v6.5 gives the 650 a more user friendly interface, do you know if the 650 firmware upgrade will cause any loss of functions that are currently available and flow from the 650 to the HXr?

Re: GTN 650/750 Firmware Upgrade

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2018 9:52 pm
by Bobturner
I don’t know, but certainly you have cause to be concerned. This has happened in the past, where some connected equipment no longer worked after a Garmin ‘upgrade’. I’d ask Jeff before proceeding.

Re: GTN 650/750 Firmware Upgrade

Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2018 6:39 am
by GRT_Jeff
I don't know anything about this upgrade. Garmin doesn't tell us anything and I haven't heard anything about it.

Re: GTN 650/750 Firmware Upgrade

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2018 12:42 am
by jpfli
GRT_Jeff wrote:I don't know anything about this upgrade. Garmin doesn't tell us anything and I haven't heard anything about it.
Here is the link to the GTN 650 update:

https://www8.garmin.com/support/collect ... 0-00G3X-00

Info is the 6th bullet point under the additional software heading

I sent you an email with the .pdf

Re: GTN 650/750 Firmware Upgrade

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2018 6:23 am
by GRT_Jeff
The service bulletin says the new VNAV features work with other Garmin equipment and does not describe how they are sent. That probably means they are in the Garmin proprietary formats. We could look at the data from a DEMO file to see if there are any changes to the standard data streams but I doubt it.

The bulletin does not say the update affects any other equipment, which means current functions are expected to still work with the EFIS and any other equipment.

Re: GTN 650/750 Firmware 6.50 Upgrade

Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2018 1:51 pm
by jpfli
Has anyone done the 6.50 upgrade?

Any negative results?

Regards,
John

Re: GTN 650/750 Firmware 6.50 Upgrade

Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2018 11:49 pm
by RV-HXr
jpfli wrote:Has anyone done the 6.50 upgrade?

Any negative results?

Regards,
John
I updated to v6.50. The 650 and HXr continue to cooperate just as before.

Re: GTN 650/750 Firmware Upgrade

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2019 6:07 pm
by Widget
I did the upgrade with no negative effects. It did set the VNAV to the Garmin default, which meant that I could not enter crossing restrictions as I had in the past. I went into the SETUP menu and switched it back to how it was before. The new keyboard is nice.