Garmin Math: A G600 Is More Than Half A G1000

The bigger announcement was that Garmin is going after the retrofit market in three ways. The full G1000 system will be made available on select aircraft, one at a time, with the first instance being late-model King Air C-90s. No firm price is set but the estimate is $350,000. If you wish you could put a glass panel in your cardinal but that’s a bit more than you planned to spend, you may get part of your wish. Garmin announced the G600, which houses two portrait-orientation screen (taller than they are wide) in a 6.75 inch by 10 inch bezel. The size is designed to fit in the area used by the six-pack in most airplanes. Of course, it’s not quite that simple.You’ll need to keep some backup instruments. One or two should go where the CDIs are, since the G600 has its own HSI. It’s up to your how you want to beef-up the electrical system as well. You must have a GNS 430 or GNS 530 to go with the G600 as it can display flight plans, but can’t enter them and has no GPS receiver of its own. The heading, altitude, and bugs are also for advisory only and won’t communicate with any autopilot. Somewhere in between the G1000 and the G600 will be the G900X. This unit is a full G1000 sans the GFC700 autopilot, but will only be available for the Experimental market. In fact, it will only be available to select Lancair and RV builders to start with. The plus side this that the G900X will interface with several experimental-only autopilots and Garmin is putting extensive support behind both systems. The G600 and G900X will sell for $29,772 and $66,745 respectively — but remember the G900X includes two NAV/COMs and two GPS.