Garmin Fishfinder 80 User Newsletter

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Garmin USA, Inc.  1200 East 151st Street  Olathe, Kansas 66062  PH:  913/397.8200  Fax:  913/397.8282 

GNS 480/CNX80 User Newsletter 

Sixth Edition 

12/2/04 

Paul Damschen, GNS 480/CNX80 Certification Manager 

In this special edition for the holidays: 

1.  CNX80 vs. GNS 480 

2.  Determining availability of vertical guidance on approaches 

3.  WAAS Coverage Increases 

4.  GTX 32/33 STC 

5.  WAAS and RNP 

GNS 480 vs. the CNX80 

We’ve had several people question the new name of the CNX80 and thought they needed to upgrade to the GNS 480 for future 

support and growth capability.  Just to emphasize and clarify: the GNS 480 is identical to the CNX80 with the exception of the bezel 

and the Garmin logo and model number on it.  All STC documentation and future system upgrades will be applicable to both systems. 

Vertical Approaches and the GNS 480 

A substantial percentage of version 2.0 CNX80 upgrades have taken place and are going into service as of this writing.  Many new 

GNS 480’s have been placed into service in the last few months as well.  The response has been very positive from customers and 

industry groups with the implementation of thousands of vertical guidance approaches and other new features found in version 2.0.  

We believe this will add a high degree of safety when flying instrument approaches, as you will be able to have vertical guidance and 

avoid multiple step downs.  In general, you should find it the exception to the rule to not have vertical guidance during a GPS 

approach while in the U.S. with WAAS corrections available. 

As of this writing about 60% of the CNX80 population has completed upgrade to v2.0 and are back in the hands of customers.  When 

the unit comes in we also complete the rework of the display backlight transformer at the same time.  The initial workload has been 

reduced quite a bit and if you had concerns about getting your unit returned in a timely fashion due to the initial crush of people 

getting their systems upgraded, now is a good time to do it. 

We have also discovered the advantages of having an LPV approach here at our Salem facility.  Our localizer failed a couple of weeks 

ago during a period of time when we had a lot of stagnant air in the Willamette Valley, with the associated low visibility and fog 

problems that come with this kind of weather system. 

With only a single ILS for precision approaches here, most traffic was unable to make it into Salem with only a non-precision 

approach.  Only aircraft equipped with the GNS 480 had the ability to fly the LPV precision approach and make it into Salem during 

those days when the localizer was out of service and the RVR in the tank.  We don’t know how quickly navaids get fixed in your part 

of the country, but in general we’ve noticed it takes awhile around here, especially at secondary airports.  Having WAAS GPS 

provides GNS 480/CNX80 pilot’s with primary navigation and a degree of autonomy from ground based navaids not experienced in 

aviation before now.