When it comes to buying tools that can help in flight, pilots don’t like to compromise. After all, it’s our lives at stake as we thread traffic and weather to our destination. So I was delighted when Garmin Aviation Marketing Manager Joey Ferreyra contacted me and asked if I’d like to evaluate Garmin’s new GDL 52 Portable SiriusXM®/ADS-B Receiver. I had great fun using it for a few months and now that I’ve sent it back, here’s what I learned.
The GDL 52 is a top of the line, no-compromise, weather and traffic receiver. It contains just about every separate portable device you’d consider buying for the cockpit, only it combines them all into a single compact unit. Best of all, it’s totally wireless and runs up to 5 hours on an internal battery, so it won’t introduce more wires into the cockpit.
First, it’s an ADS-B In receiver, so it can display traffic and weather. Of course like all ADS-B receivers, it can’t display all traffic, so you’ll still need to keep your eyes outside the window! It also displays the free weather uplinked from ADS-B ground stations.
In addition to ADS-B In, the GDL 52 also has a SiriusXM weather receiver. Older pilots will recall that before the invention of the iPhone, pilots routinely carried portable Garmin GPS receivers with them, many of which included a SiriusXM weather receiver. A subscription is required, and several service levels are available starting at $29.95 per month. The satellite weather signal can be received in the continental U.S. and along the adjacent borders of Canada and Mexico.
So why would you want two sources of inflight weather? Joey discussed this in episode 62 of the Aviation News Talk Podcast,which you can find in the Apple Podcasts App on an iPhone or iPad, on an Android or web browser, and in Spotify. You’ll want to listen to the full interview for more details. Briefly, ADS-B weather is typically not available on the ground and can usually only be received in flight. However, since SXM is a satellite-based system, it can be used both in the air and on the ground, making it useful for preflight planning purposes. In addition, SiriusXM weather offers a more robust set of weather products than ADS-B weather. You can find a comparison of some differences on the SiriusXM website.
The GDL 52 lacks a built-in display, so to view its traffic and weather, you need either an smartphone or tablet (iOS or Android) running the Garmin Pilot app, or a portable display such as the Garmin aera 660. I tried both the aera 660 and my iPad running the Garmin Pilot app and I preferred the latter, because of its much larger display. Unfortunately, the ForeFlight app that many pilots use doesn’t yet support the GDL 52, so iOS owners who want to keep using ForeFlight will need to spend an extra $79/year for the Garmin Pilot app, which does essentially all the same things as ForeFlight. For Android users, purchasing the Garmin Pilot app is a no-brainer, as ForeFlight isn’t available on Android.
I use both ForeFlight and Garmin Pilot and find them comparable. The area where Garmin Pilot really shines compared to ForeFlight is its dedicated traffic page. Much like the traffic display on the Garmin 430 or G1000, the traffic page is a simple white on black display with concentric rings indicating distance from your aircraft. That makes it easy to view aircraft without any background map clutter and accurately determine their distance. In the busy metro San Francisco area in which I fly, that unambiguous display of traffic could be a lifesaver.
Garmin Pilot also makes it easy to switch between the two weather sources using a layers tab on the map page that lets you select either SiriusXM or ADS-B for each weather product. On long trips across the U.S., I was most interested in finding altitudes with favorable winds so that I could avoid additional fuel stops. I found that the Winds Aloft data from SXM was sometimes better than what I could get from ADS-B. SiriusXM displays far more wind symbols, making it more likely that one is close to your plane. Also, I know that a forecaster updates the SXM winds aloft every hour, and I’m not sure that ADS-B winds are updated that frequently. Winds are displayed for every 3,000 feet, and I found them to be accurate most of the time.
The GDL 52 also includes a built-in GPS and AHRS (Attitude Heading Reference System). The latter lets you display synthetic vision on the Garmin Pilot app and shows the aircraft’s pitch and bank in real time. If you were ever to lose a vacuum pump and your gyro instruments in IMC, this feature alone could help you keep your airplane right side up until you could get out of the clouds.
The unit also includes a SiriusXM radio receiver that can receive over 150 channels with a separate subscription. On longer trips, I love listening to SiriusXM radio! To listen, you can plug earbuds directly into the GDL 52, or you can connect the unit to your aircraft’s audio panel.
The only problem I encountered on three long trips crossing the entire U.S. was that the Bluetooth connection between the GDL 52 would disconnect from my iPad about once a day. That's relatively infrequent, especially when you consider that I was flying about ten hours a day. Reconnecting it was relatively quick.
The GDL 52 is currently priced at $1,149 on Amazon, but is just $949 after a $200 rebate from SiriusXM Aviation. There are two other versions I didn’t try, the GDL 51 Portable SiriusXM Receiver for $699 and the GDL 50 Portable ADS-B Receiver for $849. Both the GDL 52 and the GDL 51 are eligible for the $200 SiriusXM Aviation rebate, which is in effect through the end of 2018 and requires at least 60 days of continuously paid service from SiriusXM. The GDL 52 also includes a free trial of the Garmin Pilot app, which can be downloaded from the Apple App store or from Google Play, and a three-months free subscription to the SiriusXM Pilot Preferred aviation weather package and the SiriusXM All Access audio programming package.
The GDL 52 is especially valuable for pilots who fly in congested areas, or in and around any kind of weather. On the other hand, if you fly in a rural area and only on clear, sunny days, you won’t benefit as much from one, but you might still enjoy having one. Based on my evaluation, the GDL 52 has the most capability of any portable ADS-B receiver that I’ve seen, and I highly recommend it.
And just so you know, I received no compensation from Garmin for writing this, but I could earn a fee from Amazon if you purchase a unit through any of the links on this page, so if you choose to buy one, please use one of the links on this page.
Max Trescott is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
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