Garmin Introduces Avionics to Enhance Safety in the Cockpit.

OLATHE, Kan., July 25 /PRNewswire/ --

Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq: GRMN) and a leading avionics manufacturer, today introduced two products -- the GDL 49 Satellite Data Link Transceiver and GTX 330 Mode-S Transponder.

"These products build on the GARMIN tradition of safety, innovation and value," said Gary Kelley, the company' s director of marketing. "By delivering weather and traffic to the cockpit, these units raise the pilot's awareness of potentially dangerous situations near the aircraft."

The GDL 49 receives satellite-based weather data and displays NEXRAD graphics and other information on GARMIN's popular line of panel-mount mapping avionics systems. One strategic advantage of the GDL 49 is its "request/reply" function, which allows pilots to view weather conditions at any altitude, anywhere in the continental U.S. -- providing better awareness of weather from their current location to final destination. The weather data is available through a monthly subscription. The GDL 49 is expected to be available in the fourth quarter of 2001, with a suggested retail price of $3,495.

The GTX 330 is a Mode-S digital transponder that receives flight information about other aircraft in busy airspace via the FAA's Traffic Information Service and displays that data on GARMIN's 400/500 series of avionics. It also meets the European mandate for all aircraft flying "by instruments" starting in April 2003. Like other GARMIN transponders, the GTX 330 has a solid-state design that requires less power, less heat emissions and no warm-up time to maximize in-flight communications with Air Traffic Control (ATC). It also transmits ...