Used that before... works well.

The Honeywell FMS just isn't user-friendly IMHO (not as bad as the Universal I hear though!), but it grows on you after a while. There's times when I sit there and ask myself "What the hell is Consuela doing in there?!?!". From what an instructor told me (take it with a grain of salt!), the Honeywell FD we have in the 135/145
was actually originally certified for an Augusta helicopter, and never really designed for use above 150 knots... but they tweaked it and dumped that turd into the ERJ.

the Honeywells i found are pretty intuitive, for a FMS. you get the knack of most of it pretty quickly. and the scratchpad is a wonderful thing.

now the universals, yeah... these things were designed by engineers, for engineers. they will do more than the Honeywells, but you have to know exactly what you want, and how to find said function. they were a total pain in the a$$ to use. i'm glad the 170 has the newer Honeywell (lifted from the G-V) that isn't quite as predisposed to doing the "Embraer clearing turns" as the 145 is.

can't track a VOR in green needles, but otherwise very nice.

That new system will actually draw holds and curved courses in SIDs/STARs, right?

The company is more of an issue than the airplane from a training standpoint.

Which company did you leave, and which one are you going to (or ones you are trying to go to?) ???

The Encore has the Honeywell Primus 1000. FLC (or speed hold) sucks, especially at higher airspeeds, and green needles tend to not be tracked as well when faster than 180kias. I only use FLC when doing a non-precision approach, and there it works great. I don't have a company climb profile, but it is nice to be at MTOW and be at FL450 in 30min :)

I was told that by a guy with 14 years of experience and who thought that he was the god of aviation. Then he overshot his altitude by 500' and went through the localizer. I frequently turn it off, but I am not one to try and sound like super pilot. Yes it does wonder sometimes, and it is best to turn it off and just fly the thing like you are supposed to, but for the most part, it works quite well.

Yeah, in the 170 it'll draw the hold and entry pattern on the MFD and update it as ground speed varies. It will also do the curved courses. It's capable of the GPS 19 into DCA (i.e. the River Visual in the clouds). Does a pretty good job too. Its a great SA tool when flying the RV since it'll give you the FD guidance and the GPS glidepath as a heads up. Not that us RW guys can couple to the VNAV anyway though.

I didn't know citations got above 180kias...

That's some pretty strong words coming from guys climbing at .56

you mean the Nearjet?

sorry I haven't done that in awhile now...