Pilot report.
A little background. I am a pilot, not any sort of technician. I have many hours of experience in autopilot operation. This does not make me an expert, just experienced. I do not know how autopilots are supposed to be perfectly set up. I do know what a poor/weak autopilot does, and how a good one performs.
In level flight, with a turn selected in heading mode, the roll in is smooth as is the roll out on desired heading.
I climb in Indicated Airspeed (IAS) mode and descend with Vertical Speed (VS). Again, the altitude capture is firm, smooth, and accurate. I do say, my plane has a two axis autopilot, so trim in manual. When altitude capture is established, a notification is given to trim the plane manually.
Cruise flight is a pilot dream. At cruise altitude, I turn the autopilot off, trim, and re-engage.
Approaches with the GFC-500 are exactly what we want. No wandering, no abrupt changes, solid flight exactly as published.
I flew the plane on March 7th to get a second pilot opinion. It was a windy, gusty day. Mt friend, who has more time operating Garmin Autopilots than I have total time, was impressed.
In the wind, the constant light chop, two pilots trying to make the device crack under pressure, it was rock solid.
No autopilot will hold on through a hurricane. The Garmin GFC-500 in the Meyers 200 is an excellent combination.
Thank you SteinAir!