Shouldn't be flying a SE prop in hard core actual IMC. If you are flying a Beechjet at work I'm surprised you are doing that. What's your plan for engine failure in IMC when the weather goes all the way to the ground? I see an option in the Cirrus but not a practical one in the RV. If you have buckets of money then the price is a non-issue. Many (not all) on this board are not involved in certified GA because of $. By his actions, Van has remained sensitive to that need from day 1. Aspen is not. That's ok, they are after different group. No harm there. As you say, and I agree, different strokes..............

Aspen is a bargain
 

On the off chance that the Aspen folks read this...

IT'S A BARGAIN AT $10K!

Yeah, it's more than Dynon, AFS, GRT, or BMA. But it was tested, tested, and then tested some more. It was designed by many people...meaning one guy could check another's work.

Count me in for one! It's a few $K more than a two-screen GRT, but worth every penny in my book. Maybe I'm silly, but when I'm in the clouds trying to keep the fussy little needles centered and hoping the runway will show up...I don't want to wonder about software bugs or bad solder joints.

And yes, I do fly IMC in single-engine airplanes. Call me suicidal.

Good. I guess you wouldn't mind paying more for it. Why not send them an extra 10K since you feel that way about it. Must be nice to so much extra money that price is of no concern. I wish we were all able to make decisions and exclude price from consideration. Sarcasm NOT intended.

You get what you pay for
 

As the saying goes:

"Feeding your horse fresh oats is very expensive. If you want to feed your horse oats that have already been through somebody else's horse, that's a lot cheaper."

Price is of concern. What I get for my money is of even more concern.

As builders of experimental airplanes, we can choose to spend money where it's important to each individual.

Constant speed vrs. fixed.
Fuel-injected vrs. carb.
VFR vrs. IFR panel.
Fully painted vrs. mostly unpainted.
Tip-up vrs. slider.
Nosewheel vrs. tailwheel.

Spending less in some areas gives more money for other areas. Make your choices and enjoy, but let's not badmouth another's choices.

Aspen posted their user's manual
 

You can download the user's manual for the Aspen PFD here:

http://www.aspenavionics.com/pdfs/cu...4-00_REV_A.pdf

Regards,
Martin

I know its been awhile, but has anyone installed on of these yet? I have been looking into these and the biggest concern I have come up with is installing the RSM module somewhere away from ferrous metals. I am trying to figure out also what you all are talking about with it being expensive? It is both an ADI and HSI with dual needle capability, everything is pretty much self contained with an emergency GPS built in. It fits into existing panel holes. Thats alot of stuff that comes in a small package.

Sincere question, why would anyone want the Aspen when all it is is an electronic version of the AI and HI when we have all these great PFDs with that and synthetic vision, HITS, etc?

Well heres my situation, and maybe you smarter fellas can give me some advise. I have an already built RV-8 with a nice IFR steam guage panel. However I like to do acro and quite frankly have lost faith in vacuum guages, so I would like to get rid of the old gyros in favor of a glass, which I have grown to enjoy flying professionally. I would like to do the mod without completely redoing the whole panel to save me time and keep me in the air more in the summer. When looking at all of the other equipment it appears that they will require more modification than I am wanting to make. The Aspen would provide me with the ability to slide the unit into the existing hole with the only major modifications being to dual redundant gyro ADI and installing the RSM, remote antenna, which I think I have figured out. So that is my thinking why I want to go with the Aspen.

Hi Bob,

Nothing wrong with your reasoning, to tell you the truth - especially if you are really only comfortable with a unit that is acceptable on certified aircraft. (I say it that way, because I'm not really sure if there is such a thing as a "Certified" avionics display by itself - in a certified aircraft, it has to be "certified" for the particular aircraft through it's TC or an STC...the concept of "certified" equipment doesn't really apply in the Experimental world.)

However, you will give up a lot of very useful features, as someone said above, and that is a personal decision based on your risk tolerance. Two Dynon D-10A's, one over the other, would fit pretty well where you'd remove the center column of a six-pack, and might give you a few more features than the Aspen (I haven't recently compared the feature lists, so don't know for sure. The dual-Dynon configuration would give you protection from a box failure (although not from a generic software fault).

I personally prefer the feature sets from a complete, integrated EFIS, but the Dynon's give a pretty neat option for adding in to an existing panel without major structural changes - assuming, of course, that the original gauge spacing was not so tight that you can't put them together.

I'm not going to spend your money for you, and you'll want to fly with what makes you comfortable - just pointing out the reasons why you probably don't see more RV folks jumping on the Aspen. Some are, and I'd like to read first-hand flying reports as well - we all benefit with a broad field of choices.

Paul