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Used Garmin Prices.

msturgis

Well Known Member
So I've been watching the market for used 430/530 series since the new gen GNS' have come out. Seems to be some good deals on the WAAS units and the non WAAS units have dropped to a "almost on a shoe string budget"

Does anyone know about how much the W upgrade for an older unit is? When the new Ws came out its seemed possible to find a good deal and then upgrade while coming under the price for new. Still the case?
 
The upgrade is $3000.00

Also, be cautious on really good prices. You may find a scammer.....
 
I have also been watching the 430 prices. Last fall they started to drop quite a bit and in Dec I saw some WAAS units going for as low as 4500. I decided to wait a few more months and see if they continued to drop. Sadly the prices started back up. Non Waas now seem to be near the 4500 mark and WAAS units are heading back to 6000 again. I might have missed the window. There are normally several units on Ebay at any time from reputable sellers.

George
 
???

Garmin is still "supporting" the non-waas 430's with factory repairs* and database updates.


* except for the early "legacy" 28volt-only model.

I'm told you will pay for a WAAS update if you send the radio in and want it repaired. And then you get "Support"... Just repairing a non-WAAS, I was told by a reputable Garmin Dealer, not going to happen. :)
 
I'm told you will pay for a WAAS update if you send the radio in and want it repaired. And then you get "Support"... Just repairing a non-WAAS, I was told by a reputable Garmin Dealer, not going to happen. :)

Unless this is an extremely recent event, the RV-8 in my avatar has a plain GNS430 that recently returned from the factory service center with a new system processor board and front panel assembly, all for the standard flat fee. The website today still says the flat fee is $800, but ours was $900 plus shipping costs. It was processed thru Tomlinson in Gainesville.
 
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GNS430 Non-WAAS Repair

Neal is correct that Garmin still repairs GNS430 14V/28V units (at the flat repair rate published on our Customer Support page).

The GNS430 Non-WAAS units that only operate on 28V are the units that are no longer repairable without a WAAS board set upgrade.

Since most experimental aircraft owners have 14V systems, the reduced level of service available on the 28V only units doesn't have much impact.

Thanks,
Steve
 
Neal is correct that Garmin still repairs GNS430 14V/28V units (at the flat repair rate published on our Customer Support page).

The GNS430 Non-WAAS units that only operate on 28V are the units that are no longer repairable without a WAAS board set upgrade.

Since most experimental aircraft owners have 14V systems the reduced level of service available on the 28V only units doesn't have much impact.

Thanks,
Steve

Thanks for the info! I've seen some of the 28v systems for not much at all (like under 3k) Is it possible to have a converter for 14v ?
 
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Thanks for the info! I've seen some of the 28v systems for not much at all (like under 3k) Is it possible to have a converter for 14v ?

Yes there are, good ones run about $400+, but that being said my recommendation would be not to waste your money on a 28vdc unit. Frequently with used Ebay type avionics you get what you pay for and more often than not you'll end up wishing you'd have just bought the good one to start with. We do a good business fixing and adding parts to "good deal used" avionics for customers that many times end up costing more than a good one would have to begin with.

Just my biased 2 cents as usual!

Cheers,
Stein
 
Agree with Stein, in my experience with buying eBay avionics, you have to research your seller. If you check his/her history and see they routinely sell a lot of avionics and have good feedback ratings on them, then that seems to be a safer bet than buying from the guy who usually sells household goods and now all of a sudden he's selling a Garmin GNS 480.

For the most part, I've had good experience on eBay and Barnstormers avoinics purchases, but you've really got to do your research before buying on the product you want as well as the seller, if it's too good to be true, then it's probably junk ... I did get one unit a number of years back, a King DME, for a 'great price' that worked fine for about 15 minutes on the bench then quit, turned out to be a bad power supply and cost $250 to replace, ended up selling it after the repair yellow tagged for just a little more than what I had in it so it was a pretty much a wash.

With the internet today, there's no reason you should not know most if not all of the repair quirks and maintenance issues with whatever piece of equipment you are looking to buy ... if there's a common problem with a particular unit that is costly to repair, you can bet that the "good deal" unit on eBay has that problem.

Happy Flying,
Reggie
 
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