What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Garmin 430 to 430W upgrade help

RicoB

Well Known Member
Patron
Can anyone guide me to the best route and the real cost to do this upgrade? where to take it, best prices etc... I have the 430 installed, i hear the a WAAS antenna is included on the upgrade.
Thanks
 
I don?t think there are any real options. You need to go to a dealer, who will send it to Garmin. The dealer?s charge may be negotiable, but not Garmin?s.
 
I believe Garmin?s price just went up a little, but contact any Garmin dealer and they can set it up. The cost will be somewhere between $3000 and $4000.
 
Cost to upgrade

In december 2017, I paid $3500.00 to upgrade a straight 430 to WAAS. In Jan 2018, it cost me $3750.00 to do another one. I had to go through an official dealer.
 
Can anyone guide me to the best route and the real cost to do this upgrade? where to take it, best prices etc... I have the 430 installed, i hear the a WAAS antenna is included on the upgrade.
Thanks

Considering the TSO side of Garmin history of excessive pricing for everything, you might look at selling the 430 for whatever you can replace with a non-Garmin option. I believe the IFD440 is a slide in replacement for the 430 - but please verify before you pull the trigger.

My last project had a GTN-650. The next project will have the IFD540.

Carl
 
Considering the TSO side of Garmin history of excessive pricing for everything, you might look at selling the 430 for whatever you can replace with a non-Garmin option. I believe the IFD440 is a slide in replacement for the 430 - but please verify before you pull the trigger.

My last project had a GTN-650. The next project will have the IFD540.

Carl

It is a slide in replacement and Avidyne will purchase your 430 (although you can probably sell it for more on your own). But, the slide in replacement will not give you WAAS capability until you replace the antenna, which is where all the labor is in the installation.
 
Last year I had my 430 upgraded to WAAS. Shopping for price is not an option, but I realized that the cost of the upgrade was close to the increase in value of the unit. Garmin prices increase on a regular basis, so pay me now or pay me later is their motto.

The WAAS antenna took a few minutes as my aircraft had an acceptable cable already installed.
 
I talked to a guy a couple of weeks ago that just got his unit upgraded and he said it was $4400 to upgrade. Dont know what that included.
 
A friend has his upgraded last year for 3-3.5k. It came back looking brand new with all software upgrades and antenna.

Be sure to save (take pictures of) your settings before pulling it out of the panel.
 
I would look at doing a 650 upgrade and selling the 430. I should have done that when I upgraded my 430. Just saying if you have the skill and $
Dave
 
Replacing the 430 non-WAAS with an IFD440 is a total no-brainer. Yes, you will also have to install a new antenna, but if you've got an existing antenna it's a simple bolt-on.

Where the IFD really shines is in its user interface. There simply is NO comparison in user interface between the Garmin products and the Avidyne products. Avidyne is leaps and bounds ahead in terms of easy, intuitive use.
 
i looked around and At this point and time i don't want to change the unit, it will be the 430. I was looking for for someone that had it done and had a good price and experience with a shop that you want to recommend. thanks
 
Whats the average price for a used IFD440? does it use the same tray/harness and the 430? or would i have to do a full tray and wire harness change?
 
Avidyne

A lot of folks like the Avidyne units. One reason is the ability use airways easier over the 430. I thought about Avidyne but I?m lazy and I just wanted two Waas units for the twinco without too much relearning. After I get my instrument ticket, I may be more inclined to go with Avidyne. If I do, it will be a big day for them as I?ll pull the 625 and sl30 out of the -9 at same time I pull those two 430?s.
 
Whats the average price for a used IFD440? does it use the same tray/harness and the 430? or would i have to do a full tray and wire harness change?

I can?t tell you the price, but I have done the upgrade from a 430W to an IFD400, and all it takes is an Allen wrench - no rewiring, no tray changes. Just photograph all of your set-up pages on the 430W before taking it out, then look at them to set up the Avidyne.

You can download the Avidyne simulator for iPad for free and play with it to see if you like the interface or not.
 
be sure to shop the dealers, as the markup varies. I paid $3150 about a year ago. It was right before their January, 2017 price increase. I would assume they up it every year, so jump on it to get in before the 18 increase if you can.

Larry
 
I just had my 430 converted to 430W in November of 2017 for about $3750, but ended up buying the Avidyne 440 which is an exact replacement as the 430. I don't recommend spending the $4000 or so for the WAAS upgrade if you think you may want to exchange the unit in the near future, as the trade in value difference between a 430 and a 430W is only $1500.
 
I was going to add to shop around dealers for a comparison. I just had a GTX-330 upgraded to a GTX-330ES. While I thought the cost was supposed to be $1300 a couple of dealers I spoke with wanted $1500. There are also shipping charges on top of the actual upgrade too.
 
Current list price for the 330 to -ES upgrade is $1495. The list price for a 430 to W upgrade (which includes a new GA35 antenna) is $4395. I'd be surprised any dealer would charge list as there's too much competition, whether here in Europe or in the US.
 
Last edited:
The dealers always charge to ship it back and receive it. The prices very. Garmin won't let you send in your TSO'd radios, only a dealer can. So you have to pay the premium even though you do all the work. Sucks.
 
Think hard about it

WAAS is nice. I had a non-WAAS 430 in my Warrior before buying my RV, which has a 430W. Now I can fly coupled LPVs and my autopilot can also fly holds. And the refresh rate of the screen is faster, which is helpful when you?re using the 430 GPS as additional info on ILS and VOR approaches.

BUT: in the grand scheme of things, given the kind of flying I do, WAAS just doesn?t matter much. If I had a non-WAAS 430 and $4,000, I?d keep the old 430 and spend the money on something else. Autopilot, flight instruction, better engine monitor, etc. Just an opinion.
 
Garmin 430 to 430W is it worth it

Maybe its not worth upgrading.

I looked at upgrading my Garmin 430 to WAAS for the purpose of coupling it with King Transponder for the ADS-B out requirement. I decided cost isn't worth it. Because:

1. I can do all the IFR approaches I want to with the Garmin 430. The extra vertical guidance of the 430W just won't be used enough to justify upgrade.

2. Cost of adding ADS-B is coming down and new Transponders have a WAAS chip in them so no need for a feed from a WAAS GPS.

3. Garmin employee at one of the shows told me the kits for the upgrade are becoming in low supply and they don't plan to prepare anymore kits. So as supply goes down, their price is going up. Last quote I got was close to $4k.

On my RV-7 build I'm installing just Garmin 430 (non-WAAS) to be legal IFR and at the costs, that's pretty cheap for Comm, Nav and legal IFR. No need for WAAS. Dynon EFIS/GPS /Xpndr takes care of ADS-B.
 
Yeah the price for the upgrade is getting pretty high, to where is almost not worth it!
 
Back
Top