Help me upgrade my GRT WS panel

Anyone want to help me upgrade my panel.

I am a fairly new RV-7 owner.
It currently has:
GRT Horizon WS x 2 with one GPS module.
Garmin 396 in a panel mount.
Both of these are driving a TruTrak ADI Pilot II.
Garmin SL30
Garmin SL40

Everything works fine right now, but seems a bit dated. I don't need to upgrade, but if I could do it for under $5000, I'd go for it.

I would like to be light IFR capable which I am now with the SL30 (ILS or VOR approaches). I'm not a big fan of flying IFR in a single engine piston, but would like the option to shoot an approach if necessary.

I was thinking about upgrading the left seat Horizon WS screens with a GRT Horizon HX to get higher resolution, more screen real estate, upgraded processing, synthetic vision, etc. This is a plug-n-play upgrade for about $3600.

I was thinking about replacing the Garmin 396 with the new Garmin 660 or an iFly 740. About $900

I didn't build this airplane, so I don't know what the thought process is on having the Garmin 396 or the iFly740 when the GRT EFIS has a GPS, so do I even need a separate GPS, or would it be better to go with the HX and an iPad/android app?

I'm open to any ideas, but can't afford to replace everything. I think I'll keep the current radios for now.

Thanks,
Chuck

ChuckGant said:

Anyone want to help me upgrade my panel.

I am a fairly new RV-7 owner.
It currently has:
GRT Horizon WS x 2 with one GPS module.
Garmin 396 in a panel mount.
Both of these are driving a TruTrak ADI Pilot II.
Garmin SL30
Garmin SL40

Everything works fine right now, but seems a bit dated. I don't need to upgrade, but if I could do it for under $5000, I'd go for it.

I would like to be light IFR capable which I am now with the SL30 (ILS or VOR approaches). I'm not a big fan of flying IFR in a single engine piston, but would like the option to shoot an approach if necessary.

I was thinking about upgrading the left seat Horizon WS screens with a GRT Horizon HX to get higher resolution, more screen real estate, upgraded processing, synthetic vision, etc. This is a plug-n-play upgrade for about $3600.

I was thinking about replacing the Garmin 396 with the new Garmin 660 or an iFly 740. About $900

I didn't build this airplane, so I don't know what the thought process is on having the Garmin 396 or the iFly740 when the GRT EFIS has a GPS, so do I even need a separate GPS, or would it be better to go with the HX and an iPad/android app?

I'm open to any ideas, but can't afford to replace everything. I think I'll keep the current radios for now.

Thanks,
Chuck

Click to expand...

Given that you said IFR, I would suggest that first, start out with an HXr (10.4" if you can fit it). That would be more of a "mechanical" upgrade.

Start there and see if all needs are satisfied.

I have an HXr and dual MINIs in an RV8. Put the same in a Lancair recently. LOTS of redundancy and consistency of human interface. Either can control A/P if one fails, or show weather/traffic, or be a PFD, or even be an engine parameters display.

James

I made a very similar upgrade last year, replaced two GRT first gen units----WS----with a pair of 8.4" HX screens.

Most of the installation was plug and play, except the GPS required a separate module to be installed on the sub panel, and then a new wire pair run into one of the screens. Also, had to run power and ground wires.

Your existing AHRS and magnetometer should work just fine-----mine did.

The WS units had the GPS as a "backpack" or "wart" module that mounted on the screen itself, and had an internal direct pin/socket connection.

I would suggest you download the configuration settings for each screen onto a thumb drive before you start----then you can upload to the new screen(s) and save a ton of time on setup.

If you install a pair of new screens, they will talk to each other via Ethernet cable, and not use up one of the serial ports like the WS units do.

I love the larger, clearer, brighter screens, and the synthetic vision is a very nice feature.

I also use the engine monitoring strip across the bottom of the larger screens, so no need to flip back and forth to see this data. You can configure some, but alas, not all of the data shown in the lower strip.

Now, if I could only get up the ambition to finish the job and get the new radios installed.............................

Good luck.

ChuckGant said:

Anyone want to help me upgrade my panel.

I am a fairly new RV-7 owner.
It currently has:
GRT Horizon WS x 2 with one GPS module.
Garmin 396 in a panel mount.
Both of these are driving a TruTrak ADI Pilot II.
Garmin SL30
Garmin SL40

Everything works fine right now, but seems a bit dated. I don't need to upgrade, but if I could do it for under $5000, I'd go for it.

I would like to be light IFR capable which I am now with the SL30 (ILS or VOR approaches). I'm not a big fan of flying IFR in a single engine piston, but would like the option to shoot an approach if necessary.

I was thinking about upgrading the left seat Horizon WS screens with a GRT Horizon HX to get higher resolution, more screen real estate, upgraded processing, synthetic vision, etc. This is a plug-n-play upgrade for about $3600.

I was thinking about replacing the Garmin 396 with the new Garmin 660 or an iFly 740. About $900

I didn't build this airplane, so I don't know what the thought process is on having the Garmin 396 or the iFly740 when the GRT EFIS has a GPS, so do I even need a separate GPS, or would it be better to go with the HX and an iPad/android app?

I'm open to any ideas, but can't afford to replace everything. I think I'll keep the current radios for now.

Thanks,
Chuck

Click to expand...

I'd go with the HX upgrade - but note, it's not quite plug and play. The WS ("wide screen") is wider but not as high as the HX or HS.
Do you have a dual AHRS package? If not, then a single failure can put you out of business. You can buy a mini GRT or a Dynon D-4 or similar for $1.5K. Or a new AHRS for just the HX.
A real plus to the HX over the WS is the split screen displays. You can split between PFD and HSI, and use your SL-30 to show two VORs or one localizer/GS plus a second VOR. What approach(es) are available to you at your home airport? That is where the 'get home itis" is strongest. If an ILS, does it need an ADF (or TSO'd GPS)? OR MB (relatively cheap)? If it has a VOR cross radial for the FAF then the SL-30 is all you need.

Having gone through a similar process, I'll toss in an opinion similar to several of those above.

Either the HX or HXr are good options to replace the HS, but, as noted by others, it's not quite plug-and-play, but pretty darned close. If going for larger glass, you likely won't have room for all those 3 1/8" steam gauges, so punt them in favor of a Mini-X with an internal battery as a redundant power source. You can re-sell the TruTrak for pretty good money, install the GRT servos and have a modern autopilot controlled by the HX/HXr and/or the Mini.

As for the GPS, it's a very handy thing to have an external GPS driving the EFIS. The external GPS may be easier to manipulate in terms of setting up flight plans (some prefer GRT's method of flight plan entry - user choice!). I like an external GPS simply to have a bit of redundancy, and, most importantly, to have lots of screen area dedicated to the mapping function. That's just me, with fading old eyeballs.

One thing you haven't mentioned is 2020 ADS-B-OUT compliance, and the use of ADSB-IN weather and traffic information. Check the GRT website - there are several ADSB-IN boxes which are compatible with their EFIS equipment. I went with the single-frequency Pathfinder remote box; it provides traffic and weather to the HX via a high speed serial link, plus it has built-in wifi so it will also link that weather and traffic info to a tablet device. Since I'm frugal, I went with an Android device and the free FltPlanGo app for mapping, display of ADSB traffic and weather.

Back to ADSB-OUT... There are a lot of solutions available to meet the ADSB-OUT mandate. With an HXr or a Mini, you can directly control a remote mounted Trig TT22 Mode S/ES transponder. This transponder fits the same footprint as an altitude encoder, so it's pretty small, light, and very power-conscious. Feed it with one of the new 2020-compliant position sources like the just-announced Garmin GPS 20A, and you've got a solid solution to the ADS-B challenge.

Still, if I were doing it again, I would definitely reserve room in the panel for a GPS navigator like the Avidyne IFD-440 or Garmin GTN650. When the money becomes available, you'd have an IFR navigator which, with the purchase of GRT's ARINC interface module, would allow you to fly GPS approaches fully coupled to the autopilot, plus it would give you another COMM radio, as well as another VOR/ILS NAV receiver. By adding another radio you'll need to look at how to integrate the audio from multiple sources, but that's where, if you went the HXr route, you could use the excellent remote audio panel from PS Engineering.

It's easy to spend a bunch of money on avionics. It's more difficult to spend just a little money. Without a question, the key upgrade is the EFIS itself - get as much of an upgrade there as you can afford, as it is the foundation upon which the rest of the avionics suite will be built.

Now there's another bonus that comes with having an Android device; the GRT Android app. This allows you to use your Android device as a second PFD screen, showing artificial horizon, magnetic heading, airspeed, altitude etc. It also allows you to do flight planning on your Android device while at home, then upload the flight plan to the HX EFIS via Bluetooth once you get to the airplane. Pretty nifty, and extremely high value for the small number of dollars required to get this functionality.