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Dealers / Pricing

JDBoston

Well Known Member
I am at the stage where I am starting to look into pricing on Garmin avionics (G3X), also Dynon but mostly Garmin right now.

Because of the control that Garmin has with regards to minimum advertised price, etc it is tough to comparison shop. Note, this is for the components rather than a fully built panel.

For the many people that have done this before me, when you went to shop for avionics did you find it worthwhile, or did you find basically the same prices across the board and you just chose a dealer based on service, etc? Who did you end up buying your avionics from?

And just to clarify, Stein is amazing, and if that’s the answer for a la carte purchasing then so be it, but I am looking more for price comparison shopping.
 
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I bought my Garmin equipment as well as other panel components from Aerotronics, and had them CNC cut my panel for me as well. I highly recommend then. They are a VAF advertiser as well.

Cheers,
 
Most manufacturers have a minimum advertised price. On the surface this sounds bad, but it keeps someone from undercutting every dealer on price, and provide zero technical background to the sales.

I can tell you the markup isn't big enough to get rich by any means. Buy based on who you think will provide the best after sales support for you.
 
Avionics Systems

^^ ^^ ^^ ^^

Highly recommend Avionics Systems, they've done 2 of my panels, and about to start a 3rd.

And they also did the work for Mike Patey (Scrappy).
 
For the last two panels I purchased the components as a “bundle” from Stein. Total cost was better than other places.

Each set was:
- Dual SkyView HDX displays
- Garmin GTN-650 (the lesser evil of the TSO GPS navigators)
- Two axis SkyVIew autopilot
- SkyView XPDR
- Dynon radio (COMM #2)
- SkyView ADS-B receiver
- SkyView ARINC
- PS Engineering PDA360EX Audio Panel
- SkyView Knob and Autopilot modules

No clue about what deal you can get if you go Garmin - but sure worth a call to Stein to ask.

Carl
 
send them all your list for quote. The discount on big G is not great, but it's not zero. I did Stein, Spruce, and Sarasota.
I found some differences. Some of my choice was based on the sales tax side of things and shipping. I still split it up a bit, but they held the discount. I just finished my last big ticket item since FL is enacting web sales tax in July. Saved $700 or so just on that.

Sarasota Avionics has web tool to help spec out the G3X system pieces. They will help fill in any gaps you might have missed once you submit for the quote.
 
After the sale service and the readily available tech advice is more important than shopping price alone. You can not go wrong with Steinair.
 
For both Garmin and Dynon you may want to price shop from Stark Avionics. Years ago they had the reputation of being the lowest cost around. Not sure if that has changed. Stein also sells both Dynon and Garmin.

On the Dynon side consider shopping Saint Aviation (Jessie) or Northwest Avionics. Both will most likely discount Dynon.
 
+1 on Stark and Stein
I bought my original avionics from Stark back in '08 and I bought my G3X package from them last year.
I also have an account with Stein.
 
SteinAir!

I've had both of my panels (RV-7A and RV-10) built by Stein. Not the least expensive option, but I wanted the best value to include service and support before and after the sale. Can't say enough good about the entire SteinAir team!
 
I sent off for quotes from a few different places. This was for components only, no panel/harness build/design services. Each seemed to have a slightly different package discount structure, but the price out the door was pretty much a wash. With that in mind I ended up ordering from Stein, pretty much on the basis of his reputation.
 
Buying from Stein is not just about the price. It's also the unconditional support (which I have used) when you need it.
 
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