Dual vs. Single EFIS

[N804RV]

I bought 2 7" Dynon Classic displays. My plan was to stack them in the center of my RV-8 instrument panel so I could put a GNS 430 and an audio panel on the left side and a Garmin 796 on the right.

Has anyone done this? I'm wondering now how much hassle its gonna be to stack those 2 screens without modifying the instrument panel.

[Scott Hersha]

Walt,
Ya, sorry, $10K was an obvious exaggeration, but it sure seems like a lot of extra money to gain a level of redundancy that doesn't seem like very much added value. The OP was asking about dual vs single EFIS display, and I was giving my opinion about what seems to me to be a very good setup for the money. That extra $3K or whatever it is for an extra EFIS screen would buy a lot of avgas. But hey, I'm a retired guy and need to mind my spending. I would rather spend my discretionary money on flying.

[iamtheari]

The second screen is not redundancy except for the first screen so I don?t consider that as a major positive. The MFD?s value for me is displaying charts, engine instruments, weather, and the like as well as providing a PFD for the copilot seat when needed. But if I put a G5 over there and a RAM mouth for my iPad, that gets me most of that functionality for about $3,500 less.

The G5 isn?t counted in that dollar amount because I plan to have one anyhow as a backup. Correct me if the other vendors do the same, but what I like about the G3X and G5 combination is that the G5 can feed attitude and air data to the G3X if the main ADAHARS fails and automatically synchronizes the altimeter setting from the G3X. It?s convenient and eliminates a couple of single-point failures. (Coming from buying two vacuum pumps for the same single-engine plane in one week earlier this year, I am focused on eliminating as many single-point failures as reasonable.)

[Hartstoc]

I’m in the process of ordering an all-Garmin G3X touch system to replace my Dynon D-100/D-120 super-brite 7” pair. Although I have room for one 10” and one 7”portrait G3X, and would like to be able to move most of the engine monitoring off of my primary display, achieving true redundancy with this setup would be difficult and heavy. I’ve instead decided to go with one 10” G3X and one G5 that can be coupled to the GTN and Garmin autopilot I’m also installing. A really satisfying degree of redundancy automatically emerges with this choice, freeing me from all steam gauges. To ease the glass real estate issue a bit I’ve decided to bite the bullet and go with the GTN750 so it can provide continuous traffic/weather/approch info in a readable manner, and further to go with a panel mounted GTX 345 instead of the more affordable GTX 45R and the panel mount GMA 245 audio panel. The GTX 45R can only be controlled by the G3X, so this will allow the GTN to fully control the radio stack, and having direct control of the transponder, audio panel, and autoplot will keep those available if either the GTN or the G3X should fail. I guess I’m more comfortable overpaying once and getting over it than building in defficiencies that I’d regret forever. It will be hideously expensive, though. On the bright side, nearly all of the existing Dynon sensors can be connected to the Garmin EIS module, so those won’t need replacement.

I also carry a 10.5” iPad pro in landscape mode on pax-side Ram mount, and the ability of the G3Xsystem to talk to foreFlight on that will really make a difference.- Otis

[Canadian_JOY]

Am shortly going to be migrating from my mixed-vendor panel to all-GRT. Mini-X and HX on the pilot side, Sport EX on the co-pilot side, centre stack of PDA360EX audio panel, GNS480, SL30 and Trig TT22/TC20 transponder. On the outside edges of the panel I have RAM mounts for a pair of Android tablets (8" pilot side, 7" co-pilot side) running FltPlanGO.

The information available in this presentation is incredible. My wife is so happy to have her own tablet on her side to look after navigation. The right hand EFIS, the Sport EX, will primarily be used as an engine monitor display which can be swapped over to the HX if I have somebody who wants to fly from the right seat. The Sport EX will be completely independent from the other two EFIS screens so they can't interact with each other. This should provide some protection should one of the units on an inter-display link go nuts and try to take the others out.

[N804RV]

Originally Posted by iamtheari

The second screen is not redundancy except for the first screen so I don’t consider that as a major positive. ...

That's what I like about the Skyview. The 2nd ADAHARS is only $800. This provides redundancy for both the display and the data source.

[climberrn]

For VFR flying my setup with 2 Skyview screens suit me well. I keep an iPhone with ForeFlight pulled up for music, airmet/sigmet (updated) and PIREPs. I have a GTN 625 but for VFR flying it does not compare to the Skyview on multiple ways. I also have an iPad Pro in a side pocket but only have used it for planning purposes before flight. A G5 in the center stack adds a little bit of redundancy but have not had to rely on it yet. I used to use foreflight when I flew with steam gauges but with a nice EFIS the iPad screen just doesn?t do it for me. Back to the OP question, one screen would suit me fine, but with a second screen my wife can help much more by pulling up weather, traffic and airport information. A huge help for me is the dedicated autopilot and knob panel. That saves time inputting info and changing settings. If I had a choice for the type of flying I do, I?d rather have the second comm and knob/AP panels than a second screen. They are more useful for me. We both keep the EMS PFD and MAP screens active on both displays. I would bet the G3X would be comparable to what I described but I have no experience with it.

As for IFR flying, then disregard the above.

[EchoCharlie1]

I had a Blue Mountain One and a Blue Moutain Lite (backup). When those went T.U., I replaced everything with Dynon. I chose a single 10? Classic PFD with the G5 as a backup, then hardwired and mounted a G496 as the tertiary system. The better 2/3rds (wife/copilot) likes to use the iPad with ForeFlight to monitor flight progress via the Dynon WiFi dongle installed in the SkyView system.

I have Dynon transponder, ADS-B in&out, AP, EMS and all the goodies. For my mission, a single 10?screen works, as there is plenty of real estate on that screen to accommodate all that I need.

I hope that helps.

V/r,

[iamtheari]

I guess I should have asked for single, dual, or triple... Another thing I am still rolling around in my head is whether to have a backup flight instrument. For example, the Garmin G5 works as a display if the G3X system goes down, and it can also act as a backup ADAHRS for the G3X displays if the main ADAHRS goes down. So the secondary poll here is whether to burn panel real estate on a backup instrument or to have a dual-screen EFIS with dual ADAHRS. A guy can have too many backups at some point.

[Bicyclops]

I went with 2 Advanced with 2 ADAHRS and then threw a TruTrak (AFS Pilot) in as the ultimate back up. If the EFIS(s) go down or both (!) ADAHRS go TU, I can still level it up and fly a heading whilst I figure out what's next.

Ed Holyoke

Originally Posted by iamtheari

I guess I should have asked for single, dual, or triple... Another thing I am still rolling around in my head is whether to have a backup flight instrument. For example, the Garmin G5 works as a display if the G3X system goes down, and it can also act as a backup ADAHRS for the G3X displays if the main ADAHRS goes down. So the secondary poll here is whether to burn panel real estate on a backup instrument or to have a dual-screen EFIS with dual ADAHRS. A guy can have too many backups at some point.