Project quotes?

[Tbone]

I'm trying to see what the group says about the time frame on how long it takes to get quotes on avionic packages. It has been several long weeks since I have emailed and called looking for quotes but with no replys other than to e-mail them the specs. Is this the norm or soould I just go to the next avionics advertizer. I will say that Aerotronics have replied promptly by way of a quote with layouts and drawings. Any recommendations?

[RVAddict]

We don't know who you have allready contacted, and i'm only at the preview plan, dream, wish stage, But Stein (SteinAir on the forums) seems to have a great reputation here on the forums as a fair and respectable businessman. He has an ad in the forums. Look on the left side of this page.

[Tbone]

Unfortunately they are the ones that I haven't heard back from in nearly 3 weeks. I called them twice (Stein & Paul) and was told to e-mail them the specs and they would get back with me. Please nobody flame me..I just call it as I see it.

[bcondrey]

Stark's website has an autoresponder that will mail you back price quotes.
http://www.starkavionics.com/index.htm

Can't go wrong with either him or Stein but they really do provide a slightly different level of service. Stark will likely be a little lower in price and will do a great job prewiring everything. The experimental stuff is a sideline for them but that's where SteinAir shines. You generally do better calling SteinAir and talking with them. Many times I've gotten calls returned late at night by Stein just because he's that busy!

If you're just price shopping use Stark's autoresponder.

Bob
RV-10 #40105

[PaulR]

Terry,
I've had the same trouble. I sent an e-mail from my work address and didn't hear anything so I thought maybe it was e-mail problem, ( we'd had some issues at work with server) so I sent it from my home last week. It's been 3 weeks since the first one. It's odd to me because earlier in the build I'd e-mailed a question about A/P and the response was a very detailed explianation almost immediately.

Maybe they are just "swamped".

[Tbone]

Thanks for the info on Stark, I do try to support the advertisers on the forum but I guess sometimes I should look to others. After looking at the advertisers there are several that I have and will do business with because of this site.

[dav1111]

When you get ready to buy, as opposed to price shopping to get a general idea about prices, I strongly encourge you to contact SteinAir for a package deal. In my humble opinion there just isn't a better group of guys to work with you on an avionics package than Stein and his people.

As an example, when my buddy and I were in the process of getting our RV-10 and RV-6 ready for final panel install Grand Rapids had not been able to get their Sport model out yet but Stein went to bat with GRT for both of us and got GRT to ship us a Hybrid Sport model (Sport HZ) for the same price so we could get in the air without a hole in the panel.

In addition, the support service from SteinAir has been about as good as it gets.

When Direct To Avionics (Chelton exclusive experimental model distrubtor) went belly up and left customers all over the world with orders they had paid for but not received Stein personally made good his Chelton customers orders whereas everybody who had ordered direct were left holding the bag. I understand it cost Stein in the neighborhood of $100,000.00 out of his own pocket.

When I get ready to install the panel in the RV-7 I am building SteinAir will get my business.

[MrNomad]

Once I made my equipment decision, I sent the request for quote to Spruce. It took a few days and when it arrived I was able to negotiate a lower price due to the large $$. Admittedly, Spruce doesn't sell everything that's out there but for the Garmin / Dynon equipment I wanted, they offered the best price.

WHEN YOU ORDER EQUIPMENT, MAKE SURE YOU SUPPLY THE MANUFACTURERS PART NUMBERS IN THE ORDER.

Resellers may have their own numbers, but make sure your order contains the exact part number the manufacturer has assigned your devices.

However, best price must be modulated against the assistance you will need. Some vendors have an in depth understanding of equipment and offer great service. I didn't need that assistance because of the incredible network of friends I developed during the process.

If you do need lots of assistance, a 5% difference in price is negligible. Vendors who provide good service are worth their weight in gold. If I was to bring this plane into existence and remain married, I needed the sharpest pencil available.

Barry
Tucson

[SteinAir]

Nobody would flame you for us (or any vendor) seemingly ignoring you....which believe me isn't our normal operation procedure. There really isn't any good excuses for delays in quotes, but there are a number of reasons it can happen. Those who've dealt with is know that sometimes you have to call more than once to remind me or Paul but we'll always get it done.

In your cases I don't know what happened, but I will look into it when I'm back in the office. We go through a lot of quotes per week and I'm afraid that we do drop the ball occasionally...but it's really not intentional or personal!

Maybe we can work something out or perhaps it's too late, but either way I'll figure out what the deal is here with these particular incidents.

Best Regards,
Stein

[SteinAir]

Originally Posted by dav1111

....When Direct To Avionics (Chelton exclusive experimental model distrubtor) went belly up and left customers all over the world with orders they had paid for but not received Stein personally made good his Chelton customers orders whereas everybody who had ordered direct were left holding the bag. I understand it cost Stein in the neighborhood of $100,000.00 out of his own pocket....

In the interest of fair reporting here, we aren't the only ones who took care of our customers at our own expense (which by the way was MUCH higher than $100K).

Aerotronics lost well over $100K as well...they took care of their customers 100%.

Avionics Systems also lost tons of $$'s....they also took care of their customers 100%.

We ate all of the $$'s on behalf of our customers.

Starks customers were left holding the bag.....
Lancair Customers were left holding 50% of the bag, they at 50%.

So, just understand that for all three of the companies I listed above (including myself) lost a LOT of money. This is NO trivial matter for the companies involved, as we aren't rich to begind with, and lord knows we're not wasting money on anything crazy this year. Some of us may be slow to respond, or to finish panels, or whatever, but there is a lot going on behind the scenes - Gary from Aerotronics and Dave from Avionics systems are people who I'm proud to consider colleagues of mine...and that respect has been earned, not given. Even though they are competitors, they run their business the same way - integrity and ethics come first.

With that in mind, you can pretty much be guaranteed that none of those three main companies will be as cheap as someone like Stark or Spruce on Avionics....but, you'll be more than assured that you'll be treated right if something should go wrong.

Just my 2 cents a usual!

Cheers,
Stein