There are few sure things in life. One sure thing that you can count on is that if you buy an EFIS it will not be long until it is second best to another. That is why I always tell builders to wait as long as they can to buy their EFIS system. The next neat system is always right around the corner. When I bought my AFS 3500 I knew that it would be a system that I could use for many years and be supported by the AFS team. Then one day Rob at AFS threw me the inevitable curve ball, the AFS4500 with synthetic vision. Since I am the type of guy that will drive a truck for 200,000 + miles before I think it is broken in I knew I could resist the evil plot by the AFS team to take my money. I laughed at the thought that AFS would even think that anyone would ever want anything better than the AFS3500. Ha Ha Ha! My will power was holding up. I still had a great EFIS and I knew it. Then I made a grave error. I visited the AFS booth at Oskosh
. Really! You can process faster. Really! You can see the mountains on the EFIS. Really! You can see the runways on the EFIS. Really! You can see towers on the EFIS. Really! You can pan the map and choose airports with a joystick. My wife could see the look in my eye. You know the one. Like the one in the Christmas Story when Ralphie asked for his Red Ryder BB gun. Yes, that is the one and I had it.
I was in the process of building a RV 10 with my dad and thought it would be enough to have it in the 10. I must have looked like a school boy flying the 4500 around the hanger, clasped between my two hands. I would have installed it in the 8 that day but the 8's EFIS installs from the back and the one we bought for the 10 is a front mount. When Christmas came along I gave in to desire. I decided to give Rob and myself a Christmas present. Rob got my money and I upgraded and got a AFS4500 for the RV-8.
I now have approx. 8 hours behind the 4500 and I have no remorse. There was a transition time when the EFIS picture did not look right to me. Synthetic vision has a different look than I was accustom to. That went away and today I would not trade it for anything. Rob tells me I can expect a new free update, any day now, that will make the synthetic vision even better. Great service and mindset to never stop improving their products is why I went with AFS.
I now laugh at the thought that AFS would even think that anyone would ever want anything better than the AFS4500. Ha Ha Ha! and thank God that the 5600 will not fit in my panel.
. Really! You can process faster. Really! You can see the mountains on the EFIS. Really! You can see the runways on the EFIS. Really! You can see towers on the EFIS. Really! You can pan the map and choose airports with a joystick. My wife could see the look in my eye. You know the one. Like the one in the Christmas Story when Ralphie asked for his Red Ryder BB gun. Yes, that is the one and I had it.I was in the process of building a RV 10 with my dad and thought it would be enough to have it in the 10. I must have looked like a school boy flying the 4500 around the hanger, clasped between my two hands. I would have installed it in the 8 that day but the 8's EFIS installs from the back and the one we bought for the 10 is a front mount. When Christmas came along I gave in to desire. I decided to give Rob and myself a Christmas present. Rob got my money and I upgraded and got a AFS4500 for the RV-8.
I now have approx. 8 hours behind the 4500 and I have no remorse. There was a transition time when the EFIS picture did not look right to me. Synthetic vision has a different look than I was accustom to. That went away and today I would not trade it for anything. Rob tells me I can expect a new free update, any day now, that will make the synthetic vision even better. Great service and mindset to never stop improving their products is why I went with AFS.
I now laugh at the thought that AFS would even think that anyone would ever want anything better than the AFS4500. Ha Ha Ha! and thank God that the 5600 will not fit in my panel.
