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doncmn

Member
I'm thinking of getting a big screen Skyview and an Icom 210 and thats it for my new to me RV 4 (putting all my eggs in one basket).

Does anyone have say 50-200+ hrs on one of these yet?

If so, would you mind giving me the skinny on the problems/dislikes you've ran into?

Thanks,
Don
 
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No first hand experience with the Skyview...

I have almost 100 hours on the A210. It is my only com radio sparing my handheld.

The A210 is a good radio at a good price point.

The latest firmware fixes most if not all of my complaints I have with this radio and all those revolve around the dual watch feature and with how it accepts frequency data from a GPS.

The latest firmware appears by reports to enable these features work just like an SL40/30 (less the Nav functions).

Some people have issues with the little ribbon cable that connects the faceplate to the radio. I have been extra extra carefull with mine and it has not been a problem. The cable is only a few bucks so if it looks damaged, change it out before you smoke something inside the faceplate or radio.

The screen is great. Works in an RV cockpit very well. The volume knob does not have a great deal of tactical feedback/drag so you have to be careful in turbulence not to accidently turn it down or wide open. The other knob works/feels fine. As far as power/performance/clarity/receiver sensitivity, it works great.

I use mine with a third party intercom so I cannot comment on how well the built in intercom features/aux inputs work.

There are plenty of options in the setup menu to tune the radio to your headset/mic and set the levels and options just the way you like em.

The ability to receive the national weather channels is nice.

Thats about it. I am anxious to try the new firmware out because I use the dual watch and GPS frequency transfer features a bunch....
 
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I have about 125 hours on SkyView. I really like it. I do have some complaints, but nothing that makes me regret my decision to go with Dynon. They currently don't have audio for the AOA. I consider that a safety issue and hope that they hurry with the release of it. Additionally, I wish that some of the basic engine indication could be displayed in the PFD. Right now you have to use a 50/50 view or 80/20 or some combo of display. It's only an issue if you have a single display. Once they come out with a COMM unit, I am going to add a second 10 inch display and ditch everything else in my panel. They should be close to releasing a fully functional GPS. Currently it's pretty limited. No weather is also a negative.

All that said, I'd say the future is really bright for Dynon. They could potentially have a product that is on par with a G900. For now we'll call it on par with a G450. You won't regret the Skyview.

I have no experience with ICOM other than a hand held I once owned. Hopefully, Skyview will have COMM soon and you can just buy that instead.

P.S. I'd trade you a couple hours behind SkyView for a couple hours in the RV4!
 
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I'm just past 40 hours on an iCOM 210. I'm quite happy with the radio, and I haven't got the latest firmware/hardware upgrade yet. Mine's at V1.23.001, apparently there's a 1.53.000 that does all the things that Brantel mentions earlier. I will be even happier with those changes.

I do find that when i'm flying down-sun I have to shield the faceplate to read the numbers. It's a bit like my Garmin Aera in that respect... The display washes out in direct sunlight. It's worse with sunglasses on. On the other hand, it's been better lately as I now have a Koger sunshade that I can pull forward to block out a lot of the sun if it becomes a problem.

It's my only COM apart from my handheld that I rarely fly with.
 
I am not. I replaced a VAL radio that was in the airplane when I bought it with the iCom, and the airplane already had a PS3000 intercom installed and wired up. I considered removing it too, but that would require re-wiring all my jacks, and at the time there were some comments on this forum and others about how good the internal intercom was, so I elected to avoid that hassle and just replace the one item I didn't want and not touch what was working fine.

Since then, two other local pilots have installed the 210, both using the internal intercom, and are completely happy with it. The problems people were having seem to be related to the microphone gain settings and/or other user-configurable settings within the radio. I'm thinking about re-wiring this winter and removing the PS3000, just to simplify everything.
 
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