Visit manufacturers if you can. Fly with the boxes you're interested in if you can. Play with them on the ground if you can. Watch the videos. Read the literature. Then make the best decision for yourself. You won't be wrong. .
I agree almost completely. Adding a touch-screen to an existing design makes all the sense in the world to me. The upgrade path from Skyview to Skyview Touch is almost nothing, maybe 5 minutes to swap out a screen. Also, there was a financial discount on the upgrade path as well. Also, if you have 2 or 3 Skyview screens and want to just upgrade one to touch, you can, and they all talk to eachother. Also, if you want the touch features, you have them, but if you don't want to touch because of turbulence or something like that, then you still have the buttons. I understand that the GTN touch screens have a feature in the bezel to steady your hand. How do you do so on the 7" or 10" G3X Touch.
The backwards compatibility of the Dynon and AFS systems, and GRT for that matter, are remarkable. Dynon has had the Skyview system out for how many years? The newest options are still compatible with the original options. The AFS 5600 will integrate with the new modules by Dynon as well as the old 3400's from even longer ago than the Skyview was born. I believe the GRT HXr will still talk to the old WS screen. That's remarkable.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I understand he argument that going from a 12-year-old 430 to a new 650 is worth rewiring, but Garmin could have designed the 650 around the same wiring. They didn't, however. In my opinion that is evidence that customers can expect that type of thing from Garmin in the future as well. Yes, I can make more money as an installer by rewiring the 430 harness to a 650 harness, but that costs the end user more, and I don't like that.
All 4 systems are good, which is why they have such support (and MGL is making some headway as well) from their customer base. Their philosophies are different, with their functionality, with their customer interface and with their upgrade plans.
Narrow your search by research to 2 or 3, fly behind all of them with someone who knows them well, and go touch and feel them somewhere that the person showing you doesn't care which one you pick. Frankly, touching them at SNF or Oshkosh gets the spin of the salesman on each, which will tell you the strengths of each unit and ignore the weaknesses. The only way to really make a decision unclouded by bias is to talk to someone (like Stein and others) who sell all of them. To be perfectly honest, I sell all except Garmin because they won't sell to the little guy. If you are trying to decide between Dynon and Garmin, I am going to spin for Dynon (which should be fairly obvious from some of my comments). They are perfectly valid arguments, IMHO, but they are not bias-free. If you are trying to decide among Dynon, AFS and GRT, then come talk to me and I can tell you what I like and don't like about each of them. I fly regularly on Dynon and AFS, and have a decent amount of time behind the GRT. I also wire/install all of them regularly. I like them all and dislike them all in different ways and to different extents.