larrynew

larrynew

Well Known Member
I will soon be spending a large sum on avionics and the decision is not easy. I plan on getting them or even a complete panel through one of our VAF advertisers that sells all the top experimental brands. I'm comparing features and costs but I think I've decided that (for me) the survival of the manufacturer or product line is the most important thing. If my shiny new EFIS is orphaned, all improvements and upgrades will stop before the end of its service life. And it seems like those improvements and upgrades are soon matched so the differences now are minor when looking ahead years.

So, what should I consider when comparing avionics manufacturers and product lines for longevity? I'm not asking about any specific company but more the criteria to compare. Installed base, frequency of updates, market share, company size or financial strength, logo design, ect.?

Thanks,
 
Viability

Good thinking, Larry. Most of these are small privately held cos. so their finances are nigh impossible to know, except for Garmin, which is a public co.

The aviation industry has a history of many smaller cos. going banko so you are right to be cautious. Several former Subaru engine converters come to mind just in the last decade... You might have a personal chat with Stein, he sells the more popular ones and probably knows better than anyone.

Good luck!
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A steam gauge panel with a Dynon or Gemini, and a portable GPS or iPad will get you around just fine. I've been doing this for a lot of years and have no desires toward forced obsolescence.
 
After what happened to Blue Mountain and Vision Micro, there's definitely concern about the future viability of any avionics company.

The big names we're all familiar with here in the RV world (e.g. AFS, Dynon, GRT, MGL, TruTrak, etc) all seem to be pretty solidly in business today and I wouldn't be too worried about buying any of them if I were in the market right now. My personal favorite happens to be Dynon, mostly because I've had a lot of hands-on experience installing and flying behind their EFIS and EMS systems. If I could afford a new EFIS right now, I'd probably buy their Skyview 10" system because of all the demos I looked at this year at Oshkosh, it had the brightest, most vivid screen, IMHO. The MGL iEFIS line was also really impressive and I really like the idea of having both touchscreen plus lots of physical real buttons and knobs. It may have more knobs and buttons that any other brand of EFIS :p
 
Larry,

You are asking the right questions, but I think you're going to get frustrated with finding the answers.

There was no surprize when Blue Mountain went under, but there is also companies like OpTech and Chelton may have caught folks off guard.

Unfortunately, I think it's just a sign of the times, especially with economy the way it is.

Any of the companies Neal mentioned are probably the best bet.

I'm most intrigued by the recently announce alliance between AFS and Trutrak. Of course, I have a little bias there since most my panel is from those two companies.

I had a different company choosen for multiple years before I actually made my purchase, but changed due to a perception of stagnation of new products from that company. I am not interested in starting an EFIS war discussion which is why I intentionally didn't mention the other vendor's name.

Criterion you can measure:
  1. Customer Support - How do they support customers after hours or in AOG situations?
  2. On Time Delivery of Released Products
  3. Are they continuing to release new products periodically? No new products for awhile is a red flag.
  4. What happens to existing platform development when a new platform is released? Are all features available across all platforms?
  5. Do they have dealers that stand behind their products (i.e. Stein, Aerotronics, etc)
  6. Do the products in their current state meet your mission? Don't bet on future developments.
  7. Find somebody to fly with that have them installed. Workflow can be different between the vendors, especially for single pilot IFR
  8. Feedback from folks that installed the products you are interested, but beware we all have strong biases towards the products we picked for our aircraft and mission.
There is no right or perfect answer. Just the one that makes you comfortable with YOUR decision.

RocketBob is probably still riding a Schwin or Huffy to work. Since he's not sure who the next Pontiac, Rambler, Hummer, Saturn, and Oldsmobile will be. :eek: Just kidding.........

bob
 
The most important question to ask yourself about the type of avionics that you want is, Where can I get it repaired and what will the turn around time be?
What you choose may be the best equipment out there but if you can't get it repaired you might just as well buy the cheaper stuff that can be readily repaired.
 
rleffler said:
Larry,

RocketBob is probably still riding a Schwin or Huffy to work. Since he's not sure who the next Pontiac, Rambler, Hummer, Saturn, and Oldsmobile will be. :eek: Just kidding.........
Click to expand...

Still getting to work in my 10 year old VW that gets 50mpg. Works just fine. :)
 
rocketbob said:
Still getting to work in my 10 year old VW that gets 50mpg. Works just fine. :)
Click to expand...

My 14 year old VW also gets 50 mpg. They recommend oil changes at 10,000 miles and I do not add any oil between changes. Not bad after 315,000 miles.

Having a VW Beesel that gets 50 MPG sure helps me have more money for AvGAS in my RV.

I also am interested in this thread. I plan to do a panel and avionics upgraded in 2020 if I still plan to use the airplane the way I am presently using it. With the NetGen ATC system coming on line with the ADSB requirement, I will need to do something if I want to use the airplane the same way I do now.

I am doing a temporary upgrade of my micoMonitor engine monitor to a Dynon EMS D10. The microMonitor is 15-years old and has worked flawlessly. Only ready to upgrade is that parts may not be available when it has a problem. I got my money out of it so no big deal.
 
Your concern is valid but I wouldn't worry so much about future upgrades - you should buy something that meets your needs now, not promised in the future. Then if there are no future upgrades, you at least have a panel that works. I would be concerned about hardware service if something breaks and no one's around who can fix it. But once this stuff gets past its infancy the hardware seems pretty robust. So my only advice is to get what you need now (don't accept promises of "soon"), and avoid brand new products for at least 6 months while they work out the bugs - unless, of course, you like being a beta tester.

In some cases even if the company is around you may not like their answers (e.g., Garmin has some pretty high (IMHO) fixed prices for out of warrantee repairs).
And they, too orphan products. Ask the guys still flying with some of the UPS equipment that Garmin took over. So even being around is no guarantee.
 
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