My situation is a little different than many. I started flying with NavWorX in 2009, and went thru 2 receiver hardware upgrades. They used to be very nice to deal with, and I've been flying with traffic available for many years. I presently own and use 2 of the ADS600B boxes and both work great in their respective installs. They had done some great software over the years, some of it still is running and some isn't, that allowed me to get rid of converter boxes and such in my panel. One of the big ones that to this day is a requirement for me, is that I can receive traffic over and ARINC output, that is very similar to TCAS format. You see, my EFIS has a limitation that in order to use Satellite WX,
I MUST get traffic via TCAS format. Satellite WX is something I will not compromise on because ADS-B's FIS-B weather is sorely inadequate if you do lots of long x/c and especially non-US-48 flying....and for scud runners, will prove to be highly unreliable.
That's the rub. NavWorX is the ONLY one I know of that offers ARINC output for their traffic...and it's something I need. So I've been thrilled that they provided this flexibility and have done it for many many years. I knew when I bought it that the original GPS needed an upgrade. Back then it was sold that way. It wasn't until more recently that the internal GPS even became a POTENTIAL useable item. They sold the unit as the ADS600BG if you wanted the certified GPS at that time. I think they tried, and failed, to get the FAA to go with that original GPS being adequate. It *should* have been a simple fix...just swap GPS modules, and you're all set. Not sure why this latest module fails.
Even with all the great experience I've had over the years, I have become very unhappy with their communication in the past couple years. Really around the time this AD thing started, the clamming up on discussing things caused a lot of angst for people. And other things transpired for friends of mine, such as a box that went in for repair this spring and still hasn't been returned, that get me just fuming.
So I'd love to see them come back to life, and get back on track. At the same time, if there was another vendor that offered a product that I could use that would work exactly the same, I'd jump and buy it in a heartbeat.
What I want:
1) 1090Mhz and 978Mhz receive for traffic
2) EITHER freq as the OUT...doesn't matter to me
3) WiFi option for Traffic and Wx on the ipad
4) Serial GDL-90 format with 38,400 baud option for Traffic/Weather
5) ARINC 735A format traffic output
Any manufacturers listening? I'll buy 2 if you do it reasonably.
Greg@GRT, do you see the above specs as do-able in any way?
I hate it when a manufacturer stops supporting a product. On the up side, there are finally getting to be plenty of products out there for most people, and prices are cheap. When I got the first ADS600B, they were $2495. Got my second on Ebay for about $1700. Now days you can do better than that, depending on what you need.
At least as Bob said, there's an AMOC, so for many ADS600B users, we do have possible ways to go forward. I just may not get the opportunity to have dual frequency receive, which is something I was really looking forward to.