T

todehnal

Well Known Member
I just got my latest Sport Aviation mag. I see that Tru Trak is now shipping their new EFIS SG. Man, I like the looks of that box!! Has anyone else taken a serious look at it? What would I be giving up if I went with it, over other EFIS choices? Love to hear from the experts.

Tom
 
It's Great for us Old Steam Guage Guys.

Your acceptance of the face is very dependent on your aviation background. For us older folks, who cut our teeth on round steam gauges and HSIs, it is much more intuitive, without having to think about it.

I love the display, but would like to get some evaluations regarding feature comparisons of the competition to determine the functional value.

Tom
 
Interesting new EFIS. I missed the beginning of the EFIS revolution by about two years when I built my panel in 1999.

Anyway, one large complaint I personally have about most of them is that they look way too cluttered. Simply too much stuff on the "desktop". Or they remind me of my garage. There is something refreshing simple about the TruTrak one. Maybe I would learn to ignore the 90% I don't need in the others, I don't know. When the smelly stuff hits the fan, I only want the basic flight info staring at me.

Are the airline EFIS's as cluttered as the GA ones have become? Or, military ones?
 
Attitude presentation?

Last year at Oshkosh I looked at the prototype and talked with the Trutrak people. I was told at the time that the attitude presentation on the EFIS was not true attitude, but was the same "pseudo-attitude" VSI based presentation as on their ADI units. Does anyone know if this is still the case?
 
While I like the display, the analog style misses the advantage of analog gages - with needle (analog) gages you can learn to spot things being in the right position without having to conciously read a number. It looks like this EFIS keeps the needle horizontal and the rotates the scale past the needle. Not much if any advantage over tapes, which do the same thing.

I do like the tilted HSI like display though. That would be nice.
 
At SWA we have round dials presented on our EFIS airplane displays. It was originally done for commonality with the steam fleet. Since that time, there have been studies to show that analog needles in a round display, even if they are EFIS generated, are more intuitive and have quicker recognition of problems than tape or digital depictions. On an airspeed indicator, for example, you know just by "clock face" depiction where your critical or common speeds are roughly even if the numbers were removed. It is also amazing how a needle based engine gauge out of whack can be detected just by peripheral vision even in a sea of other gauges.
I like the other things that can be overlaid on the depiction, but I also like the round dial concept, even in an EFIS display.

Didn't see Bubblehead's post until posting mine. Our minds are in the same gutter!
 
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AlexPeterson said:
Anyway, one large complaint I personally have about most of them is that they look way too cluttered. Simply too much stuff on the "desktop". Or they remind me of my garage. There is something refreshing simple about the TruTrak one.
Click to expand...

This is why Dynon, and I imagine other EFIS companies allow you to declutter the screen with info you don't want. We allow you to delete the items on the screen all the way down to the point where all you have is the Horizon.

If you have the opportunity, swing by and visit Dynon at a fly-in sometime and we'll show you how clean we can make the screen if you want. Advertisements are always a trade-off between making the screen look as good as possible while also showing off all the things your product can do.

Also, as Sprucemoose asked, unless TruTrak has changed the product since Oshkosh, it is based on turn rate and vertical speed, not actual attitude. It also does not show magnetic heading, just GPS track (it requires a GPS to be connected).
 
LarGriff said:
First Quarter 2008, according to TruTrak as of November 2007
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Ooh... they released first pictures at Sun'N'Fun this year so it has taken a long way already. What we really know about it is just some pictures and few lines of text. Also interested to see how it is priced.

I'm willing to see what it can offer but also those rumors (?) that Dynon would bring auto-pilot for their EFIS'es makes me wonder whether I should order those brackets for TruTrak servos. :rolleyes:
 
TruTrak EFIS AP price revealed!

On December's Sport aviation -magazine there is and ad at page 31 where "basic primary flight instrument" price is starting at $3800. I couldn't find anything new from website though.
 
$3,800, but does this include everything? Or is that a come-on price with extra charges for harnesses, sensors, probes, etc?

Richard Scott
RV-9A Fuselage
 
hummmmm

Well I was seriously thinking about this one.

They will have 2 versions, one with an autopilot and one just and efis with no bells or whistles. I think they missed the mark. Yes the steam gauge can be changed to tapes if you wish. I was thinking for the price one might get a little more. I am just not impressed....
 
beware

the Trutrak is NOT an EFIS. it is a graphical representation of their pseudo-attitude info used in their other instruments. there is no AHARS or ADAHARS involved. be very careful
 
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