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BillSchlatterer

Well Known Member
Sponsor
Saw a note on the lists a month or so ago by this outfit SteinAir saying they would swap an unflown Garmin 430 for a New Garmin 430WAAS. Now I know that's a couple of thousand dollars difference and it had to be a scam.

Being somewhat gullible, I called them and Stein answered and said "no kidding, just send me your 3 year old unflown unit and I'll send you a new WAAS 430, new antenna, new data card, new two year warranty for FREE. (Little voice in back of head saying "tooo goood to be true", nothing is ever free, don't do it, can't be possible)

Now, I have bought some stuff from Stein in the past but come oooonnnn,... who is going to swap an old 430 for a new waas unit? Well, I bit and sent him my unit and was out the unit and $29 in shipping.

A week or so went by and I saw the FedEx tracker say that he had my unit. Then another week went by and no one at SteinAir answered any emails or phone messages. Now voice in head shouting,... "toooo goood to be truuuue".

A week later he answers and says four guys have been off with the flu but he will ship it next week. Voice wimpering,..."toooo gooood to be truuue"

A week later the doorbell rings and it's the UPS guy with a box from SteinAir! Now voice shouting again,.... "toooooo gooood to be truuuueee"! All new unit, new data card, new 2 year warranty and only shipping costs! Can't get any better than that!

So the message here is that there are some really trustworthy folks and businesses on the lists, SteinAir is definitely one of them, and sometimes it really is toooo goood to be truuuuee!

BTW, I would always pay Stein a little more than other places just because I love the service and the customer attitude.

Bill S
7a finishing
 
That's Great

Glad it worked out for you. That Stein...he's good people.:D

Not sure what the rest of your panel looks like, but if you have an EFIS, there are likely some slight wiring changes required. It's only a couple of wires or pin assignment changes, but the 430W won't "talk" properly to the EFIS if you don't do them. Ask me how I know... Just double check & compare the schematics for the 430 & 430W before you get everything buttoned up.

Of course, if you don't have the harnesses already built, just make sure you tell Stein (or other harness maker) that it's a 430W.
 
Only wiring change between a 430 and 430W is the antenna end type--TNC vs BNC. No changes are required in the harness.
 
Why would he do that?

I understand that there was a contract on a wad of aircraft that were spec'ed using 430s and the cost to qualify the 430w was prohibitive. The vendor contacted Stein to find unflown 430s to fill the order. I'm sure Stein made a buck or several on the swap to the vendor but he didn't charge me a single cent. He even shipped it back prepaid although I did send him a check for shipping! I mean after all,.... how much do you want a guy to do for free :)


Very satisfied SteinAir customer!

Bill S

PS too goooood to be trruuuueeeee (still hearing it :)
 
glenn654 said:
I remember seeing this too but my question is "Why would Stein do that?"

Glenn Wilkinson
Click to expand...

This was an odd deal to be sure! A major European Mfgr of Helicopters needed some Non Waas 430's to complete a contract production run. Obviously Garmin no longer makes them, so we worked with them figuring out a way to get them some non "W" 430's. The only way it worked is to get them from people who had them and then trade the people for brand new 430W's.

To be honest there wasn't a lot in it for me, but this was one of those opportunities where it didn't cost me anything either and a couple dozen of my VAF friends ended up with brand new 430W's. I didn't do it out of complete charity as I did make a few pennies, but nowhere near what the customers ended up with or what I'd made if I just sold the units outright. For those that participated, they did indeed get a brand new 430W swapped for their non WAAS 430....all they had to pay was shipping. I probably could have or should have charged something, but this is a case where I hope being nice trumps makin a dime.

These weird deals aren't common, but then again we do run across them occasionally at which point I usually pass them along to our customers.

Anyway, that's just the deal. I appreciate the kind words from everyone as well.

Cheers,
Stein
 
But it's better than that!

Heck, I forgot to mention that in addtion to the swapped radios for free,.... Stein threw in a SteinAir tee shirt as well. We all would have been happy to pay a couple of hundred bucks but free is sooo much better!

Did I mention,.... toooo goooood tooo beee truuuuuee !!!!!

Bill S ;-)
 
Quick Update

I tell ya, days like today make me sometimes wonder about some people. Here's the deal. A bunch of people sent me their old out of date Non WAAS 430's and I sent them back a brand spankin new GNS-430W free of charge. Today I speak to one of the customers who's all upset that he had to pay shipping for his new 430W. I'm just befuddled. I made exactly zero dollars on the exchange, the guy gets a brand new 430W and is mad that he has to pay to get it shipped to him?!?!? What gives? Exchangs like this make the day not so fun.

Anyway, I guess my old mentor is right. You could be on the street corner handing out $50 bills for free and someone would still come up and yell at you because you weren't handing out $100 bills.

Nice to see some apprecaited their free $3000 exchange - Thanks Bill (and the others who participated and were happy with their new free 430W's)!

Cheers,
Stein

PS, sorry for the self centered rant - but really.....
 
Toooo Goooooddd to be truuuuee

Hey, I told you ya should'a charged a couple of hundred bucks. Still would have been a sweet deal and would have sorted out the rif raff :)

Maybe we can all say thanks twice to make up for it !!


Thanks Thanks :)

Bill S
 
Got mine yesterday

I saw the deal about a week after I purchased an unflown 430. When I saw the note here on VAF while idly snacking lunch, I spit coke all over my desk and started grabbing for the phone and searching for Steins number on the web.

Got my new 430W yesterday. :D:D:D:D:D:D

What can you say.. I'm sure glad military purchasing is incredibly inflexible. Thanks! (and you too Stein). :)
 
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