ColoCardinal

ColoCardinal

Well Known Member
I'm having trouble deciding on which pair of 10inch panels to drop my dime on. They'll all do everything I need. I think it's goint to come down to a matter of "human / machine interface" issues. I'd like a little hands on time with them which is almost impossible especially since the Advanced unit has not yet shipped.
Instead, maybe those of you who have a MGL, Dynon or Advanced panel could tell me what you think of the "button pushing" aspect of your unit and what you thinkk you would have done differently if you were designing it.
I'm trying to avoid counterintuitive paths to accomplish simple tasks, not start a fight.
Thanks!
 
Same Question

I have the same question, only Carl worded it MUCH better than I could have!:p
 
Ahhh...the oldest question in the EFIS Question Inventory...."Which is better at XXX?" the problem is that very few folks have used more than one for any amount of time - especially the latest units - some of which have only been used by the developers! The most playtime you can get with multiple units is at OSH, and that is generally not very quality time, what with the crowds and sales folks trying to showcase their best features - hard to get apples to apples comparisons that way.

I have used most all of the popular units out there for at least a little while in real airplanes in the air, but software is changing so rapidly (and always for the better!) that it would be unfair to say "I didn't like this or that".

Personally, I like to have knobs in addition to buttons for many functions - and I think many others do as well, as most of the manufacturers have gone that way.

Paul
 
GRT is my choice

ColoCardinal said:
I'm having trouble deciding on which pair of 10inch panels to drop my dime on. They'll all do everything I need. I think it's goint to come down to a matter of "human / machine interface" issues. I'd like a little hands on time with them which is almost impossible especially since the Advanced unit has not yet shipped.
Instead, maybe those of you who have a MGL, Dynon or Advanced panel could tell me what you think of the "button pushing" aspect of your unit and what you thinkk you would have done differently if you were designing it.
I'm trying to avoid counterintuitive paths to accomplish simple tasks, not start a fight.
Thanks!
Click to expand...

I have Thre eGRT units in my plane. They are the HS varety, so not the high resolution HX units. I'd do it all again with the HX units in a heartbeat. These, combined with the GNS-480, SL-30, GNX-330 xpondeer, XM weather & the Tru-Trak autopilot, gives me everything I need for hard IFR operations.... And the HX units can support true synthetic vision!
 
I plan to read thru the operating manuals to get a little bit of a feel for how they are set up. You also make an excellent point, that the software is changing on these things all of the time. A mistake is no longer necessarily set in stone.
What I'm mostly hoping to find is not so much how one device compares to another but what the owners think of thier own device from an "operating simplicity" perspective. How easy is it to change the altimiter setting or change transponder codes or radio frequencies while in moderate turbulence in the clag. That sort of thing.
I don't want another experience like my old 604 Loran. I can open a safe faster than I could change Loran chains on that thing!:D
 
Integration with G-430W

I am at the point that I need to nail down my decision on an EFIS. I am sure the Garmin G3X plays very nicely with the G430, but I am not sure how the portrait display would be in IMC. This may not be as big of a factor as I think. I like the Dynon wide display, but it doesn't display approach plates on the MFD. I was thinking of going with two Dynons or two Advanced EFIS's with a G3X between them for mapping and approach info and as a backup. Are there any negatives to going this route? Also, can the G430 supply nav info to dis-similar EFIS's at the same time? If not, this won't work for what I need and I will go with all Garmin. Sorry for these VERY basic questions! Not to tech savvy with these connections :eek:
Thanks,
Mark & Kelly Hanley
Finishing up an RV-10
KGPM
 
Mark,
they will all interface with the GNS430w. There is a very good u-tube video of an approach using the Advanced 450 and Garmin 430w. It's very simple and the new 560 should make it easier yet. I don't have the link but I think you can get to it from Advanced's web site.
Happy New Year!
 
Carl, I've got the 10" Skyview and there isn't anything I'd program differently with the buttons. No real need for any manual, buttons are labeled and fairly intuitive. I had same thought as you did. I spent lots of time at the last Sun-N-Fun, pushing buttons at all of the booths. GRT, Advanced were good units also, my past positive experiences with Dynon pushed me somewhat in that direction. If you're not in a rush, wait for one of the shows. Tom
 
Dismilar EFIS's

Thanks Carl for the reference. Cool videos! :cool: One thing I can't find in the literature is the scenario where you have two different EFIS manufacturers, such as a Garmin and an AFS, and you enter an approach into the G-430, does the approach info get distributed to both EFIS's, or does one just become an indicator?

Thanks,
Mark Hanley
Finishing RV-10
KGPM
 
I don't know for sure, but suspect, that since you probably can't network two different brands of EFIS panels, that you can't share the data between them. Why would you want to do that anyway, it would be two different operating procedures for the two units. I would think that it could get confusing. I'll probably use two identical units "talking" to a GNS430W.

Thanks Tom and Fred for your input. It looks as though GRT did a good job of fixing thier softwarre on the revision of the Odyssey. It also looks like Dynon got the Skyview right the first time. So far, I've had no luck at all finding useful information on the Advanced unit.
 
I will pipe in with the same thing I say every time, because the problem has not changed one bit with the advance of software:

What is your mission, and what features do you most need / want to accomplish that mission?

Once you identify those, your second hurdle is to stop thinking in terms of a single unit's capability and instead focus on your aircraft as a system, and build your system out on a budget.

When I made my purchase decisions, SV was pretty new. I really didn't think I needed it, and focused instead on a really high-quality IFR platform. At that time, the best choice for an IFR navigation system was a Garmin GNS 480, which would a) let you enter your flight plan exactly as read to you by controllers and b) fly a precision GPSS approach down to Decision Height and c) drive any of the EFIS units. Following those decisions I focused on price / value, and at that time the Dynon D180 did more for the $ than anything else.

Today's choices are wider, and the 480 is no longer available. However, if you make a list of ALL of the features you need / want (using a rating scale for "want" and a "must have" for anything you "need"). Then, make a decision matrix on a spreadsheet comparing unit features by category and evaluate each SYSTEM (e.g. combination of units you would consider) you will get a more accurate answer than by considering the EFIS alone.
 
Very nice demo!

I noticed that the x86 portable did not display the Magenta course line - looks like they didn't bother to set up flight plan transfer. :D
 
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