Anybody here fly IFR with there GRT sport?
So, in summary.... the autopilot is crucial to single pilot IFR. (my wife is rated and helps with radios, checklists etc.)
Back to the OP's question: One difference between the Sport and the Horizon line is the number of input/output serial ports available. Count carefully. It is amazing how quickly you can fill them all up. Depending, of course, on how many things you want to interface to it.
I have a Sport SX (single screen) along with a Dynon D10 backup. To me, the main limitation in IFR would be the lack of geo-referenced approach plates. BUT, I have these on the iPad, and as others have said people have flown IFR just fine without all these conveniences, for a long time.
At least with a single-screen setup, the serial port issue doesn't seem like a huge limitation. Many functions only require half of a port anyways. For example, I have serial outputs to my transponder and GTR-200, and inputs from the EIS and Stratux ADS-B. That still leaves me three ports (in and out) open (edit, actually I believe one input is used by the internal GPS...). I plan to add autopilot at some point, and would still have an output port left.
I am rated but don't plan on IFR in my 9A anytime soon, but am plenty confident in the capability of the Sport EFIS. After finishing phase 1 a few evenings ago I went up after dusk and flew some synthetic approaches to the airport - it is a very cool feature and helpful even in good visibility when flying into an area with limited visual clues. I plan to activate it for every night approach.
Chris
Add the autopilot and, by 2020, a UAT, and you'll have zero ports left. Plan carefully; remember that while a port has both input and output lines, they are not completely independent - they both need to run at the same baud rate. As I said, it all depends on what you have or want. It's just a detail many - including myself - didn't think about too much. In my case it was luck more than skilled planning!
I have an RV-9A with all kinds of glass, and I've also worked at companies where I've had considerable exposure to Honeywell and RockwellCollins bizjet and airline avionics. The quote from a RC pilot, talking about their FMS, was "If we have all this trouble with it, how are customers supposed to deal with it?"
The bottom line is that it's not what's in the glass that matters, it's what you can use, error free, that matters. Glass cockpit training and manuals (industry wide, no specific allegations here) suck big time, one problem being that the manufacturers are so used to their own system that they don't see the shortcomings in their customer communications. And if you have ever studied or designed user interfaces, you can find numerous and obvious user interface problems pretty quickly with just about any system.
Bottom line: be real careful out there. IMC doesn't cut you much slack.
I would suggest that :
1. You use at least two Sports. One in PFD mode and one in MAP mode
2. You have a tablet based app (Foreflight/WingX/Garmin Pilot etc/) for PLATES as you won't be able to view such on the Sport as you can on the HXr (nicely) and the HX (not as nice).
3. If you don't already have an autopilot, get the GRT servos and integrate that into your system.
My comments are based on flying with three Sport screens in an RV6 coupled to GRT servos. An Apple iPad and WingX supplies the plates and they get ADS-B traffic and weather from a SkyRadar receiver. The SAME ADS-B info is sent tot he Sport that is in MAP mode.
James