Dave Cole said:
Van's sells all of these items with markings apropriate to your airplane. And for a >whole lot< less than a $4000 glass panel.
Dave Cole
RV-7 wings
Not Really....Here's a really quick run of the number for comparision on all Van's gauges verses the Dynon combo unit.
Altimeter: $ 205
ASI: $158
VSI: $125
T&B: $310
Electric Attitude Indicator: $1150
Electric Directional Gyro: $1150
Engine Gagues -
Tach & Sender: $100
MP:$72
Oil Temp: $40
Oil Press: $70
Fuel Gauges: $68
Fuel Pressure: $70
Volt Meter: $34
Amp Meter: $50
CHT: $44 (Only covers 1 cylinder)
EGT: $44 (Only covers 1 cylinder)
EGT/CHT Switch (to show 4 cylinders): $400
Probes for all 4 Cylinders EGT/CHT: $360
Total of all the above: $4450
If you take it as an "Apples to Apples" comparision - as you should do when doing a fair review you'll see the prices aren't that far apart, in fact if you were to spend another $200.00 on the Dynon, you'll have then Fuel Flow as well.
If you don't keep the comparisions even, then it's unwise to compare unlike items. Yes, you can do it a whole lot cheaper with Van's stuff, but not if you buy the same stuff to make it equivalent to the Dynon Combo Box (aka Flight Dek)....
It's always hard to do an even comparitive review of analog verses digital stuff, because the functionality varies so wildly...but...everyone should try to keep things close to equal when doing comparisions or telling people which way to go.
....and no....I don't own one of the fancy color engine monitors in my RV6 (not a lot out there when I built it)....lot's of round gauges...but the next plane will have an Engine monitor for sure.
2nd thing, since this is in the RV4 area, one should point out that you simply cannot fit the whole assortment of Van's gauges into the RV4 panel even if you wanted to. We're rebuilding a wrecked RV4 for an insurance repair right now, and we'll be installing a new GRT EFIS/Engine Monitor combo in the panel. The Dynon Combo was a close choice, but the customer wanted the NAV Functionality that the GRT offered so that's what were doing and the FlightDek isn't shipping yet so it didn't match the time schedule.
No flames intended, just trying to keep everything equal!
Cheers,
Stein.