Where can one get the IFD540 for € 10k? Lowest price I saw was 13k.
The IFD440 is only EUR 6,000 with a 430W trade in.
https://avionicssource.com/product/540-upgrade-530w/
The Garmin flat repair rate of $1,500 is not available anymore, so you are looking at about 2.5k or more in Europe.
AlexTB20 wrote:
The Garmin flat repair rate of $1,500 is not available anymore, so you are looking at about 2.5k or more in Europe.
Well, it appears that for now the wonders of avionic design have saved me from having to shell out a lot of money. Possibly cleaning and retesting has for now cured the problem…. on the ferry flight from maintenance today the radio behaved perfectly, so for now I may well happily continue the way we are.
Next project will eventually be to source an exchange for the KY155 which is no longer legal to use here (COM part) and I am looking at finding another 430W to install in it’s place, together with a flightstream 210, to upload flightplans rather than to transfer them manually.
Mooney_Driver wrote:
the KY155 which is no longer legal to use here (COM part)
Why not?
Just swapping is expensive too. You save the re-design of the cables and installation of any different tray.
The IFD is a great box; I use 540/400 version. I did with MM Systems in Hungary, worth talking to them. They are dealers, have training, tools, and support. I am not sure if they can sell abroad, but if you want to be fully legal, only dealer / authorized shop may do this “swap” followed the paperwork
That’s a nice installation in a TB20.
This is a photoshop of what I would do, and probably will as soon as I come across an avionics installer who I believe can cope with it 
Peter wrote:
This is a photoshop of what I would do, and probably will as soon as I come across an avionics installer who I believe can cope with it
Avionitec in Switzerland can definitely cope. All the avionics work on my C172 since 2000 has been done by them, including my IFD540/IFD440, and I have never had a squawk after their work. The work is high quality, they are an FAA repair station, and you’ll get the schematics (printed and pdf) which not every shop provides. Yes, they are expensive; their hourly rate is CHF145/GBP113. But besides this being Switzerland quality does not come cheap and a clean installation is a worthwhile investment IMHO. They have operational bases at Zurich LSZH and Grenchen LSZG.
Hope you will allow this Peter but I just wanted to say that we are offering a trade in deal for ANY panel mounted GPS against an IFD system.
The trade in price depends on what IFD you purchase.
$500 when purchasing an IFD440
$1000 when purchasing an IFD540
$2000 when purchasing an IFD550
We don’t sell directly so this is done via the dealer network. PM if you are interested and I can put you in touch with some of our dealers.
I hope you all enjoy flying again soon
