I did make the point a long time ago that when I travel to some far away places (e.g. Greece) that, of the planes I see down there from say N Europe, relatively very few of them have glass cockpits. My theory on this was that the owners are too nervous to do it in case something packs up and there is not a Garmin etc dealer anywhere, and getting one down there would be a hugely pricey exercise.
However it could also be there is a correlation between “working planes” and owners who don’t spend big money on eye candy and spend it on avgas instead. The modern planes I have seen back home were used mostly for short trips, maybe N France.
As was written here somewhere recently, the G500/G1000 cannot be worked on without a Garmin dealer because you need the special SD card with some “keys” (I have no idea what is on it). However the Avidyne IFD boxes don’t need a dealer; the config is accessible so a smart aircraft owner could do a field swap.
This is a feeling I am familiar with. My plane was apparently built out of a pile of avionics boxes which had been returned to the factory with intermittent issues and the first year was spent replacing these under warranty as they packed up. One day I will meet the TB20/21 GT owner who got my old ones 
I didn’t do any trips for those 12 months.
However, this ripoff move by Honeywell/Bendix-King may well change things, because you will be looking at fixed price repairs of common old avionics in the same arena as a G500/G1000/etc. It is going to be really interesting what this does in Europe because while small shops can still repair these instruments, Euro-reg planes can’t officially use them without an EASA-1 form.
Unfortunately these very high repair prices are just accelerating the rate at which certified GA becomes yet more unaffordable. I wouldn’t take an aircraft with the G1000 in its type certificate even if you gave it me for free at this point.
Most interesting part is the statement that the rates include shipping and handling. While the Avidyne prices are close to that ($1200 for an IFD540), I’m almost certain that they do not include S&H and the units need to go back to the US, which adds another $500 or so each way. Even if only one-way S&H is not covered, that would make the Avidyne pricing about 50% higher than Garmin.
I am not a lawyer but would speculate that the issues might be centred on
One avionics installer in Europe reported that Avidyne are taking a hard line on warranty work and not offering anything even if a few days out of warranty. They are entitled to do that, of course, but it doesn’t look good.
Is that always true, within Europe at least?
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2011/feb/05/how-long-electrical-goods-guaranteed
If a company is on record as saying a battery typically lasts 10 years, can they not be forced to replace it free of charge if it fails after 5?
Steve’s post above is a PDF posted by Avidyne – here.
I would like a reply to my post #17. This is a potential issue with any box which contains mapdata and uses its date/time to suppress the display of that mapdata. The old boxes (e.g. KMD550) didn’t do that but the new ones seem to. @Steveavidyne should participate to this extent.
Does anyone have the Garmin out of warranty price list?
Avidyne backlight driver PCB, which tends to fail quite often is not a standard laptop part (but I am sure that practically every standard laptop equivalent would work as well). This particular part is made by a company, which makes industrial PCs and obviously they make the PCs for Avidyne too. You can easily track the part by googling its number. The company will sell you the part and overnight it to you. They know the part is for aviation so they charge something like 200-300USD instead of standard 25USD but it is still lot cheaper than sending unit to Avidyne. Changing the part is unplugging and plugging one connector and turning few screws. The whole Avidyne is just a industrial PC, no rocket science, nothing too sophisticated. I am quite sure that the CMOS battery can be purchased for 1USD or so (maximum 10USD if it is the same type as the one in GNS430) so charging 1200USD for its replacement is typical aviation scam.
Many thanks for the clarification, Steve.
Extant Avionics is an interesting firm.
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I wonder who else in this business uses them.
Back to the clock battery, what happens if you get airborne without a GPS fix? This is rare but not impossible. I once lost a fix in Italy and didn’t get it back until halfway across the Alps (used a Garmin 496 in DCT mode to navigate instead, waypoint to waypoint). The cause can be corrupted constellation data, local interference, etc. Another cause, more frequent, is departing while still updating the database from a plug-in card (the KLN94 takes ~10 mins to load the flash card; I don’t know about Avidyne products).
How much of the MFD functionality is lost? For example will it still display all the mapdata, if the date is year 2000?
Just for clarification. The EX5000 Entegra system is repaired and maintained by Extant Avionics in the USA. If you do not have an extended warranty plan in place then the costs of sending a unit in for repair are high. If anyone would like a copy of the extended warranty pricing please let me know. Typically coverage of the PFD and MFD for 3 years is $4700, then it drops to $2700 for 3 years moving forward. I would recommend anyone who does not have an extended warranty plan in place for the Entegras look at this option. A single repair from Extant is $5900 plus other costs if the bezels need replacing or the luminence test.
With regards to the Memory battery we have just published this release which I hope you will find answers your questions above.
To: Owners of the EX Series of MFDs Date: 05-04-17 Subject: EX Series MFD Battery Replacement Statement: This communication specifies the recommended steps that should be taken if/when the CMOS battery is no longer capable of maintaining the system time in an EX Series MFD. If the battery is dead, the system will report the current year to be 2000. If this is the case, the system setting should be checked to make sure the “manual” mode of clock update is not enabled. The system should instead be set to either “Auto” or “GPS”. No other actions are required in order to update the system time. Some battery and EX Series facts:
1. The battery is used in the EX Series of MFDs to maintain the system clock.
2. The clock is used to display current time to the operator and to determine the age of datalink products. Additionally, this clock is used to tag logged data and in calculations such as ETA.
3. On average, CMOS batteries have been shown to last over 10 years.
4. In the event that the CMOS battery is dead, the MFD will automatically correct the system time using the incoming GPS data once available.
5. All Cirrus, Piper and Lancair OEM configurations, which include an EX Series of MFDs, are attached to a GPS (GNS430 or IFD440/540) and hence will automatically correct the system time upon battery failure if configured to default to GPS time.
6. If the battery on the system is dead, the EX Series of MFDs will display an incorrect time until a GPS position is acquired. This typically takes 45 seconds or less following system startup.
7. Since the GPS position (and thus time) is available prior to takeoff the time will always be correct prior to takeoff.
8. For customers whose batteries are no longer operational, and are uncomfortable waiting for a GPS signal in order to facilitate the clock adjustment, we recommend replacement of the CMOS battery.
For questions regarding updating the system time or other functions of the EX Series of MFDs, please contact Avidyne Tech Support at [email protected] or 1-888-723-7592 -Avidyne Service Team
