Nice find on the AV-Mag for certified – I only saw the experimental one on their site.
Any news on the autopilot interface? If it could emulate a KI256 they’d be the bee’s knees…
tmo wrote:
What’s wrong with the Garmin stuff, apart from price and possibly ideology? I admit I’ve been hiding under a rock lately, but thought especially the GI275 was a good piece of kit; the G5 less so due to limited autopilot interfaces, but apart from that also a good product.
Upon review, the AV-30 STC Approved Model List (AML) for installation as a primary instrument seemed to me to be very similar to the pretty broad Garmin G5 AML, possibly identical although I didn’t look close enough to tell for sure. The GI275 AML appears to me to be more limited. So if you want a direct replacement round instrument (unlike the G5) you may find it covered by the AV-30 STC and not the GI275. At least that was my observation.
Obviously once you start installing Garmin equipment you find that by design it becomes very inconvenient or impossible to install additional interfacing equipment that isn’t Garmin. That is what you term Garmin’s “idealogy” along with planned obsolescence and finding ways to force you to use their dealers for installation.
UAvionix is apparently about to release an external magnetometer for the AV-30 certified version, having released it earlier for uncertified AV-30 installations Link
Few avionics are without bugs, and the GI275 has had a number of problems. Various previous threads…
tmo wrote:
What’s wrong with the Garmin stuff, apart from price and possibly ideology?
In my case, nothing. I considered a pair of GI275 but as I’m doing day VFR only, fancy AI + DG are two things I do not really need. Consequently, as those devices made it “just for fun” into my panel, I went for the cheaper option.
I was thinking as standalone AI, it’s nice piece of kit, especially to replace toasted vacuum AI on VFR machine with something shinny rather than a cover, some competition to Garmin is also healthy
Sadly, I have no space left for AV30, unless I remove G5s or KI256 
Ibra wrote:
Thanks for the info, it looks like AV30 is a solid kit on the shelf versus G5/GI275 !
What’s wrong with the Garmin stuff, apart from price and possibly ideology? I admit I’ve been hiding under a rock lately, but thought especially the GI275 was a good piece of kit; the G5 less so due to limited autopilot interfaces, but apart from that also a good product.
The AV30 on the other hand I seem to recall having multiple issues (no glide slope on “hsi”, the “hsi” being GPS driven, not magnetic (although they do have a experimental-only magnetometer), lag in the AI display, the AoA display being mostly wishful thinking, and, most importantly, no autopilot interface, despite promises of such) and not really being on par with the established products (Garmin, Avidyne, Sandia, etc). Possibly better than King…
Exactly as you guys describe. The AV30 – without magnetometer – works exactly like a “traditional” directional gyro and needs to be adjusted.
The pic I posted above shows a big “NO MAG” indication on the devices. They are supposed to be calibrated in flight by flying a few 360° turns, I think that this is the part which failed.
About the autopilot (bottom left instrument) : the Badin Crouzet has a mechanical directional gyro on the panel. The black knob adjusts the gyro, whereas the yellow knob adjusts the bug. The catch with this thing is, if the autopilot is off, so is the gyro. I did not find a setting of the various switches where the gyro is active and the autopilot inactive at the same time. Which makes it useless as a directional gyro.
boscomantico wrote:
OK, I have never come across an electronic, but non-slaved direction indicator.
Neither have I, but if you don’t have a magnetometer, what do you do…?
OK, I have never come across an electronic, but non-slaved direction indicator.
boscomantico wrote:
What do you mean by that?
at wrote that his AV-30 does not have a (working) magnetometer. Then it would have to be set like a non-slaved mechanical gyro.
But I guess that
etn wrote:
adjusting the autopilot gyro
…refers to the heading bug?
