I finally decided to give the Tiger a long-awaited avionics upgrade. After some analyses and consultations, it all converged to the following:
For tax reasons, I’ll have to buy the first four items before the end of this year – does anyone know a place to get them at a discount?
Another item could be to replace the KX155 with a 8.33 radio, but given that in most cases when you need a second COM (which is not so frequent anyway) the other station is usually on a 25 kHz channel (most ATIS, VOLMET, etc. seem to have remained where they used to be), I don’t really see much use for it. On the other hand, 3 or 4 of my hangar neighbours will be upgrading their VFR aircraft with mode S transponders and 8.33 radios, so I may well try to find a good group purchase deal…
Critique is welcome.
It’s a bold move to buy an Avidyne IFD rather than a Garmin GTN.
Neil, I was initially considering a GNS430W and a GTN650, but my avionics engineer made an excellent case for IFD440 (which he has installed in his own aircraft and 3 others, all working fine). According to him, the firmware appears to have matured by now. So I went to read the manuals and liked it a lot. A few important distinctions:
What have I overlooked, if anything?
Ultranomad wrote:
Another item could be to replace the KX155 with a 8.33 radio
Stupid question: why don’t you keep the GNS430 you have as the 2nd radio to replace the KX155? They are almost the same size and it’s a nice backup to have.
Mooney Driver, GNS430 is 67 mm high, KX155 is 52 mm, so it means reshuffling the entire radio stack, and I may not even have enough space left. Using GNS430 as a backup GPS makes little sense, as it would not talk to the IFD440 as it normally does in a dual installation. Finally, I can sell the GNS, buy a new NAV/COM and have plenty of change left.
Ultranomad wrote:
What have I overlooked
That you are buying from a company that is fundamentally unreliable and dishonest.
Timothy wrote:
That you are buying from a company that is fundamentally unreliable and dishonest.
Garmin, EI , Avidyne & Trio ?
Ultranomad wrote:
Finally, I can sell the GNS,
If you do, let me know. I might be interested.
I am considering the same regarding my KCS55A HSI system. With the recent King non-repair policy I dread the time the HSI develops an error and currently I believe I can still get money for it. These systems still sell for about 6K USD which is more than the two G5s with the GAD29 and GMU11.
Some years ago I sold a complete KCS55 system on US Ebay for $2500. This was a KG102A, 2×KMT112 fluxgate, 2xKI229 RMI, KI525 HSI, KA52, and an MD26-28 inverter. These are good value – especially on the US / N-reg market where an 8130-3 is not actually required because an A&P can declare a part as airworthy especially if it comes with a “removed working” tag – but a fresh installation is quite lengthy and expensive. There is a lot of wiring to do… Consequently if you already have one you can keep it going quite cheaply with Ebay parts, but few new installs are being done.
Regarding Ultranomad’s post #1, I think one needs to look at what capability one actually wants (e.g. LPV?) versus how much it will cost and what the installation risks are (good avionics installers available where you can drop in during the job?). This is why I am still flying with a KLN94+KMD550…
Mode S and 8.33 are required ASAP for any significant flying, in the context here.
Will there be another “gyroscopic” instrument apart from the two G5s? If not that might be risky.
HBK stuff can still be repaired but they are withdrawing repair privileges from the various repair shops, so the stuff will have to go back to HBK in the USA which will make repairs more expensive. This will no doubt drive “off the books repairs” and Ebay sourcing (with serial number stickers jumping across 
)…
