Godfather

I think Avidyne is up 40% on sales this year which is great! The crazy thing is garmin is just giving away sales by not building the 650 to fit into n the 430 rack. The connection and function of the waas antenna are the same I believe. The combo xm / waas antenna was retained for my install and it works fine.

I admit that it can be confusing the way they label the available products. To use Jeppesen JeppView Charts you need to upgrade the 750 unit with Garmin ChartView. IMO the better / cheaper way to go is to use Garmin FliteCharts which is already installed on the 750. You can use the PilotPak to update the charts etc.

I don't care for the paint scheme but I must be crazy because the color choice is growing on me...really tired of all the white planes.

Good point. With the high cost of install work upgrades are a good way to keep the panel updated.

The only recent installs w/o the ki256 would be the ones with the kap 140 rate based autopilots ... 2000 ish Cessna and Diamond. However, I agree with PTK that the rest of the system is very durable.

They do have a great approach chart overlay which is free besides the monthly fee. You are thinking of the Jepp subscription. If they give you 30 days it will overlay for 6 months.

That's what I'm talking about! You have a lot more experience seeing multiple (thousands) units come into the service department and have a good idea of the mtbf. I think almost everyone in this thread is talking about the HSI unit. I've had the HSI fail on me once (very small sample size) but loss of attitude accuracy is not one of the failure modes that an HSI can display. Everyone has an opinion but 400 hrs for a 102 & 525 rebuild sounds like a lot. I was thinking more like 1500 hrs... Now if you are talking about the attitude indicator (ki256 or ki258) I would agree that a failure could lead to loss of control / death for even good pilots if they were not paying attention. This is why I have a lifesaver AI (7,500 hr mtbf) 4 inches to the right (same height) to keep things shiny side up!

"Seems like a lot of "paying" doesn't it?" ... I understand they are a business trying to make money but hitting a 2 or 3 display owner for multiple "unlock" codes is a little rich... However, I understand if they unlocked all the boxes it would be very easy for the owner to resale the units unlocked.

If you have 2 or more screens do you have to pay the update fee on each unit?

Do you have any data to back up that assertion? That the 55 HSI was the main reason good pilots crashed? Before you answer thing about the thousands of hours these things have navigated over the years...hell fedex has probably put 50k hours on them in the 208's (obviously a WAG on my part)

I'm really not that worried about a few more months but will be a little unhappy if the delay is them designing a specialized battery that is a chipped unit non rebuildable design just so they can hose us on a $600 battery...

Looks like a good price, good luck with the sale!

Please post the pictures (or pm me if you need me to assist). I agree with takair that you might be looking at the normal inspection panels.

I personally really like the 55a HSI. It provides all the information I need and it is very easy to read and use in flight. Besides the cost to upkeep I can't really fault the unit. However, if my plane did not have a HSI I would never spend the money to install the older system. Definitely the new combo units are the way to go in that situation.

My advice is to put a $1k deposit down if you are serious...make it refundable if past damage was not repaired correctly. At $165k with a fresh engine someone (might even be from this thread) will probably lock up the deal.

+1

I'm glad you're back in the air! You should easily be able to push the tbo to 2200-2500 hrs if you fly a lot. I'll have to do some research on running LOP on new cylinders. Did you start LOP or switch over after a few hrs?

One negative about the Lancair might be the insurance cost. I talked with two builders of completed IVP aircraft two years ago at Oshkosh. Both mentioned insurance cost in the 14-16k range for mid time pilots. If the hull value is 2x the insurance might reach the unaffordable level for many owner pilots.

I don't really care if another year or two goes by...not planning on opening up my wallet until a certified g3x touch or comparable comes along. The current examples are coming up on eight years and IMO the major players are getting ready for a release. i purchased a 330es four months before they released the updated models. I'm not going to sink 25k into a system that will be superseded within a year or two.

Great looking plane IMO. 160 gallons of fuel and 700lbs left for the fam sounds great. I hope they sell a ton of these to individuals who have them professionally built. Looks like a good upgrade from the Mooney in 7-8 years...used of course I'll let someone else take the 50% new bird smell hit in value.

I think the price difference is around 2k for a set of six of them. So around a 22% premium... Cheap insurance but, having said that, flying 175 hrs a year in the Midwest I'm going with steel cylinders this summer. edit: you might consider a top overhaul instead. $9,200 is the price I received last month for the cylinders and probably a cheaper labor rate (per cylinder) to do them all at once. However, this is probably a waste of money to most people.

Wow, in a week we have moved you in and out of a Mooney...340->Bravo->182. By next week we'll have you putting the dogs in the back of a 152 and wondering if you should purchase some rail tickets to Phoenix :). Try to get some block time in a 172 (any type of panel) for your solo work and finishing your ppl. Go back to the cirrus and start your ifr training and get serious about buying a plane!

That looks like a m20r panel...I guess the differences between a m20f and later models are less than I realized. Probably too new to the site to keep up with everything. Edit: or read the f'n caption...glad you had a fast trip!

OUT OF STYLE! Now you tell me after I just paid $30 for two bulbs...

Kind of bummed but according to BK the certification for the KI 300 is not expected until the third quarter this year. I know a lot of individuals have lost faith in the time frame predictions but I was really looking forward to an announcement today talking about units shipping.