donkaye

A couple of things--- 1. I got all Garmin so I wouldn't be faced with interface problems with other vendors like those discussed above. 2. I upgraded because my B/K EFIS 40 went on the blink and Bendix/King rediculously wanted more than the cost of a G500 to repair that ancient technology. 3. The Garmin displays are much more pleasing to my eyes than the competition. 4. There is not vertical nav on the 750 like the Avidyne 540 will have, BUT I am told it will be in the next update to the GTN 750 later this year. Having said those nice things about Garmin, paying $2,350 for the unlock Chartview card for the G500 plus another $1,950 for the Chartview card for the 750 is just too greedy for me to even consider it.

My experience with Garmin Hardware is that it just works and their interfaces, fonts, and display colors are comfortable. I specifically went with all the Garmin equipment that I could BECAUSE of the lack of interface issues with other vendor's products. They also seem to be able to get things certified when other companies cannot. I really like all my Garmin products, their support has been outstanding, and they are a big enough company with enough market insight that I wouldn't expect them to be going out of business any time soon. I'll take Garmin any day over the competition.

Gary, I'm sorry to hear that. I never had any problem with the unit. Before the muffs, there was sometimes a squelch break. After the muffs, never a problem.

I have the greatest respect for Trey and Lela and all the work they must have put in to put on the event. Having said that, for me at least, while I love to go to Kerrville, the Hangar venue was less than desirable. It may have been me, but I met far less new friends than in the past where the event was held at a hotel where most people stayed and where it was much easier to meet and talk to individuals. The Hangar was either too cold or too hot, the sound system made it difficult to clearly hear the speakers, there was no mic for questioners from the floor, so when a question was asked it couldn't be heard or understood. The woman's lunch was held far from the venue and since there was no transportation, there was endless travel back and forth between the airport and the luncheon location. In fact there was endless back and forth between the airport and the hotel for everything. It was a great weekend for the rental car companies, but not for us. While the Saturday lunch on the field was excellent, everyone was having trouble finding a place to eat it. The dinner for me was the worst of any of the conventions I have ever attended. I apologize for not staying for the speaker, but we had heard the talk in Oshkosh last summer. The factory tour and "Boots on the Ground" were the highlights of the event for me. It showed that Mooney is coming back STRONG! Mitch and Jolie did an amazing job of getting the flavor of the Mooney Company of the past with their movie, which had a huge attendance. I hope in the future that they go back to a hotel venue, extend the Convention an extra day like in the past, have more Mooney specific presentations, have round tables on various Mooney models as in the past, and have vendor presentations such as Garmin, Aspen, and others as in past years when we have several hundred Mooneys attend. For the adventure I'm glad I attended. The lengthy round trip enabled me to really learn my new panel well. I now feel totally comfortable and excited about teaching every aspect of our new technology to those who either have it or are thinking about getting it. In spite of all the above comments, would I attend in the future? Yes, I'm a Mooniac.

I can almost guarantee that it will go away by doing that.

PS Engineering recommends using Oregon Aero Mic Muffs on the PMA7000B. They are inexpensive. That will most likely solve your problem. It did for me.

I have been using my new panel for over 46 hours now. No issues with the squelch on either the 750 or the 650. Set it up with 75% on the squelch level as recommended on the BeechTalk list. When interfaced with an external source, the 750 shows real time fuel flow information on the fuel and trip planning pages. I could only get it on the 750, since all I/Os were already in use. Have never had a complaint from ATC on any of the new radios.

Since I can't figure out how to attach a file here, contact me offline and I will provide you with a Word or PDF file that will assist you. donkaye@earthink.net

The Shadin is very accurate from my experience. It gives multiple pieces of quick information without changing screens; just a knob twist. I'm glad I kept it because I found out after the fact that one thing the MVP-50 does not do is calculate fuel to destination and fuel reserve at destination. It only calculates fuel to waypoint. If the waypoint isn't the destination, you don't get that information. But the Shadin has it and the 750 has it.

Yes, my backup is the L-3 ESI 2000. It all depends on who you know. It turns out that I know and had seen for many years at Oshkosh a Senior Manager at L-3. She used to work for Mooney. Last year at Oshkosh I told her I was upgrading my airplane and really wanted to put in the ESI 2000. She told me sometimes they would sell a unit out of their loaner pool and that she would look into it. I got a call shortly after Oshkosh that she had a unit available, would refurb it, yellow tag it and give me a one year warranty on it. She'd also give me a good deal on a new WX-500. I immediately went for it. The JPI 930 looks great and one could be proud to have it in their panel. but it is just an engine monitor and fuel flow monitor displaying one piece of information at a time. The MVP 50 is so much more albeit with a display that is not as nice as the JPI 930 screen. Just one small but very important extra on the main page is both a clock and timer that satisfies the IFR requirement for a clock. That alone saves panel space by not needing an independent clock. Since this is not a write up on the MVP-50, I recommend looking at it in detail before choosing another engine monitor at upgrade time. I chose function over looks and have not looked back. I had so much going on with this upgrade, that I decided not to have any more delay by adding one more thing. Also Mark at Alpha systems encouraged me to wait before purchase of one of their AOA systems because they were coming out with new displays. So I'm waiting on the AOA. I did NOT want it in the panel, but in peripheral view on the glare shield.

Ahhh, I don't think you took a close enough look at my panel. I believe the Clock and Timer completely meet the requirements of FAR 91.205 for instrument flight. Hours, Minutes, and Seconds on Both in digital form. Like I said, the MVP 50 is one nice piece of equipment.

I have so many timers it is ridiculous. A count up and down timer on both the 750 and 650. A timer right in front of me on the MVP 50 in addition to a clock (the MVP 50 is SO much more functional than the JPI 930), and one on the GTX 330ES. Is that enough?

Peter Cazares at J and R Electronics in Livermore did the whole job all by himself with a little help with the antenna installation and racks in the back of the plane. Even an a former Electrical Engineer I couldn't have confronted doing that job all by myself. He is an avionics wizard. We designed the panel together, but he made it work. I thank Chris Floyd for the idea of where to put the MVP 50. He put his in the same location in his Ovation, so I saw how it would look beforehand. It was Peter's idea to make the two horizons on the same level.

There is nothing wrong with the Aspen units, but if you have the money, I think you would be much happier with the G500. Same goes for the GTN 750 vs the 650. A lot more screen for a few thousand dollars more with the GTN 750. There was a time during my 6 month upgrade affair when I never thought I'd ever get the plane back whole. But the first photo shows the result, thank goodness.

I did not send in my senders or use the more expensive ones. I kept the Shadin, which is accurate to a tenth of a gallon when started with full tanks. The K factor on the MVP-50 took a little time to work out, but it is now close to the Shadin when a flight is completed. The quantity will only be guaranteed to be accurate on EMPTY. So far they are reasonably close.

In time I'll do that.

I would do absolutely nothing differently as of the products that are available today. I will be looking into the new yoke covers. I need to get it done locally since theres are so many wires going through them that they can't be removed.

Wish that were true, but it is not.

I posted this to the other 2 Mooney lists, but thought those who don't monitor them might be interested, too. So here it is. I now have nearly 20 hours behind the new panel including a 4 hour round trip between San Jose and Carlsbad, California, so can give a little insight into the experience. I think it is best to go one piece of equipment at a time. But first a little summary: Those 4 hours went by so fast that I thought about reducing power enroute to make the trip last longer (of course it didn’t help that I had tailwinds going both directions). I knew it was going to be fun to fly it, but it has far exceeded my expectations. First the G500. I have it interfaced with the GLD69A for weather and XM, the GTS 800 for active traffic, the GAD43e for autopilot and altitude and vertical speed preselect, and the KN 63 for DME. It works flawlessly. I never had DME hold before and now I do. I didn’t put in an external switch for GPSS to Heading; just push and hold the HDG button and the transfer is complete. Likewise select an altitude and hold the ALT button and Altitude is armed. Same for vertical speed. Select a VS and hold the VS button to start a climb or descent. It works and behaves just like the KAS 297B. Synthetic Vision was worth the money. In addition to terrain, traffic popped up on it numerous times. No more manual calculation of TAS, it’s there. In the past I thought the MFD would be worthless. It’s not. Multiple screens in MAP mode with weather and traffic overlays. XM radio and active traffic can also be controlled from here in addition to the GTNs. Garmin gives you a free month of all data and charts. I was surprised that I found the Chart for the ILS into San Jose useful. I might pay for the Jepp Chart unlock. It would be nice to have the geo referenced plate next to the PFD, although the 796 has been satisfactorily providing that. The screen resolution on the MFD is not as good as the GTN, but it wasn’t objectionable, and the weather overlays showed up nicely. Markers show up blinking in their correct colors next to the altitude tape. The unit is very easy on the eyes. The GTN 750 provides a wealth of information including traffic (correlated active and Passive), stormscope, XM weather and radio, FIS-B weather, audio panel and transponder control, a very acceptable V/Nav calculator, Timers, flight planning interfaced with the Shadin, Approaches and plates, Airways, multiple data or frequency entry methods and on and on. I found myself using both the knobs and touch depending on turbulence or whim. I thought I would not like the Home button page, but find I use it more than pressing and holding the button to get to the Map page. Excellent resolution. The traffic page it just amazing with ADS-B. Touch a target and a sector pops up showing all data available on the target. I’ve seen N numbers and airlines. And target trend provides information that Active traffic just doesn’t, like whether the traffic is going to intercept you. ATC was busy giving me traffic and where it was headed in relation to me; not needed, I saw where they were going. I’ve used the unit on student’s airplanes, but not on my own before. I really loved my KLN90B, but this is on another level. The GTN 650 the same without the audio panel and Charts. It’s backup to the G500 and 750. I got the GDL 69A at a big discount from an Avioncis shop in Australia; no XM there. Bought the install kit from Garmin. Weather and radio for a little over $2,000. Love it. Now I’m paying XM twice, once for the 796 and again for this. I’d do it again. It plays really nicely on both the G500 and GTN 750. The GTS 800 into the GDL88—the best traffic out there displayed perfectly on both GTN’s. Several questioned my sanity for having both. There is nothing like having both active traffic (no target trend here but traffic anywhere) and correlated ADS-B with target trend for traffic awareness. The GDL 88 operates in two modes, Airborne and Surface. Transition occurs at 1500 feet AGL. On the ground and set to 2 nm the airport surface chart pops up. If receiving ADS-B you see everything moving on the ground. I love the GMA 35 interfaced into the GTN 750. It does so many things I don’t know where to begin. First it is SIMPLE to operate as opposed to external units including the GMA 350. 3D audio whenever a second radio is enabled and other times I have not used yet. Music 1 and 2 inputs. I coupled each of those with the 796 on one and the GDL69A on the other. Marker outputs to the G500. Simple direction of all audio to whomever you wish. Recorder that I control on the left yoke. and Push to Command on a switch on the right yoke. PTC works amazingly well. Hold the switch and say, for example, “MIC 2”. There is a pleasant tone and the MIC and COM switch to 2. It will command other things too. I ABSOLUTELY made the right decision for me in choosing the MVP-50 over the JPI 930 engine monitor. I love it! From my distance from it in the cockpit, which is close, I’m fine with the display and the additional functions available over the JPI. The Fuel Management Page was one of the reasons I went for it and I am not disappointed. Tons of information there that I used to have to calculate by hand. No more looking under the panel for the tach either. It's right on one of the pages I check before shutdown. Each flight’s fuel is tabulated in a field. Just remember to look at it at the end of the flight because it zeros out on shut down to start again on the next flight. The MP and RPM gauges could have been more elegantly designed like that of JPI, but the information is there in digital form. There are lots of possible annunciators and I have a couple of good ones on the main page like a backup gear warning blinking red light. I have it coming on if the gear is not down by 12” MP. I called EI about my CHT temperatures being at least 40° less than on the previous JPI 700. They said to believe theirs. Same with the TIT. I find at the same power settings, that I am running less fuel than before. I love the unit. Then there is the ESI 2000 backup AI. It just works. Placed beside the G500 with the horizons matching is just a great backup. So there you have it. I couldn’t be more pleased with the results of this upgrade. If someone offered me a CJ right now, other than being crazy for doing it, I’d flat out turn them down without giving it a second thought. No doubt, for me this is a dream panel.

I want to do that, but the yokes can't be removed because of extensive wiring in them. I need to find out if that job can be done with the yokes on. Does anyone know?

It's been a long 6 months, but the plane is finally back in its hangar. It's mostly complete but the AP in not functioning. Monday should fix that problem. The configuration of these systems is really complex. Anyway here is the summary: Out: EFIS 40, KY196A, KX155, KT79, KAS 297B, KNS 81, KR87, KLN90B, WX1000+, PMA7000B, all legacy instruments. In: G500SVT, GTN750, GTN650, GTX 330ES, GAD 43E, GMA 35, GDL69A, GDL 88, GTS 800 Diversity, WX-500, ESI 2000, MVP 50. Remained, KN 63, Shadin Miniflo-L, KFC 150 I went with the External Transponder because of all the other useful functions it has. Soon to be added an AOA indicator. As a side note, the location of the ESI 2000 and G500 provide for the horizons to be horizontally centered with each other, an interesting task for the installer.

I'm not an engine expert. Just an APS graduate. 85% power--not good. Most likely the top of the engine due to high internal cylinder pressures at that high power setting.

Thank you for your input, Brian.

Are you using the Fuel Management page, satisfied with "fuel to waypoint" only instead of "fuel to Destination", what screens did you program for the Screens button, and which functions did you place in the 4 blue boxes on the Main Page? Having asked all those questions, the new product is a baby to the MVP 50---but it will give fuel to destination I am told. It won't replace all the engine instruments like the MVP 50 will.

No need to reply. I just found it on top. Poor location for it. It should be right beside the POST box, so that should be the question for the moderator.