Search the Community

I have owned C-FSWR for over 12 years now, and I have finally committed the resources to putting her in the /G category. Clarence found a great price on a GNS 480 for me while he was at Sun'n'Fun and brought it home last weekend. As many of you already know, an E model does not have a lot of panel room so if I want to keep two CDI's, one of them is going to have to be part of an HSI. See pic below where the HDG bug is driving the autopilot enroute to Wichita from St. Louis with the TNL 2000A monitoring deviations before switching my one NAV radio over from Vichy (VIH) to Butler (BUM). These are the anticipated changes. DG goes. Narco 810 goes. TNL 2000A goes. Move the Narco Mk 12D down to allow the GNS 480 to sit just below the audio panel. All good. So which HSI works with a 480? Lots do, but not a lot of them are simple plug and play. KCS 55 or STEC 180 or Collins ProLine. Varying in price from less than 1 AMU for a Collins to 4.5 AMUs for the full King system. Ouch. If I want something to help in terms of GPSS, it really has to be an electric one with software guts. Bunch of advantages: off of the vacuum pump; good battery life in the event of an electrical failure; GPSS and roll steering; works with my STEC 50. Only one choice at less than 8 AMUs. Garmin G5 for 3.5 AMUs. So that is what I am doing. Has almost everything an Aspen has, but even with one as an HSI and one as an EFIS (AI), the boxes cost less than 6 AMUs. I know, I know - installation is another matter and these two (480 and G5 HSI) will cost me nearly the value of the boxes to install them. Sheesh. But soon I will be equipped for travel in the 21st Century. In case anyone wants to raise it, the KR 97 stays. We still have NDBs in Canada. When I get back from Thailand in May - C-FSWR goes into the shop for a combo avionics installation and then to Clarences for its annual. When I get back from a bunch of places in Asia in June, she will be ready for heavy duty practice. I will post updates.

Any opinions or comments about an "easy way" into this? Would it be satisfactory to acquire a used GTX330ES (or 330 then pay for the upgrade) and a used 400W/500W/430W/530W? I see that 330's go for 1-2AMU's (depending on ES upgrade) and I have seen 400W's for as low as 3AMU's. I know that the GTX345 has AHRS and Bluetooth, which is nice, but that individual device alone is more expensive than a used 330ES+400W installed. I have an SL30 nav/comm now and could add in a VAL COM2000 to account for the loss of the 300XL's comm feature.