Anyone upgrading with Aspen PFDs?

[KSMooniac]

It looks like upgrade fever has spread to FL!

[fantom]

Quote: KSMooniac

It looks like upgrade fever has spread to FL!

[eaglebkh]

Quote: fantom

IMO, a single Aspen has enough on it, and traffic and weather should be viewed elsewhere.

BTW, what are you guys seeing as an installed price for an Aspen 1000 Pro? Down here it seems to run about $10.5K, less trade-ins and rebates. The trade in for my HSI is about $1.5K, and the current Aspen rebate is $1K, I believe. Flush mounting costs another $700.

[KLRDMD]

Quote: eaglebkh

[mooneygirl]

Do you get a quick erection with the Aspen?

 

[fantom]

Quote: mooneygirl

Do you get a quick erection with the Aspen?

 

[rogerl]

Quote: mooneygirl

Do you get a quick erection with the Aspen?

 

[rogerl]

Quote: rogerl

 ... Usually, the thing boots in 20 to 40 seconds.  Today it took 2 or 3 minutes in warm temperatures (80's) to show any activity at all.  According to manual it may take longer to boot in cold temps (2, 3 minutes at the outside).

After the much-longer-than-usual boot, went for a 140 nm flight, about 1 hour ete, uneventful.  Upon firing up to return home, found the Aspen completely dead - would not boot.  No other electrical anomalies.

...

Aspen still refuses to show any signs of life - will be calling shop tomorrow.

Up to this point it's been a great tool; but with this experience, and seeing that the unit/install is something like 6 months old ... well, I'll see how the shop visit goes. 

Will report up in a couple of weeks.

[steelerp]

The more I fly behind it, the better I like it.  Also...if you're looking at a 430, spend the extra coin and get the 530.  For my 51 year old eyes,  it makes a big difference.   Rick

[steelerp]

Well,  if you have 4 mins and have not seen one in action,  go here

 

When I was trying to decide on whether to buy one or not buy one, I couldn't find any video that showed me an installation and more specifically, the screen size.  Hopefully, if you are on the fence about buyiing an Aspen, this will help. I also bought the Sporty's video once I signed the deal.  Yeah...it's a sales video for their MFD and other options.  But, I found when I got in the airplane....I was totally plugged in.

Also, no sales tax in Oklahoma for this sort of thing.  And, the shop has really treated me right (price & service). 

Rick

[gofast]

Quote: mooneygirl

Do you get a quick erection with the Aspen?

 

[rogerl]

Quote: rogerl

Turns out that the PFD unit itself did have issues; it lasted about 5 months / 60 hours.  Other experiences with the equipment might help to establish if there is a pattern.

I have to add that Aspen support is great - Santa Fe Aero sent their installer down to my hanger at KABQ the next day with a new unit from Aspen.  I suppose it didn't hurt that Aspen is based in Albuquerque.

My personal take-away here is to pay attention to the boot up time - if it changes for the worse, and obviously not due to temperature, beware.

[KLRDMD]

Quote: rogerl

Given this lack of reliability, I am questioning my decision to go with it rather than the G500.  Hate those subscription fees, but if this kind of thing happens on a big cross country I wil be stuck relying upon a handheld for crucial navigation.  Don't even think about going into IMC with one of these unless you have serious navigation secondaries.

This is really starting to piss me off !!!  The second unit in less than a year becoming unreliable ?  How in the hell did these make it through the certification process ?

[carusoam]

RogerL,

Have you had contact with Peter Lyons...?  (cofounder Aspen)

http://www.mooneyspace.com/index.cfm?mainaction=memberdetails&member=2902

He seams to be a good first line of Offense for Aspen.

Hopefully you will identify and resolve the issues quickly.

Does the PFD battery back-up indicate how much the battery is charged?  or when it is operating on the battery as a power source?  It sounds like the power supply or ground becomes loose / disconnected.  Comes alive when power is restored, dies when power and battery run down.

Best regards,

-a-

[jelswick]

Very sorry to hear that Roger and makes me a little nervous.  Are they finding it is in fact issues with the unit itself or could it have anything to do with the install?  Just seems odd and I'm sure very frustrating that you've have had the issue twice now.  I'm picking up my J this Friday with the Pro PFD, MFD 500 and their weather box as well as an STec30 installed. 

Having read a few of the posts with delays on some of the installs, I'll also add Ron Collins Aviation in Henderson, KY would have been ready on time last week, but I had them delay a week.  They said they were unable to do the flush mount because the part of the kit that goes behind the panel is taller than the unit itself and fell about 1/4" short of fitting against the fuel and engine gauge cluster on my 201 (that unit too apparently is larger than what is displayed in the panel).  So, I had them take the money that would have gone into the flush mount to strip and powder coat the panel and they said they will be done this Tues with me picking it up Friday.  Nice to see an install on time.  Now if it's on price (they said they fix price these installs with what was quoted; they're confident from having done so many of them), I'll be a very happy camper.  Can't wait!

[ProprAire]

RogerL,

I just updated my Aspen Customer Portal log with a note that anyone interested in learning more about the Mooney Aspen upgrade experience should check out this string on MooneySpace.  I understand Aspen reviews these posts before the actually make it to their website.  Hopefully, we'll all soon learn their thoughts on what you've experienced. 

BTW:  I recall the first time I ever saw an Aspen installed in an aircraft (a Centurion).  It was in a perpetual reboot mode as a result of a low battery according to the DKK Avionics tech.  He said the issue would clear up after a good recharge.

Good luck!

Dan

[rogerl]

...Does the PFD battery back-up indicate how much the battery is charged?  or when it is operating on the battery as a power source?  It sounds like the power supply or ground becomes loose / disconnected.  Comes alive when power is restored, dies when power and battery run down...

... It was in a perpetual reboot mode as a result of a low battery according to the DKK Avionics tech.  He said the issue would clear up after a good recharge....

[jelswick]

Well, I hope this gets worked out to your satisfaction Roger and hope we're all done with seeing this issue.  I knew they had early issues, but everyone's raved about their customer service and I'd just hope they have the kinks out of the units at this point.  I went with the PFD1000 and MFD500 based on the finances.  It does make a great case for the MFD1000 with it's reversion capability.  We have the standby intruments to go back on I guess and I retained all of them and just got rid of the ADF and the CDI for the KX 165 to make room for the MFD.  My plan is to eventually add the third unit with the MFD1000 but liked splitting it up because it spreads the cost out and gives me time to make sure I'm very comfortable with the move to using the glass as primary.  Good luck resolving this one with Aspen and let us know how it goes.  

[peter]

Quote: rogerl

Santa Fe Aero did the original install - I assume this is the same place that Peter Lyons had his panel done; when mine was in the shop for the install I thought one of the guys had told me that this other Mooney getting a full Aspen complement was John Uczekaj's plane, but on Aspen's website it says John flies a Diamond.  At any rate, they've done a pile of them so I assume it was done right (!).

201ZT does have one of those 'fluctuating ammeter' needles that dances around like a drunken clown, but the voltage has always been rock steady at 13.6 to 13.7 (confirmed by Davitron and also the new JPI 730 data stream).  None other than Don Maxwell himself said that fluctuating ammeter needle is basically a 201 design flaw, and nothing to worry about (yep, did the master switch replacement - didn't help)

[blacknchrome]

Quote: steelerp

Well,

[Guillaume]

Quote: blacknchrome

 

Off topic- but is this common? He's doing 175kts true in a J? Is it a Missile conversion throttle back? I thought the J's were 150-maybe 165kt airplanes.

[mooniac58]

Well, my M20J is going in this week to get 3 Aspen units (EFD1000 PFD, EFD1000 MFD & EFD500 MFD), a Stec-55 autopilot, XM Weather unit, an Avidyne TAS-600 traffic system installed and a RC Allen 2600 LCD Artificial Horizon (vacuum system will be completely removed).  I already have an EDM-900 as my primary engine instrumentation, so the panel is going to be pretty clean after all of this.  I did some mock-up layouts and the panel is remarkably bare looking.  However, it is going to be very heavy on LCD screens and electronics, which makes a super computer geek like me feel right at home

Santa Fe Aero will also be doing my install along with an all new panel cut with laser etching.  I have been in and out of their shop many times over the past 6 months and I have to say - I really like Pat, John and the rest of the team there.  Their shop is incredibly well organized and the people behind it seem very professional and knowledgable.  They were very competitive in their pricing and made it impossible to justify going anyplace else.

Total downtime is expected to be about 4 weeks...perhaps 5 since I am going to have them do my annual inspection while they have her torn down so far.

I too went back and forth on whether or not to go with Garmin G500 or the Aspen configuration.  In the end I went with the Aspen units for the increased redundancy.  Because the Aspen units are completely self-contained the 1000 MFD unit can 100% take over for a failed PFD.  In the Garmin setup if the computer in the rear of the aircraft dies your entire EFIS system dies.  Plus the Aspens offer built in battery backup (30 mins in the PFD and 90 minutes in the MFD) and they feature backup GPS units as well.  With the three Aspen displays I like that I will be able to load my geo-referenced plate on the left MFD, and the moving map/vector view on the right MFD and still have my PFD in the middle.  For me it gave me a dynamic that I could not get with the G500.

I hope I made the correct decision, and only time will tell if this new panel lives up to all the hype in my head about it.

I will post pictures as I get them and of course some good ones of the final product. 

[fantom]

WOW Craig, did you hit the lotto? That sounds like at least a 50 AMU investment.

What a wonderful set-up!

[N513ZM]

I installed Aspen PFD1000 Pro and EA100 autopilot

adapter late November and have approx 30hrs on it now.

I completely removed my vacuum system.

After an initial series of failures - both of the PFD and EA100 - they appear to be stable at this point.

I am unhappy with the EA100 as regards accuracy and smoothness but there is a software fix that I am hoping to get loaded this Friday so I will let you know if that improves things. The symptoms I am seeing are some jerkiness in pitch, "hunting" en-route and inability to capture final approach course from a large angle intercept. These are all issues that did not exist before the Aspen install in my airplane. 

That said - Aspen has been terrific on support, and I am hoping that this software load will resolve my issue. It's been difficult for me to get things squared away quickly due to a combination of bad wx, holidays and my schedule.

I gained 34lbs of useful load and - while it remains to be proven over time - solid state reliability. I am very happy to have an ADC and love digital readouts and tapes etc. My Sandel display felt a bit less cluttered but that is essentially nit

picking.

More to come..

 

 

 

[rogerl]

Quote: fantom

WOW Craig, did you hit the lotto? That sounds like at least a 50 AMU investment.

What a wonderful set-up!