GFC 500 Install Price

[Niko182]

Just now, lclyons said:

So forgive the question, but is a yaw damper required and how much benefit would it provide? I currently have an S-TEC 30 w/ Alt hold.

Ive heard the yaw damper is really good on the gfc500 and makes a giant difference and the yaw damper on the 3100 is okay at best.

[khedrei]

Definitely not required. I cant speak to the difference it would make but if I'm spending 22k on an auto pilot, I'll spend 26k to have the yaw dampener done at the same time. I know it's a nice chunk of money and you gotta draw the line somewhere... but I wouldnt draw it there. 

[Lawpilot15]

Read my lips: you don’t need it. Spend your money on fuel to fly your airplane. 6/17/2019

[gsxrpilot]

54 minutes ago, Lawpilot15 said:

Read my lips: you don’t need it. Spend your money on fuel to fly your airplane. 6/17/2019

Not all of us have to chose between the two... I wouldn't own such a traveling machine without a good autopilot. 

[carusoam]

Welcome aboard Lp,

Interesting first post.

Will you be staying long?

Best regards,

-a-

[steingar]

Gees, with those kinds of numbers where's the advantage over the Stecs?

[TrekLawler]

Good evening Don,

   I know you sent me a message on Sunday, my apologies for the delay on this as I was out on vacation late last week until early this week. I want to make sure everyone understands that it is illegal to make these types of adjustments into an STC'd system, especially in a flight control system. changing these gain values from what was approved by the FAA and our certification teams could have very adverse affects in other phases of flight.

 

I'm sorry Don, I will reach out to you so that we can get these settings corrected by the dealer to what is approved and we can get with them to get this troubleshot to try and find out what the problem is in your airframe.

[carusoam]

Trek,

Great follow-up.  It is nice to have you here.

I’ll let Don @donkaye know you left this message...

Best regards,

-a-

[Niko182]

14 minutes ago, carusoam said:

Trek,

Great follow-up.  It is nice to have you here.

I’ll let Don @donkaye know you left this message...

Best regards,

-a-

He already responded. And deleted his post

[carusoam]

Wish I came through earlier..  

-a-

[201Steve]

I was quoted $20k from a shop in FL on the GFC500. I started asking how that figure broke down and it sounds like they are simply referencing figures they are used to charging for autopilots in the past. My thought is... $7,000 for servos and head + $1,500 misc hardware + $4,250 labor ($85x50 hours) = $12,750 TOTAL. (Assuming already equipped with g5) Where these additional thousands of dollars are being allocated I don’t know but  as I said, sounds like they are operating on the “rich airplane owner who can afford an autopilot” ethos where it’s not a big deal to throw in another $10,000 bucks of cushion. It will be interesting to see how they ultimately respond to the new market, many of which would not be willing to spend the same amount of money as those of the past who were willingly walking in ready to spend at least $30k. With shops as busy as they are right now, it’s not like they “need”the work, so I suspect it will Take some time for some shops. I don’t know. 

[Fernando Paez]

Good morning. 

Do we know if the G500/G600 is available for a G1000 Mooney Bravo? 

Thank you, 

Fernando 

[M20F]

On 3/27/2019 at 12:11 AM, ArtVandelay said:

You might want to wait till next year, ADSB deadline probably driving up prices.


Tom

This is it, I had to wait 6 months for my guy to get time for my ADSB install.  I suspect second half of 2020 is the time to do radios because everyone (myself included) not only did ADSB but whatever other upgrades we wanted.  A huge bubble. 

[LANCECASPER]

13 hours ago, Fernando Paez said:

Good morning. 

Do we know if the G500/G600 is available for a G1000 Mooney Bravo? 

Thank you, 

Fernando 

For sure the Garmin G500 (https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/63598) and G600 (https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/6427) are not available since they have been replaced by the TXi.  The G1000 is part of the Mooney Type Certificate for these airplanes and it has to stay in the airplane until Garmin and Mooney decide if and when to come up with a TXI upgrade path.

Did you mean the GFC500/GFC600 autopilots? 

[aviatoreb]

1 hour ago, LANCECASPER said:

For sure the Garmin G500 (https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/63598) and G600 (https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/6427) are not available since they have been replaced by the TXi.  The G1000 is part of the Mooney Type Certificate for these airplanes and it has to stay in the airplane until Garmin and Mooney decide if and when to come up with a TXI upgrade path.

Did you mean the GFC500/GFC600 autopilots? 

If they wanted I would guess Garmin could  design and certify an upgrade path all on their own.

[Fernando Paez]

I apologize. I meant to say GFC500 or GFC600. 

My Bad... 

[kortopates]

2 hours ago, aviatoreb said:

If they wanted I would guess Garmin could  design and certify an upgrade path all on their own.

Garmin would say they already have, the NXi perspective being used on the current production. And Garmin's level of WAAS for the G1000 has many iterations  beyond what Mooney implemented years after Garmin released it. They still can't access any RNAV approaches that had LP with a 0 degree DA. Garmin solved that problem many years ago! The problem has never been Garmin, its always been the factory's need to devote resources to test and approve newer Garmin software. But you can hardly blame the factory since there is very little, if any, $ incentive for them to test and approve Garmin updates. Look how few G1000 users upgraded to WAAS when they could; which was significantly cheaper than ripping out the G1000 suite and building a new panel from scratch - especially if it had a GFC 700 AP. 

Edited June 30, 2019 by kortopates

[aviatoreb]

9 hours ago, kortopates said:

Garmin would say they already have, the NXi perspective being used on the current production. And Garmin's level of WAAS for the G1000 has many iterations  beyond what Mooney implemented years after Garmin released it. They still can't access any RNAV approaches that had LP with a 0 degree DA. Garmin solved that problem many years ago! The problem has never been Garmin, its always been the factory's need to devote resources to test and approve newer Garmin software. But you can hardly blame the factory since there is very little, if any, $ incentive for them to test and approve Garmin updates. Look how few G1000 users upgraded to WAAS when they could; which was significantly cheaper than ripping out the G1000 suite and building a new panel from scratch - especially if it had a GFC 700 AP. 

I’m not blaming anyone - I’m just saying I presume that it is the realm of doable - legally I mean that Garmin could design and certify an upgrade path to txi.

They would consider it if they thought they could sell enough product.  New txi units.

 

[PJClark]

Morning all,

In case anyone's still looking, I have an install scheduled for a G5 backup and a GFC500 (G3X touch 10.6 will be primary).  The GFC500, two axis with pitch trim is $13754 installed (3 servos).  The G5 is $3253 installed.

Had 2 other quotes in the middle of the US that were not quite this good but were still way less than the original poster's huuugge numbers.

PJ

[toto]

10 minutes ago, PJClark said:

Morning all,

In case anyone's still looking, I have an install scheduled for a G5 backup and a GFC500 (G3X touch 10.6 will be primary).  The GFC500, two axis with pitch trim is $13754 installed (3 servos).  The G5 is $3253 installed.

Had 2 other quotes in the middle of the US that were not quite this good but were still way less than the original poster's huuugge numbers.

PJ

So you currently have a G3X touch and you're adding one G5 and the GFC500 three-servo for about $17k all-in?

That sounds awfully good to me.

[PJClark]

Toto,

Not quite. I just  bought the airplane and it's in the paint shop.  All original 1986 252 avioncis except a 530W, 430W, and a couple other goodies. When paint and interior are done it will go to avioncs for a full panel upgrade including the G3x touch as primary.  I was just giving the price for the GFC500 and G5 for the benefit of this thread.

But that IS the price for the GFC500 and G5,, in stalled, all in!

Edited July 5, 2019 by PJClark
added info

[toto]

5 minutes ago, PJClark said:

I was just giving the price for the GFC500 and G5 for the benefit of this thread.

But that IS the price for the GFC500 and G5,, in stalled, all in!

Interesting. That's not too far off the delta I got in an estimate for a G3X with/without the AP. But I'm not actually sure about the G5, since I was going to have G5 installed as backup even if the AP didn't go in. 

I've gotten very gunshy about the whole thing, when I realized I was talking about the price of a decent F model for installing a new autopilot and a couple of LCDs. 

[PJClark]

Yes not much different.  My quote for install of G3x touch 10", integrated with everything else, is $13,500 parts and labor.  The thing that was weird to me: initially I wanted a 2 screen G3x system, the 10" and 7".  Both can be reversionary to each other but regardless all the shops I worked with insisted I'd need a G5 backup whether I have 1 screen or 2 screen G3x.  So I'm doing 10" G3x only, and an EDM900 primary for engine instruments.

[toto]

1 minute ago, PJClark said:

Yes not much different.  My quote for install of G3x touch 10", integrated with everything else, is $13,500 parts and labor.  The thing that was weird to me: initially I wanted a 2 screen G3x system, the 10" and 7".  Both can be reversionary to each other but regardless all the shops I worked with insisted I'd need a G5 backup whether I have 1 screen or 2 screen G3x.  So I'm doing 10" G3x only, and an EDM900 primary for engine instruments.

My quote was for a G3X with EIS, and I've been thinking along the same lines - go with a standalone primary engine display from another vendor.

No idea whether that will actually affect the cost in a helpful way. 

[PJClark]

If you just add EIS to the 10.6" G3x, it's about $2500 cheaper than the installed EDM900. But to me that felt a little too dependent on that one display.  EDM900 $7600 installed.  Add EIS and 7" G3x touch instead of EDM, $11,100