Avionics Shop Recommends in MI / Midwest

[FlyingScot]

I am looking to upgrade two 430W's in a pre-glass O2 to a GTN 750/650 stack.  I would be grateful for feedback on the best Garmin Avionics shops in the Midwest with particular attention to MI, upstate OH, or upstate IN. 

If you have experience with this upgrade path and have advice to share, I would appreciate that as well - Thank you!

Edited June 17, 2019 by FlyingScot

[carusoam]

Welcome aboard, Scot.

Stand by for somebody from your Mooney neighborhood...

Best regards,

-a-

[FlyingScot]

8 hours ago, carusoam said:

Welcome aboard, Scot.

Stand by for somebody from your Mooney neighborhood...

Best regards,

-a-

Thank you!

[BDPetersen]

Modern Avionics, MFD, (Mansfield, OH) seems to be doing good work. Have given me lots of support, but I haven’t had actual work done as of yet. 

[steingar]

If you can get them to pick uptake phone I've yet to hear anything bad about the shop at OSU.

[Andy95W]

Huron Avionics is very good, and the owner Bill McKelvey has received awards from the state of Michigan and the local FAAST team for his work and for how long he's been in business.

[flyingcheesehead]

On 6/16/2019 at 9:16 PM, FlyingScot said:

I am looking to upgrade two 430W's in a pre-glass O2 to a GTN 750/650 stack.  I would be grateful for feedback on the best Garmin Avionics shops in the Midwest with particular attention to MI, upstate OH, or upstate IN. 

If you have experience with this upgrade path and have advice to share, I would appreciate that as well - Thank you!

I highly recommend Skycom Avionics at KUES Waukesha, WI. They do fantastic work. They probably won't be the cheapest quote you get, but they will do it right the first time which always ends up being cheapest in the long run. 

They did a significant upgrade in my 1997 O1 in late 2017, pulling almost all the King stuff out except the autopilot and one nav/com, and some other non-King stuff too. They put in a GTN 750, GMA 350c, GTX 345, and FlightStream 510 and I'm very happy with the result! We decided to wait on doing anything with the autopilot or the instruments because of how quickly things were/are moving in that area. We'll likely follow on with "part 2" of the upgrade in the next couple of years, likely to be a G3X Touch, G5 backup, and GFC 500.

I will say this: The best decision we made was to go with the GMA 350c audio panel. Even the owner of the shop tried to talk us out of it... But when he saw how well it worked on the test flight, he said he'd be installing one in his own plane.

The 350c is Garmin's audio panel that has voice control, and that really makes the GTN much more usable. Without it, getting most anywhere in the GTN interface means hitting the Home button followed by something else on the touchscreen, and another touch for many pages. With it, you can get to any page in the entire UI with a single voice command. You can also tune radio frequencies, control the audio panel itself, etc.

So, for example, instead of hitting "Home" and then "Traffic", you just push the PTC (push to command) button on the yoke and say "Show traffic". Instead of Home->Waypoint Info->Airport->Wx Data, you say "Show destination airport weather." Instead of looking at the chart and twisting knobs or Home->Waypoint Info->Airport->Frequencies->ATIS you just say "Tune Destination ATIS." It's really really nice, and if you're going to be doing the audio panel when you do the GTN, the 350c is the way to go.

Definitely get the FlightStream 510 as well. It's really nice to be able to update the databases over WiFi and never touch a data card again, and also to plan a flight on your iPad at home and then bring it to the airport and beam it to the panel.

[steingar]

Whatever you do don’t try and go the cheap route. You’ll spend the same or more in the process, and probably add lots and lots of aggravation in the process.

[FlyingScot]

11 hours ago, flyingcheesehead said:

I highly recommend Skycom Avionics at KUES Waukesha, WI. They do fantastic work. They probably won't be the cheapest quote you get, but they will do it right the first time which always ends up being cheapest in the long run. 

They did a significant upgrade in my 1997 O1 in late 2017, pulling almost all the King stuff out except the autopilot and one nav/com, and some other non-King stuff too. They put in a GTN 750, GMA 350c, GTX 345, and FlightStream 510 and I'm very happy with the result! We decided to wait on doing anything with the autopilot or the instruments because of how quickly things were/are moving in that area. We'll likely follow on with "part 2" of the upgrade in the next couple of years, likely to be a G3X Touch, G5 backup, and GFC 500....

Thank you! This is very helpful - I was debating as to whether going with the "c" was a good idea - and thank you for the recommend on the shop - I appreciate the detailed explanation - 

[FlyingScot]

Thanks to everyone for your recommendation/advice - very helpful, and very encouraging  - 

Edited June 23, 2019 by FlyingScot

[MIm20c]

We’ve used most of the shops around SW Michigan. Had a GDL69/mx20 put in 13 years ago up at Tulip City airport. A 750/650 combo was installed at premier avionics in Fort Wayne about 7 years ago.  Both time the experience was very positive. Indiana does not charge sales tax if that matters to you.