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Question for those who have upgraded their Aspen's to the Max Pro


Bart Chilcott

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I currently am running an Aspen Evolution 2000 Pro with synthetic vision, XM Weather and TAS605 traffic.  I'm thinking of upgrading the PFD / MFD to the Max Pro system but wanted to seek input from those who have done so already.  The cost is now $7500.00 for the upgrade.  For those of you who have done this, did you find it worth the expense?  Would you do it again at the current price?  I have really enjoyed my Aspens, however I've had two unit failures since 2015.  Aspen has taken care of them under extended warranty however, I'm hoping  the upgrade is also an improvement in reliability.   I'm not looking to remove my vacuum AI at this time so that is not a selling point to me.  All experienced opinions appreciated. 
Thanks in advance!

Bart Chilcott (whiskey charlie)
N706WC
1965 M20E

 

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Edited by Whiskey Charlie
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I've had my system for a couple years. Never had a failure, but did get the restarts, maybe 5 times total.  Had new firmware installed and been good since. 

I got the upgrades at $2k apiece AND I wanted the ability to remove my vacuum system.  Given the increased upgrade price and the fact you don't care about removing your vacuum, I can't really come up with a compelling reason to do it besides the new warranty. 

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My 2 cents.  I did the PFD Pro to Max upgrade only.  I never had an issue with the old one.  The graphics are clearly better with the new one, but not nearly enough to justify expense - the old unit was fine.  The altitude callouts are really nice but also not enough to justify expense.  I hear the synthetic vision display is MUCH better, but I don't have synthetic vision  I did it because I hated the dependence of the old one on pitot/static for AI and heading - stupid stupid design. I found myself flying hard IMC fairly often as an inexperienced instrument pilot, and I wanted the extra reliability.  But operationally, I've noticed very little difference relative to the old unit - which might be viewed as a plus.

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Just now, rbridges said:

I've had my system for a couple years. Never had a failure, but did get the restarts, maybe 5 times total.  Had new firmware installed and been good since. 

I got the upgrades at $2k apiece AND I wanted the ability to remove my vacuum system.  Given the increased upgrade price and the fact you don't care about removing your vacuum, I can't really come up with a compelling reason to do it besides the new warranty. 

Thanks for your input!   So you don't feel there is enough improvement in screen quality or other features given the current upgrade price?  I tried to get in on the 2K per unit upgrade.  I missed out on it by four weeks and Aspen refused to let me have the promo price.  I even wrote a letter to the CEO but got no response from him.

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Bart,

You can look at it two ways...

1) Don’t want to spend the money.... the upgrade isn’t that much more powerful of a device...

2) Do want to spend the money... the color screen definition is night and day different, the computing power is there to deliver the awesome graphics... you can tell the upgrade just by looking at it... and watching it...

3) the road to upgrades was a bit rocky... many were done at the same time... Turn around times were extended... and software updates were not smoothly executed... a few reported resets....

 

Compared to the dials and needles I’m hanging onto... I’m just jealous of your color screen count... :)

Best regards,

-a-

 

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Just now, carusoam said:

Compared to the dials and needles I’m hanging onto... I’m just jealous of your color screen count... 

Ha! Thanks carusoam.  Honestly, I love my Aspens but that little center mounted Aera 660 packs on hell of a punch for $750.00.  Its so crystal clear that it got me to thinking my Aspens may need refreshing.  HOWEVER, $750 and $7500 are quite a different animal.

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Thanks for your input!   So you don't feel there is enough improvement in screen quality or other features given the current upgrade price?  I tried to get in on the 2K per unit upgrade.  I missed out on it by four weeks and Aspen refused to let me have the promo price.  I even wrote a letter to the CEO but got no response from him.


If the upgrades were still available at $4k, I would jump on it. $7,500 is a bit much. You do get a 2 year warranty with the Max, so at $4k, you are really only paying $3k for the upgrade.

There are a few things I like about the Max over the originals. At night, the display is not washed out like it was on the original units. I think this is because the light sensor works better on the Max.

Outside of the better resolution, there are some features that have been added to the Max. One being the METARS showing up on the MFD’s nav map. Makes it so much easier to get local weather conditions.

They also now allow you to turn on the TIS-B traffic IDs - and let them stay on. On the originals, the IDs would only stay on screen for a minute or so.

If you have Synthetic Vision, you’ll see a smoother display. It was never really that jerky to begin with, but it is definitely smoother.

Dev mentioned the altitude call outs which nicer than the “dong dong dong”.

I would wait and see if they run more promos. If you have an Aspen avionics shop that you work with, try to see if they can cut you a deal with Aspen. That’s how I ended up with the Aspen 2000.

I’ve been flying with the Aspen 2000 since 2012. Never had an issue and the Max units which I had installed in November 2019 have been solid as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
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22 hours ago, Whiskey Charlie said:

Thanks for your input!   So you don't feel there is enough improvement in screen quality or other features given the current upgrade price?  I tried to get in on the 2K per unit upgrade.  I missed out on it by four weeks and Aspen refused to let me have the promo price.  I even wrote a letter to the CEO but got no response from him.

Wait, you wrote a letter to John Uczekaj and he didn't respond?  Is that true?  If so, you let me know and I will address that with him personally.  That is NOT ok.  I am not joking either Bart.  I will ensure he answers you and addresses your concerns in your letter.  Just let me know and if you would like, please send me the letter as well, you already have my email as we have spoken on the phone and via email before.  If not it is in my signature here as well I believe.  

I promise to get you a response by the end of the week if you can send it NLT tomorrow.  

Thank you everyone and I am sorry for my high energy.  I just do not like when things like that happens to good quality customers, and you too @carusoam!  LOL

Edited by Baker Avionics
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21 minutes ago, carusoam said:

High energy and high performance go together!

Thanks for supplying the details Greg!

See if we can reset the clock... :)

Bart, still interested?

Best regards,

-a-

If @Whiskey Charlie is still interested, Bart knows how to get in touch.  He is a good guy and just wants some answers it seems.  

 

Thank you for the kind thoughts

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1 hour ago, Baker Avionics said:

If @Whiskey Charlie is still interested, Bart knows how to get in touch.  He is a good guy and just wants some answers it seems.  

 

Thank you for the kind thoughts

Greg, Yes, I’m very interested.  Interested in knowing why positive constructive feed back from loyal customers to a CEO was completely ignored and still interested in the upgrade.
 

 I wrote a letter to John Uczekaj.  I spoke with his admin and asked for his contact info.  She asked me what the nature of my request for contact was. I explained that I wanted to voice my concern over not being informed Via mailing list like other Aspen customers about the opportunity to upgrade my displays during the promo and that I had spoken with a particular employee about the issue and how the company needed to improve its CRS (customer relationship software) as I was never contacted about the promotion.  I sent the letter to the admin but suspect she may have round  filed it.  I still have the email, and proff of its delivery.  Happy to forward it to you Greg. 

 

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1 hour ago, Baker Avionics said:

If @Whiskey Charlie is still interested, Bart knows how to get in touch.  He is a good guy and just wants some answers it seems.  

 

Email copy of letter sent to John Uczekaj CEO, CC: Mark Ferrari Director Of Marketing via Vicki Calloway admin, has been sent to you Greg.  THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND HELP!

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On 9/15/2020 at 8:46 PM, Whiskey Charlie said:

Greg, Yes, I’m very interested.  Interested in knowing why positive constructive feed back from loyal customers to a CEO was completely ignored and still interested in the upgrade.
 

 I wrote a letter to John Uczekaj.  I spoke with his admin and asked for his contact info.  She asked me what the nature of my request for contact was. I explained that I wanted to voice my concern over not being informed Via mailing list like other Aspen customers about the opportunity to upgrade my displays during the promo and that I had spoken with a particular employee about the issue and how the company needed to improve its CRS (customer relationship software) as I was never contacted about the promotion.  I sent the letter to the admin but suspect she may have round  filed it.  I still have the email, and proff of its delivery.  Happy to forward it to you Greg. 

 

 

Not trying to disparage your post but in early 2019 if you didn't hear that Aspen was running the Max upgrade promo through the end of April 2019 you were living under a rock. (After re-reading this I realize that "living under a rock" might have sounded a little harsh, but my point was that Aspen promoted this special through many channels and if someone didn't see it, it certainly wasn't for Aspen's lack of trying. The thousands that took advantage of the special shows how many noticed it and couldn't resist. )

It was all over Flying online and magazine, AOPA online and magazine, AIN online, Sun N Fun e-mails, flyers, AvWeb, Aviation Consumer, online forums such as Mooneyspace, Beechtalk, Pilots of America, Aero News Network, YouTube, Sarasota Avionics website and spam e-mails, etc, etc.

 

Just to name a few:

 

https://www.flyingmag.com/aspen-avionics-evolution-max-upgrade-displays/

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2019/march/25/aspen-evolution-upgrades-prove-popular

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2019/april/05/new-aspen-max-displays-dazzle-with-color

https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/aspen-pro-max-upgrade.116841/

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=d304b9cc-c84f-4a14-b4d1-48c7c3e0b45b

https://www.beechtalk.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=166059&start=45

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/general-aviation/2019-03-25/demand-growing-aspen-evolution-max-upgrades

 

I've always found John Uczekaj to be very accessible at Sun N Fun and Oshkosh and very reasonable to deal with. But if he was to extend this same deal a month after or a year and a half after it expired, it would be a bit of a slap in the face to all of the people, including myself, that Aspen told was only an introductory, one time deal, and that it had to be purchased by April 30, 2019. Aspen was saying in their booth in 2019 at Sun N Fun say that the deal would not be extended under any circumstances. Mr. Uczekaj should have responded to your e-mail and politely reminded you of the widely known terms of the upgrade. If he did go back and offer it to you after it expired, shouldn't he then offer it to anyone else that didn't take advantage of it? Personally I am tired of the "I'll just scream loud enough and I'll get my way" customer mentality that has become a commonplace technique of so many. The customer is not always right and personal responsibility goes both ways.

To get all three screens upgraded with new warranties for $5995 was too good of a deal to pass up. A lot of the chatter on forums was that some people didn't want to pre-pay for the upgrade without knowing exactly when Aspen would deliver. I paid for it in February 2019, and they told me I should have them by October. They had FAA approval by early JulyI ended up with them almost two months sooner than they said.

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1 hour ago, LANCECASPER said:

 

Not trying to disparage your post but in early 2019 if you didn't hear that Aspen was running the Max upgrade promo through the end of April 2019 you were living under a rock.

I appreciate your input.  I probably live a different life than most.  I’m a small business owner.  I work, spend time with family and I fly.  The last time I was at Oshkosh was 1987, never been to sun in fun and really have zero interest in going.  Not into crowds or taking about flying.  I’d rather be doing it.   I fly 100 to 150 hours per year. I’m probably on Mooney space five times in a year and I don’t subscribe to  AOPA, Flying or any other magazine.   I recently, however found value in aviation consumer magazine and started subscribing to it this year.  I grew up in aviation as a third generation pilot. When I first earned my private, i probably subscribed to all the magazines and spent time talking about a flying as at that time I couldn’t afford to actually do it.  Now, it’s a different story.  I’ve been flying for 33 years so the newness wore off long ago.  I’m not one to sit, for very long.  I’m busy running two businesses.  I guess my priorities are different than most but that doesn’t qualify me as one who lives under a rock.  On the contrary, I’m making things happen while others enjoy the couch.  My communication with John was meant to be constructive.  Just as I would hope any of my customers would give me feed back in how I can improve my communication to them.  
Thanks again for your insight! 

Bart Chilcott 

Edited by Whiskey Charlie
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I spend a fare amount of time surfing the net from a couch... Or kitchen table...

Connecting people together...

Whether they live under a rock, or on top of the world...

 

I’m always looking forward to the next steps... :)

Some posts don’t always sound as constructive as they were meant to be... :)

Best regards,

-a-

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On 9/18/2020 at 8:33 AM, Cruiser said:

dealer

 

On 9/18/2020 at 8:33 AM, Cruiser said:

Where was the dealer on this? IF you are that busy that you can't spare a moment to stay current in aviation, I (as a customer) would have asked my dealer to do that for me.  

I suppose my dealer was busy as well in the midst of wrapping up ADSB installs. (Which may go on for a few more years) Really, It’s all good.  The purpose of my post was merely to seek input on the max pro and what value my fellow aviators put on the upgrade before I pulled the trigger.  Was never meant to be a complaint.  Aspen has always been great to me.  

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