$500 of $7000

[Glen Davis]

Guys, I have a Garmin GTX 330 ES connected to a Garmin 530.  I want to have Traffic and Weather on my Ipad.  I can swap the 330 for a 345 for a cost of $7000 and I will have traffic and weather on my Ipad.  Or I can buy from Sporty's a Sentry portable ADSB  for $500 and have traffic and weather on my Ipad.  What am I missing?  Seems like a no-brainer.

Glen

I 

[carusoam]

Just need to balance how well you like reliability vs. how willing you are to have a nest of wires and temporary mounts...

If you typically fly VFR/day only, the temporary stuff is great...
 

If you fly in IMC, often... your appreciation for the temporary stuff goes away the first time the batteries run low and the plug keeps Falling out...

When it comes to traffic displays... also, be up to speed with the various levels available... every now and then somebody reviews what source is available on each device...  it is nice to have all the traffic, not just some...
 

When it comes to XM vs ADSB weather in... the are different reasons for each one... one works better than other at certain parts of the flight... and their skills keep getting better with time...

PP thoughts only, not an radio guy...
 

Best regards,

-a-

[J0nathan225]

w/ the GTX 345 you also get an internal AHRS, if you're running Garmin pilot or fore-flight you will then get synthetic vision/ATT info.  If you have flyQ etc you'll at least get GPS data when connect. 

Is that 7k after selling or trading in the 330?

FWIW I have the GTX 345 and love it. Paired to the GTN 650 and it pushes WX traffic to it and the Aspen.  So for future proofing, if you are upgrading the panel down the road, the GTX is the way to go. 

Edited September 17, 2020 by J0nathan225

[DXB]

31 minutes ago, Glen Davis said:

Guys, I have a Garmin GTX 330 ES connected to a Garmin 530.  I want to have Traffic and Weather on my Ipad.  I can swap the 330 for a 345 for a cost of $7000 and I will have traffic and weather on my Ipad.  Or I can buy from Sporty's a Sentry portable ADSB  for $500 and have traffic and weather on my Ipad.  What am I missing?  Seems like a no-brainer.

Glen

I 

You are missing nothing - it's a no brainer, particularly if you don't have  a ton of screen real estate in your panel.  I've found traffic/weather using a Stratus 2 stably mounted and continuously charged by USB to be a highly reliable setup with for >5 years.  The battery life is outstanding and hasn't deteriorated much over this long service life. The backup AHRS is also nice to have though I wouldn't want it to be my only backup. I suspect the newer Stratus models and  Sentry are even better and offer additional features.

I have updated the Ipad during this period (I use a mini 5 presently). The newer hardware made a big difference in how smoothly Foreflight runs and toggles between displays. I use my old mini 2 mounted on the right panel as a backup and a 2nd moving map display when I'm using the yoke-mounted mini 5 to look at an approach chart.  

[Ragsf15e]

I actually use and like having traffic and wx on my 430W, so your 530 would be even better.  There are also audio alerts for traffic.  

That being said, if it’s $5k ($7k seems high, and I have a 345), I’d probably go with the sentry too.

[rbridges]

1 hour ago, Glen Davis said:

Guys, I have a Garmin GTX 330 ES connected to a Garmin 530.  I want to have Traffic and Weather on my Ipad.  I can swap the 330 for a 345 for a cost of $7000 and I will have traffic and weather on my Ipad.  Or I can buy from Sporty's a Sentry portable ADSB  for $500 and have traffic and weather on my Ipad.  What am I missing?  Seems like a no-brainer.

Glen

I 

My 2 cents:. I'd go with the portable option. I did it for years and only stepped up to the 345 when I got my Aspen displays. IMO the 430/530 don't display adsb near as well as an ipad.

[carusoam]

Great logic Jim!  

 

So...

If Glenn goes with the 7AMU option...

The only things he will be missing...

1) A stack of cash...

2) A CO monitor... (the Sentry has one...)

3) A hassle of battery levels, wires and connectors... vacuum mounts for the window...

 

Starting with the portable route...

1) A low cost method of getting weather info into the plane...

2) If it doesn’t meet expectations... it’s not primary flight instruments...so not dangerous to use...

3) If deciding to go the expensive route later, the portable stuff can be sold, handed to the next generation, or displayed on a shelf... in the pilot’s lounge....

PP thoughts only, not an instruments expert...

Best regards,

-a-

[Lance Link]

Or, look at the Garmin 52 line for about 1 AMU and get a bunch of added features.

 

[McMooney]

I have both a garmin gdl39 3d and a stratus 2 in Birdy, both are hardwired to the plane with external antennae.  

never an issue, works great.  Actually, i never use the stratus as i don't have foreflight, might upgrade to a stratus 3i one of these days.

[Greg Ellis]

if $7000 is the swap price, then I would go with something portable.  I used a portable device for many years until I did my panel and it worked great.  I now have the GTX345 which is great too but I paid less than $5000 for the transponder.  Tough to tell you the installation price since it was in the whole panel upgrade.  I looked at the Garmin website and they have gone up in price on the transponder but not $7000 unless you get diversity with it (2 antennas, one on top and one on bottom of the fuselage).

[MIm20c]

Should be a $4k swap max. 3k for equipment (4.5-1.5 used value) and 1k for labor. That being said I’m leaving one 330es in one plane and swapping a 330es for a 345 in the other.  So I’m going with both options. 

[bradp]

I have a 300ES.  I bought a 52R PMA for like $900 after rebates. It’s hard wired to my 660 and Bluetooth to my iPad.  I can turn XM on or off as I need.  Great unit. 

[Andy95W]

I have a Garmin Aera 500 paired with a GDL-39 (basic model).  For under $1000, I get traffic and weather on a display larger than a 430 on my yoke right in front of my face.  Plus- I wired it into my audio system so it yells "Traffic! Traffic!" or "Obstacle Ahead!" into my headphones.

A new Garmin 660 and a new GDL-50 will run about $1450 and will do all of that plus give you a backup attitude indicator because the GDL50 has AHRS.

[MikeOH]

I have a Scout and it works just fine with my iPad for traffic and weather.  ADSB-Out with a TailBeacon

Under $2500 installed, with tax, for both.

Happy camper

[glbtrottr]

I went from an original mooney panel to a Garmin 430, JPI EDM711, KcS 55a, MX20, backup AI, GDL69 weather, stormscope wx500, and GTX330 back in the day. The panel upgrade was NOT cheap, specially when done at the factory...

Today? I don’t know that price to value is worth it. I’m offended by avionics prices, and we happily feed that machine.

A tailbeacon or other ADSB out works perfectly fine, along with a solidly mounted gdl 39/50/51/52 or similarly functioning ADSB in tool. While I have a 12” iPad, I also have used IPad minis on ram mounts with great success. I have Garmin 696’s on both the airplanes, as well as 500’s fed by GDL39’s. The iPad is fed by a 20000mah brick constantly charged.

An iPad provides far better quality context than my MX20 /GMX200 ever did, including traffic and direction.

I’ve actually transitioned into making my own harnesses and having them inspected and the install signed off. If I must have a GTX345 or GDL88, WAAS gps, and more modern displays, I’d rather work with a shop or IA than pay Garmin and a shop full tilt. And If I MUST have newer avionics, I’d certainly give Dynon, PS engineering, Aspen or others a hard look.

[jazztheglass]

I have used both.  Maybe I had an early portable device but there was akways a power/charging issue and I think the warranty was pretty meager (90 days?)  So I bought a second one and maybe even a third generation.  Those things are nice but pretty flimsy.  I got in moderate turbulence one day and it flew off its mount.  I put in a 345 and it works great.  Not having to worry about recharging and toting the portable around is nice.  Plus I suspect in 20 years when you look at my panel the 345 will still be there,  I suspect that 5 or more portables will have come and gone.

[AerostarDriver]

So a suggestion may be to go with the GTX 335 which gives you mode S traffic on your Ipad and panel mount and then do a GDL 39 3D or GDL 50 for ADS-B, AHRS and FIS-B on the iPad? You would be in for about half the cost.