Replacing MX20 with GMX200

[231Pilot]

My MX20 died several months ago and I considered a total panel upgrade, but post election market drops made that impractical. I have obtained a yelow tagged GMX200 with traffic and chartview and am planning on having it installed in place of the MX20. Anyone out there familiar with the conversion and the approximate time/expense I should expect from the avionics shop?

I considered making the Aspen conversion, but the installer wanted to make it a total panel upgrade and his wishlist got to be way too rich for my wallet (over 50 AMU for Aspens, new radio/gps, new panel, etc.). Maybe in a better economy, but for now, I'll just replace the MFD.

Comments on the process and expense of the conversion?

Thanks.

[M016576]

Isn't it an identical pinout? I always assumed it was as the mx200 is pretty much the same design, just with faster processing power?

Edit- and if that's the case couldn't you replace it yourself?

[Jeff_S]

I believe there is still some work to do on the panel because it's not a direct drop replacement. I also have an MX20 that so far is going strong but am looking at the GMX200 as a potential path in the future, so I'll be curious to see your results. Please keep this thread updated if you can. Thanks!

[Awful_Charlie]

I'm not yet in the same boat, but sort of waiting for the MX20 to die and become BER. Depending on when it does it, it is either GMX200, or removal of the MX20 and GNS430 and replace with a either a GTN750 or an Avidyne

My understanding is that the upgrade involves checking the power, moving one pin on the 37 pin connector and changing the mounting tube, but I'd be interested to hear what you installer demands

[John Pleisse]

You're gonna love the screen re-draws on the GMX200. Much quicker than the MX20. I did the series 2000 Aspen. If I had a King equipped 231/KFC 200 and a GNS430 or = feeding an MX20, I wouldn't have done the Aspen.

[flyboy0681]

My MX20 died several months ago and I considered a total panel upgrade, but post election market drops made that impractical.

Don't want to stir the pot, but on election day the DOW closed at 13,245. Yesterday it closed at 13,096. My calculator doesn't have enough numbers to the right of the decimal point to display the difference as a percentage (same thing with NASDAQ).

Now what it will do in 2013 is a completely different story.

[Parker_Woodruff]

Don't want to stir the pot, but on election day the DOW closed at 13,245. Yesterday it closed at 13,096. My calculator doesn't have enough numbers to the right of the decimal point to display the difference as a percentage (same thing with NASDAQ).

Now what it will do in 2013 is a completely different story.

Just because it goes up doesn't mean there's any real value added. QE_Infinity has a tendency to cause inflated figures. I guess they're taking the strategy of manufacturing a "recovery" by printing money.

[aviatoreb]

You're gonna love the screen re-draws on the GMX200. Much quicker than the MX20. I did the series 2000 Aspen. If I had a King equipped 231/KFC 200 and a GNS430 or = feeding an MX20, I wouldn't have done the Aspen.

Why not?

[231Pilot]

Don't want to stir the pot, but on election day the DOW closed at 13,245. Yesterday it closed at 13,096. My calculator doesn't have enough numbers to the right of the decimal point to display the difference as a percentage (same thing with NASDAQ).

Now what it will do in 2013 is a completely different story.

My portfolio is not made up of the same stocks that make up the DOW, lost multiple thousands, has not yet recovered.  Am holding on to all of it since technically it isn't a loss unless I sell....but the drop in that one day was significant, and I am still playing catch-up.  I guess yours did better than mine. 

[Alan Fox]

Just curious ,, but with the cost of the G500 why would anyone consider an aspen at this point??

[231Pilot]

Two different Avionics shops quoted approximately 12 hours of labor on the change.  One is local, one is about a three hour flight from here.  I decided to go local.  My upgrade is in progress now, installing a newly yellow tagged GMX200 that came out of another plane doing the touch-screen upgrade.  Saved about 8 AMU over cost of new GMX200 with traffic and chartview, so by going local and not opting for 'new, out of the box' I have almost made up for the market losses.  Should have it back in a few days (weeks?).  Not good flying weather here right now anyway.  Too much opportunity for icing with inversion layer and really low temps.....I can wait.

[Marauder]

Just curious ,, but with the cost of the G500 why would anyone consider an aspen at this point??

I looked at the G500/600 versus the Aspens. The installed price of a G500 was a lot higher than an Aspen setup (the panel needs to be cut for the G500). Also, you can't interface older technology and do a partial panel upgrade as easily. In my case, I wanted to keep one of my analog Nav/Com radios and run the output though the glass. In order to do that, you needed to buy the GAD 43e (another $5k installed). On the Garmin G500, you get only one AHRS (that's the brains package with the sensors to do attitude, remote compass, etc). With the Aspen 2000, you get full redundancy from an electronic perspective. If you lose the Garmin PFD, you don't have a backup. And for me, the selling point on the Aspen was the built-in battery backup. At last look Garmin doesn't offer it. My advice to anyone looking at doing upgrades, ask a lot of questions and spend a lot of time understanding what capabilities you will or will not get with the upgrade. There is a lot of apple to orange comparisons going on and unless you look closely, you may miss some important differences. As well, many of these avionics shops will quote you a price and throw in the options later. I had a really large range of prices between the multiple shops that quoted me ($8k).

[AndyFromCB]

12 hours is insane. I did it myself and had my A&P sign on on it, all under 3 hours. Take out old rack, disconnect the plug, connect the plug to new rack and install new rack, all and all, 3 hours total including paperwork and updating the settings.