chuck459 Posted December 23, 2008 Report Posted December 23, 2008 Has anyone had a Garmin GNS430 upgraded to WAAS lately? Approximately what would one expect to pay for a complete upgrade, including antenna, new coax, labor, etc. - a total out-the-door cost? Quote
Brooks Posted January 26, 2009 Report Posted January 26, 2009 I looked into this and JA Air in Aurrora IL told me that they had done enough of theese to confidently say that it shoud cost $5-5.5k including replacing the coax and antenna. Quote
KSMooniac Posted January 26, 2009 Report Posted January 26, 2009 Wow, I would sop around some more Brooks. I had both of my units done 18 months ago before the special pricing went away and was out-the-door for $3400 ($1500 x 2 to Garmin + labor) including new coax. The cost to Garmin now is $3000 I believe, so they're charging you something like $2000 for maybe 4 hours of labor. Quote
Brooks Posted January 26, 2009 Report Posted January 26, 2009 hmmm yea well i will have to look some more. i was not real serious yet. i thought that the cost from garmin is now around 3K for each unit for a new replacement as oposed to just a software swap. (i was under the impression that you get a better screen and processor with this option). i figgured it would take longer that just 4 hours seeing as the interior has to be removed to re run the new coax and their is some sheetmetal work because the antenna is not exactly the same (ie new doubler and paint repairs) or am i mistaken? thaks for the insight Quote
KSMooniac Posted January 26, 2009 Report Posted January 26, 2009 They modify the existing GNS-530/430 box and send it back to you. New processor and new software, everything else stays the same. They do add the terrain option, though, even if you didn't have it before. The processor is better/faster so you get 5 Hz screen refresh as opposed to 1 Hz. The antenna is new but fastens into the same footprint as the old, so there shouldn't be any metal work unless you had a previous issue with the old antenna. The coax may or may not need to be replaced, but likely it will, so there is some interior work required to replace it. If you want to reduce some of the instl cost, you could offer to remove the interior panel(s) before delivering the plane to the avionics shop... Having said all that, the upgraded GPS is *very nice*! It is especially nice for single-pilot IFR with an autopilot and GPSS as it will now fly full approach procedures (arcs, turns, holds, procedure turns, etc) hands-off. Then there is the vertical guidance on GPS approaches...very nice especially b/c these new approaches are getting commisioned rapidly all over the country. The faster screen refresh is certainly nice too. Quote
N207LS Posted February 1, 2009 Report Posted February 1, 2009 Was in a friend's Aztec yesterday and he was telling me that he was quoted $3800 from a local avionics shop in Bartow, FL for the WAAS ugrade. I am not sure of the shop's name (i think he said Custom Avionics), but I can only imagine that it is the only one in Bartow... This was a 430 in an Aztec. It sounded fairly cheap to me, compared to other quotes... I have to say that having vertical guidance on approaches is really a great luxury... I use mine regularly and am finding more and more available at smaller airports. Quote
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