Anyone do the new Aspen E5 ?

One downside is the labor is 30 hours nearly regardless of which Aspen product. Making the up lift to their higher end products not much of a difference. A Garmin 3GX is about the same labor time with a lot more capability. A pair of G5's is roughly half the labor with an opportunity to later upgrade to the well regarded GFC500 autopilot.

Just a suggestion, I'd look at total installed price when making a decision. Not trying to diss the E5 or Aspen, just a consideration in the decision among my circle of friends as a small sample size.

-David
 
The E5 is about the same purchase price as two G5s and I would expect installation complexity to be about the same. Both will drive legacy autopilots with the appropriate modules. The main difference is that two separate G5s offer redundancy and the G5s have much longer backup battery power. G5s for me.
 
chemgeek said:
The E5 is about the same purchase price as two G5s and I would expect installation complexity to be about the same. Both will drive legacy autopilots with the appropriate modules. The main difference is that two separate G5s offer redundancy and the G5s have much longer backup battery power. G5s for me.
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Just for reference, I asked my Av shop the labor involved for E5 verses 2 G5’s. G’5 were about half the labor 12-15 hours verses 30 or more for the E5.

As a rule usually good to ask a couple of shops about estimated labor before getting set on something.
 
Why so much labor? I've helped (in olden tymes) with some panel work, and 30 hours is a bunch of time to do a lot of stuff.
 
I looked at both the Aspen E5 and the two Garmin G5's while I was at Oshkosh for the week. Went to all the display's and drooled over them every day. The Aspen looked to my old eye's to have a larger, sharper display. As far as installation, The Garmin's and Aspen both require hooking up to the pitot static and your chosen rado's/Auto Pilot. (The Garmin has no ability to hook up to legacy radio's where the Aspen E5 does if you choose to add the ACU for 1K more. The G5 will sync with legacy Auto Pilots if you purchase the GAD 29b for about $500.00) and they both come with the remote magnetometer that needs to be mounted. The Aspen has the RSM and Garmin has the GMU11. So I just do not see that the install cost would be any different. Now the Pro versions of the Aspen might need more installation time. I decided on the E5, and the Garmin GPS175, Sarasota made me a deal at the show for $4100.00 each plus a complete wiring harness shipped with no sales tax. I think they only made me that deal to get rid of me, because they were spending a lot of time wiping my drool of the G5's and E5 displays. My install should be simple as I will keep my legacy radios and their indicators, and only hook up the E5 to the GPS175. I hear every one talk about the fact a G5 comes with the HSI and that the E5 does not. Well the E5 might not have the traditional HSI but it has all the information of an HSI just displayed a little different. Both the E5 and G5 have a slaved DG with GS/LOC display capabilities, so is that not an HSI? If you are going all Garmin then the G5 is a good choice, I kind of like the open architecture of the E5.
 
I had an E5 installed for pretty much the same price as dual G5s. Some shops have an agenda on the products that THEY want to install and jack the price on others.
For the OP---it's a great unit, much brighter, clearer and larger display than the G5s
 
c177tx said:
Both the E5 and G5 have a slaved DG with GS/LOC display capabilities, so is that not an HSI?.
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No, it's not. It's a CDI. If you're VFR, who cares? If you're IFR, you're going to want an HSI.
 
The labor on the E5 is the same or a little less than the dual G5 in my experience. I charge the same price for both.
 
Jesse Saint said:
The labor on the E5 is the same or a little less than the dual G5 in my experience. I charge the same price for both.
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Thanks Jesse for sharing that. In general terms, how many hours do you estimated for a typical quote to install a pair of G5's or a single unit Aspen? Magnetometer included.
 
shop rate $90/hr, my total cost of dual G5 with magnetometer was 8k
 
I would guess 15-20. We do flat rate work usually, so either system is $7,000 out the door.
 
wheaties said:
No, it's not. It's a CDI. If you're VFR, who cares? If you're IFR, you're going to want an HSI.
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I have an E5. It's not a CDI as you are used to. It actually presents ALL of the same information you get from an HSI, just in a slightly different format. It's the exact same information. You can fly it just like an HSI with about an hour of transition time to learn the differences.
 
E5 pricing was done right after Garmin announced the G5. Aspen had to come down to compete.

Aspen will integrate with more things.
 
I just completed an install of the E5 and a Stratus ESi in our Tiger. Very happy with everything so far, but haven't flown much due to high temps in Oklahoma. I also installed a new aluminum panel overlay from AuCountry. Had the panel powder coated and it looks really nice. Done except for replacing the temporary placards. The only problem I encountered was that the altitude encoder in the E5 wasn't compatible with the Stratus ES (problem is with Stratus by their own admission) so I had to install an additional encoder just for the Stratus. I left all the wiring in place so when Stratus gets their act together and fixes the problem, I can remove the additional encoder.

IMG_6199.JPG
 
Curious why did Aspen not gave us an Hsi on the E5. It's all about competing with Garmin, isn't it?. Here in Chile we still do need the use of a Full working Hsi for Ifr. On the other hand, I need the full compatibility of Aspen with my Kap150, G5s will only give me steering.
Not buying anything until something gives
 
Ignacio Allende said:
Curious why did Aspen not gave us an Hsi on the E5. It's all about competing with Garmin, isn't it?. Here in Chile we still do need the use of a Full working Hsi for Ifr. On the other hand, I need the full compatibility of Aspen with my Kap150, G5s will only give me steering.
Not buying anything until something gives
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I spoke with Aspen directly about the HSI. They said it should be a software update and the E5 should have the HSI before Christmas 2019.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Ignacio Allende said:
Curious why did Aspen not gave us an Hsi on the E5. It's all about competing with Garmin, isn't it?. Here in Chile we still do need the use of a Full working Hsi for Ifr. On the other hand, I need the full compatibility of Aspen with my Kap150, G5s will only give me steering.
Not buying anything until something gives
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The CDI/DG on my E5 present the same exact information as you get on an HSI, just in a different format. I actually like it better to be honest. It's more than just a DG or a plain old CDI. All the same exact information is there that you'd get on an HSI.
 
Fracpilot said:
I spoke with Aspen directly about the HSI. They said it should be a software update and the E5 should have the HSI before Christmas 2019.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
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Who at Aspen did you talk to?
 
Jesse Saint said:
10:1 G5:E5
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Know you don’t like Aspen after all dat drama....... is it you that doesn’t like Aspen or your customers? Or in other words, what makes Garmin a better choice over the Aspen?
 
Unit74 said:
Know you don’t like Aspen after all dat drama....... is it you that doesn’t like Aspen or your customers? Or in other words, what makes Garmin a better choice over the Aspen?
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Personally I can't stand flying behind the G5. My buddy has them. The displays are freaking tiny and they wash out in the sun pretty easily. Those two problems make them useless too me, regardless of what other features they have. If I can't see the dang thing, what good is it doing me?
 
Unit74 said:
Know you don’t like Aspen after all dat drama....... is it you that doesn’t like Aspen or your customers? Or in other words, what makes Garmin a better choice over the Aspen?
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I install what they ask for. I did have a bad experience with Aspen that could be due to their new-to-market device. I’m installing another Aspen starting this week, so we’ll see how that goes. The Aspen does have more expansion options, but they are expensive. The screen is nice and having buttons and knobs is too. At the same time, I have flown a long time behind a G5 and was very happy with it for what it did.
 
Jesse Saint said:
I install what they ask for. I did have a bad experience with Aspen that could be due to their new-to-market device. I’m installing another Aspen starting this week, so we’ll see how that goes. The Aspen does have more expansion options, but they are expensive. The screen is nice and having buttons and knobs is too. At the same time, I have flown a long time behind a G5 and was very happy with it for what it did.
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Kinda like a tattoo artist.... they pick it, you stick it. I get it. Up what makes people want a G5 over the Aspen? Are they chattering about a GFC later or something? They have heard of Garmin but not Aspen? What do people want a G5 when the Aspen comes in feature rich leaps and bounds over the Garmin offering?
 
If the Aspen E5 came with a real HSI like a second G5 provides, it would be a much hotter seller. Yes Aspen sells the pro model with this capability and yes the E5 has much of the data from the HSI but presented differently. The magic of an HSI is how the information is overlaid and not just co-located.

Garmin has set the minimal feature standards with a pair of G5's. Wouldn't others need to meet the G5 feature level to stay competitive?

I'd likely buy an Aspen if the E5 had a HSI presentation.
 
Unit74 said:
Who at Aspen did you talk to?
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I already deleted the voicemail. I think his name is Adam Smith. It comes up at Sarah Smith on my caller ID.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Andy is the SE Aspen rep.


Fracpilot said:
I already deleted the voicemail. I think his name is Adam Smith. It comes up at Sarah Smith on my caller ID.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...
 
Unit74 said:
Kinda like a tattoo artist.... they pick it, you stick it. I get it. Up what makes people want a G5 over the Aspen? Are they chattering about a GFC later or something? They have heard of Garmin but not Aspen? What do people want a G5 when the Aspen comes in feature rich leaps and bounds over the Garmin offering?
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I don’t see any leaps and bounds features comparing the E5 to dual G5’s. The only way to compare them is by comparing the $5k E5 to the $5K G5’s. The main feature difference is the G5’s HSI and the E5’s lack thereof (and I greatly disagree that the E5’s enhanced CDI is as good as an HSI). You start adding features and the price skyrockets, plain and simple. If you want those added features, it makes more sense to go straight to a basic G3X or Dynon system, IMHO.
 
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