Aspen 1000Pro MAX vs G5

DesertNomad

DesertNomad

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DesertNomad
Any thoughts on the new Aspen 1000Pro MAX vs a pair of G5s? I had planned to put G5s in during my October annual but with the new Aspen unit I might wait until next year to see what comes of it all.

Any thoughts?
 
DesertNomad said:
Any thoughts on the new Aspen 1000Pro MAX vs a pair of G5s? I had planned to put G5s in during my October annual but with the new Aspen unit I might wait until next year to see what comes of it all.

Any thoughts?
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G5 won’t drive my King autopilot. Aspen has a lot more features....


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For those of us without autopilot, and no plans or intention to add an autopilot, the G5 is just fine.
 
Definitely makes the Aspen a LOT more interesting with a built in AHRS that should eliminate the likelihood of getting the screen of death and also provide better screen resolution. Flew with a guy the other day that had an Aspen...that was a pretty nice unit. I was very surprised.
 
FWIW, I have an STEC-30 autopilot so it is not tied to the vacuum horizon gyro at all. I like that Aspen has an Air Data Computer and that the new one doesn't go nuts of the pitot freezes. Will it be allowed to have an Aspen 1000Pro MAX with a G5 AH as a backup in my Dakota?
 
DesertNomad said:
FWIW, I have an STEC-30 autopilot so it is not tied to the vacuum horizon gyro at all. I like that Aspen has an Air Data Computer and that the new one doesn't go nuts of the pitot freezes. Will it be allowed to have an Aspen 1000Pro MAX with a G5 AH as a backup in my Dakota?
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G5 can only be installed as backup with other big G products like 500 etc. recently announced
 
DesertNomad said:
I like that Aspen has an Air Data Computer and that the new one doesn't go nuts of the pitot freezes.
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I've been trying to interpret the news articles. Does anyone know if this is this a software fix that will be applied to older models, or is it something that will require an upgrade to the Pro Max?
 
CMongoose said:
I've been trying to interpret the news articles. Does anyone know if this is this a software fix that will be applied to older models, or is it something that will require an upgrade to the Pro Max?
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My understanding is it requires the new hardware...


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It's a hardware update, to include a new screen. You send it to them, they swap stuff out and send it back.

With the hype about the new screen, I was very underwhelmed with what I saw at OSH. They had a setup with the old display next to the new display, and honestly, it was such a slight difference as to not be noticeable. Yes, some of the fonts now get larger when you change a value (like the heading bug). Faster processor, sure, but the part you see? No real difference. I really thought the decision to put them next to each other maybe wasn't the greatest idea.
 
The Aspen replaces the 6 pack, the G5 still requires the altitude and airspeed gauges.
The dual G5s provides redundancy.
 
These are my thoughts on the G5 versus aspen. Aspen has had failures and has a single AHRS. One only has to remember the bonanza departing NJ with this family on board in low ifr conditions to realize how catastrophic that was. I understand the cost difference, plus at my age the Aspen is hard to see. I am a fan of the G5, dual configuration with it's cablitiy to revert. We can use the GPS and IPAD as a navigation tool, but an ADI is the single most important thing in an instrument airplane. Garmin is also updating the many autopilots that can be used with the G5

Now the only question is, V Bars or dual cue?
 
Aspen didn’t innovate for long time and Garmin literally snuck up on them. All they really have until a re-design and refresh, is that they integrate with more things out of the box. They’re flogging that message right now for all they’re worth.

Heck they haven’t even updated their LCD panel itself, which should have been the easiest thing to upgrade with easy certification updates over the last decade.

That screen is visibly less bright, crisp, and clearly looks “not modern” on their devices against Garmin, Dynon, anyone really, other than Sandel and their oddball rear projection stuff.

They have to be scrambling to do a refreshed design. They let themselves get passed in the back straightaway.
 
So with an S-TEC autopilot (60-2), can a Bendix-King HSI be replaced by a G5?
 
teejayevans said:
I have seen panels with just Aspens, does it require multiple panels?
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It needs two now to get rid of the analog backups, but yes the aspens display everything on one...


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gsengle said:
It needs two now to get rid of the analog backups, but yes the aspens display everything on one...Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Per the FAQ there is no way to dump backup attitude indicator, even with two and three display systems.

(FAQ isn't approved manuals but still)
 
bnt83 said:
Per the FAQ there is no way to dump backup attitude indicator.
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I believe that’s one of the points of the max, the second one counts now, anyone want to disabuse me of this notion?


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gsengle said:
I believe that’s one of the points of the max, the second one counts now, anyone want to disabuse me of this notion?


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The AFMS on the website is dated 2016 so it doesn't show Max equipment in Kind of operations in the limitations section.
 
denverpilot said:
Heck they haven’t even updated their LCD panel itself, which should have been the easiest thing to upgrade with easy certification updates over the last decade.

That screen is visibly less bright, crisp, and clearly looks “not modern” on their devices against Garmin, Dynon, anyone really, other than Sandel and their oddball rear projection stuff.
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The MAX version updates the LCD panel. At Oshkosh they had the old and new ones on display next to each other, the new one is visibly brighter, with more vibrant colors, and also MUCH better off-axis viewing (i.e. flying from the co-pilot side.) The display went from 15 bit color (32,768 colors) to 24 bit color (16 million colors). Resolution remains the same.

Honestly, I'd prefer a Garmin TXi, but that requires major panel surgery and re-arranging all my other instruments. The Aspen just drops in. I'd actually been holding off on purchasing, expecting Aspen to have some sort of update like this, guess it's time.
 
slacktide said:
The MAX version updates the LCD panel. At Oshkosh they had the old and new ones on display next to each other, the new one is visibly brighter, with more vibrant colors, and also MUCH better off-axis viewing (i.e. flying from the co-pilot side.) The display went from 15 bit color (32,768 colors) to 24 bit color (16 million colors). Resolution remains the same.
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That’s good to hear. The old ones look like my laptop from the 90s.
 
As a current Aspen owner, no reason for me to update given the the fact that I have a backup AI given the rare red X syndrome, and my screen is plenty readable. When/if my screen goes kaput, that's when my screen/tech gets updated to the new Max.
 
denverpilot said:
Aspen didn’t innovate for long time and Garmin literally snuck up on them. All they really have until a re-design and refresh, is that they integrate with more things out of the box. They’re flogging that message right now for all they’re worth.

Heck they haven’t even updated their LCD panel itself, which should have been the easiest thing to upgrade with easy certification updates over the last decade.
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They did now. That's what the "Max" version is.

That said, I'm not really impressed. Compared to the offerings from Garmin, Dynon et al, I don't know if Aspen is going to be around long term. But, the Max is certainly going to help their situation.

455 Bravo Uniform said:
So with an S-TEC autopilot (60-2), can a Bendix-King HSI be replaced by a G5?
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Yes. https://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/aviation/third-party-autopilot-support-for-g5-expanded/

Since the S-TEC is rate-based, your turn coordinator is the part that you have to keep from S-TEC. Those of us who have attitude-based autopilots can't replace our AI with a G5, but you can replace both your AI and DG/HSI with G5s. Or one or the other.
 
455 Bravo Uniform said:
Thanks @flyingcheesehead

I wasn’t sure the heading bug and HSI needle would still work, and the flight director portion of the AI too.
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Waitaminute. Flight director?

You sure that's a 60-2 you've got in there?

A G5 AI would *not* interface with the autopilot for using a flight director. But a G5 HSI will do everything the existing HSI will, provided you get the version with the GAD 29B interface.
 
I think it’s a 60-2 based on the manual in the glove box? Don’t make me dig out the log book, lol.

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An Aspen 2000 Pro Max (2 tube) system needs no additional backup instruments and allows you to remove the vacuum system if you desire to. They have posted upgrade prices for existing users: 1 tube $3K, 2 tube $5K, 3 tube $6k.
 
Ron Dawes said:
An Aspen 2000 Pro Max (2 tube) system needs no additional backup instruments and allows you to remove the vacuum system if you desire to. They have posted upgrade prices for existing users: 1 tube $3K, 2 tube $5K, 3 tube $6k.
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What I don't know is whether my legacy autopilot can run off one of the promax AI units without an adapter. Removing the vacuum is nice but probably need the $2500 adapter to run my autopilot in addition. For me, the least expensive thing is to not change a thing. One Aspen is good enough even with the backup vacuum AI driving my autopilot.
 
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Yes, you'd need the EA100 autopilot adapter.
 
Ron Dawes said:
Yes, you'd need the EA100 autopilot adapter.
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Can you explain when you need and don’t need this adapter? C310R with a 400B autopilot, considering an aspen and would be keeping vacuum as backup
 
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