G1000 vs Avidyne

flyersfan31

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Mar 31, 2006
Messages
14,269
Display Name

Display name:
Freiburgfan31
After flying the G1000 with GFC700 A/P for the last few hours in an '09 T182T, I am ready to tear out the Avidyne Entegra in my plane. No competition. The G1000 is major leagues, Entegra strictly AA ball. Don't know how that Release 9.0 of the Entegra will work out, I suppose they're headed in the right direction, but man oh man, the integrated G1000 is an awesome system. Still need to keep on top of it -- there are more than a few little surprises -- but man is it a powerful system!!
 
Uh o,.. another problem on this last long flight of yours? Hope all is well. One of the Piper models like yours now has the G1000, saw it in the magazine the other day. Don't recall if it was the Matrix or the Meridian.
 
Last edited:
I have been behind a G-1000 for the last 500+ hours...It is a great system...
 
From a technical standpoint, the days of the G1000 are over. It's not only got a lot of functionality, but it is a large and heavy system. The Aspen units are comparable to the G1000 PFD and are ahead of the Avidyne, yet they are about 1/8 the size of the system and cost 1/3.

I'm sorry, the G1000 (or 430/530) doesn't impress me anymore. Garmin needs to step it up....glad you enjoyed it, though!

-Felix
 
gotta disagree with that - the Aspen is clearly a PFD/MFD retrofit system (and it's the cream of that crop), but the G1000 is the complete avionics suite that a manufacturer essentially builds a plane around (and it's the cream of that crop).

The G1000 in recent planes is incredibly integrated with the airframe and powerplant, and is really a complete crew alerting system too. And look for ACARS or alternate messaging, ADS-B, and more and more to be incorporated within the system.
 
The G1000 with GFC700 autopilot will spank the pants of an Aspen. No comparison. What Tim sez...

No problems with my Avidyne Entegra/G430 combo (for now, with that spanking new DAU replaced under warranty working), it's just that it sux on toast in comparison to the integrated G1000 system. I had the G1000/KrAP140 combo in my old 182, and that was ok; comparable to the Avidyne/430/Stec 55x package. This, though, is a whole new ball of wax.

Yeah, Avidyne release 9 looks nice, but I'm suspicious about reliability.
 
I have had 1 total G1000 Failure, had to have a G1000 unit reloaded once as system got corrupted nav frequencies were shifted 2.7mhz makes for an interesting instrument approch.

I like the G1000 but I like the Avidyne better as its still not 100% integrated when a double display failures happen you have the nav's and coms.
 
It rather amazes me that Piper thinks it's acceptable to sell an airplane as expensive as a Matrix with no more than dual 430s and the Avidyne. I've spent a bit of time behind a G900 recently and really liked it. The time I've spent with the Avidynes makes it seem far less professional and well done.

That said, I think I prefer the setup my friend has in his Travel Air. Steam gauges (with an HSI), 530W, Avidyne (the 530-sized one, whatever it is). Gives you a lot of information, still has the backups that I like.

And I'll join in in disagreeing with Felix here. No comparison.
 
I've had the factory training and flown a fair number of hours behind both the Avidyne and G1000/GFC700 in Columbia/Cessna 400s. They're both fine systems. Garmin has done an excellent job of providing a complete solution with the Ready Pad and the integrated autopilot. But there's not a real world flying difference and it didn't change my mission at all to fly one or the other. I had charts, XM weather, terrain, engine integration, and active traffic in an Avidyne cockpit 400 for a few hundred hours of flying and it didn't change my flying at all to hop in to a G1000 bird. IMO, having XM weather or not makes a much bigger difference in the capability of an avionics suite than whether it's G1000 or Avidyne.
 
I've had the factory training and flown a fair number of hours behind both the Avidyne and G1000/GFC700 in Columbia/Cessna 400s. They're both fine systems. Garmin has done an excellent job of providing a complete solution with the Ready Pad and the integrated autopilot. But there's not a real world flying difference and it didn't change my mission at all to fly one or the other. I had charts, XM weather, terrain, engine integration, and active traffic in an Avidyne cockpit 400 for a few hundred hours of flying and it didn't change my flying at all to hop in to a G1000 bird. IMO, having XM weather or not makes a much bigger difference in the capability of an avionics suite than whether it's G1000 or Avidyne.

One word: VNAV.

If you use it in the Garmin, you'll never look at another system the same way again. Very professional.

Ted, as someone recently said to me, "Piper is very skilled at disguising junk." Peer behind the corners, and you'll see that they have been cut. I love my Matrix, but some of the stuff makes me scratch my head, given the scratch I paid for it.
 
Hello everyone, been reading this thread with great interest and there is some great technology in the General Aviation marketplace that as pilots we all stand to gain value from. I personally believe that the technology in this field is going to drive change across the entire industry.

I also would like to extend an invitation for you to look at Avidyne’s Entegra Release 9 technology as it offer the easiest to use display suite in the market and we can prove it. Anything form loading flight plans, to updating radio frequencies to using the Flight Management System (FMS) is simple, intuitive and straight forward. Release 9 was designed from the start to be a true single pilot IFR platform to improve pilot confidence and competence during hard weather operations.

If you would like to learn more about this technology or Avidyne as a whole please let me know. We have a dedicated website for the Release 9 suite that can be accessed at www.release9.com. We also have an open door policy at Avidyne where if you want to meet the people and see how we do business, we welcome that opportunity.

Thanks for your time and safe flying.

Best regards,

Mike Glover
Director OEM and Strategic Alliances

Avidyne
55 Old Bedford Road
Lincoln, MA 01773
www.avidyne.com

Atlanta Office
(O) +1.770.456.4935
(M) +1.770.294.4982
 
Hello everyone, been reading this thread with great interest and there is some great technology in the General Aviation marketplace that as pilots we all stand to gain value from. I personally believe that the technology in this field is going to drive change across the entire industry.

I also would like to extend an invitation for you to look at Avidyne’s Entegra Release 9 technology as it offer the easiest to use display suite in the market and we can prove it. Anything form loading flight plans, to updating radio frequencies to using the Flight Management System (FMS) is simple, intuitive and straight forward. Release 9 was designed from the start to be a true single pilot IFR platform to improve pilot confidence and competence during hard weather operations.

If you would like to learn more about this technology or Avidyne as a whole please let me know. We have a dedicated website for the Release 9 suite that can be accessed at www.release9.com. We also have an open door policy at Avidyne where if you want to meet the people and see how we do business, we welcome that opportunity.

Thanks for your time and safe flying.

Best regards,

Mike Glover
Director OEM and Strategic Alliances

Avidyne
55 Old Bedford Road
Lincoln, MA 01773
www.avidyne.com

Atlanta Office
(O) +1.770.456.4935
(M) +1.770.294.4982

Hi Mike, welcome to POA! I hope you stick around!

I am a G1000 flyer, and have absolutely zero Avidyne experience. Garmin's G1000 Trainer (PC Emulator) software and the books on the market helped me quickly get up to speed, and let me retain proficiency between flights.

I've always wanted to know if Avidyne has similar software available for non-owners? Can I buy an R9 sim and PDF manuals to run at home at get some experience with your system?
 
TangoWhiskey,

Thanks and we had our Training CD's available at OSH. If you send my your mailing address at my Avidyne email account (mglover@avidyne.com) I'll get one in the mail to you. It requires a fairly robust computer and graphics card, but it's a great tool to use away from the aircraft.


Regards,

Mike Glover

Director OEM & Strategic Alliance
Avidyne
(M) +1.770.294.4982
(O) +1.770.456.4925
 
Mike, THANKS! Yes, I have a robust PC / graphics card / dual monitor setup... I'll drop you an email!

I made OSH last year, but not this... hope to be back there next year, too!

P.S.--When I lived in Washington state, Avidyne was based at Thun field in Puyallup. Have you guys moved offices? I see your address as Lincoln, MA.
 
TangoWhiskey,

Thanks and we had our Training CD's available at OSH. If you send my your mailing address at my Avidyne email account (mglover@avidyne.com) I'll get one in the mail to you. It requires a fairly robust computer and graphics card, but it's a great tool to use away from the aircraft.

Regards,

Mike Glover
Director OEM & Strategic Alliance
Avidyne
(M) +1.770.294.4982
(O) +1.770.456.4925

Mike, I'll send you a mail message as well. If it makes life easier for you I can make additional copies from the one you send to distribute to other POA'ers. But if you'd rather be contacted directly I understand that too.

I appreciate your participation in the forums - I hope that it turns out to be of benefit to your company as well as to us!

Best wishes,
 
As a Cirrus owner with Avidyne R7, and a fairly inexperienced G1000 user, I have to agree with PittsDriver, there is no difference in mission profile.

As a retired software professional (coding done years ago pays for my flying) I have things in the plus and minus columns for both systems as well as the other players I have not flown.

Mike, welcome to PoA, I've enjoyed and learned from your posts on COPA.

Joe
 
gotta disagree with that - the Aspen is clearly a PFD/MFD retrofit system (and it's the cream of that crop), but the G1000 is the complete avionics suite that a manufacturer essentially builds a plane around (and it's the cream of that crop).
Like I said, I was comparing the PFD to the Aspen PFD. Otherwise, it's not a fair comparison.

Also, I was specifically talking about the G1000 from a technical standpoint. When you ignore the engineering and the price point, the G1000 gives you pretty impressive features. My point is that if you don't ignore the unit size, weight, and price, it's far behind more modern solutions like the Aspen. I'm looking forward to Aspen coming out with more MFD features.

-Felix
 
MIke - I left Rel 9 out of the conversation. Why? Because it is fundamentally an entirely new system. From what I've seen, it looks like a really nice setup. From a reliability standpoint, I hope it is improved over Rel 8 and previous Entegras. It seems ludicrous to me that I would have to swap out a DAU with only 100hrs on the plane (less than 6 months from new). In my over 200hrs, and over 800 hrs total on my last aircraft, no such incident.

I also wish it weren't a $50k upgrade from Rel 8 for my 9 month old airplane.:confused::confused::frown2:
 
One thing I haven't been able to find, and hopefully Mike can address: Does R9 address the inability to initialize the system while the aircraft is flying? Although I've not heard of anybody having to reinitialize the system(s) (G1000 or Avidyne) while in flight, I could see it happening, if you had to shut down the electrical system due to a fire and wanted to try bringing a few systems back online.

I know the G1000 can init in flight, but the Avidyne early releases had to be on the ground to do so, in a relatively level attitude. Does R9 change this?
 
I know the G1000 can init in flight, but the Avidyne early releases had to be on the ground to do so, in a relatively level attitude. Does R9 change this?
That's a good one.

My other question has to do with WSI/Sirrius Weather vs XM. Can we get sat pictures VIS/IR, I understand we can get the text for TFR's (I really miss effective times on my R7)? Compared to a 496 do we get everything they do?

Joe
 
Now that's just wrong.

He's being modest.

It's 59K for R9 Gold (ok, $10K off if he HAD ordered by 8/31 and installed by the end of 2009).

He could spend up to $72.8K for R9 Platinum, and in fact, would HAVE to if he wants dual ADAHRS (and only one will be a new one, the other refurbed).
 
He's being modest.

It's 59K for R9 Gold (ok, $10K off if he HAD ordered by 8/31 and installed by the end of 2009).

He could spend up to $72.8K for R9 Platinum, and in fact, would HAVE to if he wants dual ADAHRS (and only one will be a new one, the other refurbed).

Funny -- I just went to the website and discovered that for myself. That's all for Cirri, but the Piper pricing is certain to be comparable.:nonod:
 
Back
Top