Pay to fix an Insight Strikefinder and upgrade it?

Would you pay to repair an Insight Strikefinder?

  • Yes, Pay the $1400 to have it refurbished and upgraded - Take a chance on the antenna

    Votes: 8 32.0%

  • Yes, pay the total of $3200 to refurbish the unit AND replace the antenna with new to be sure

    Votes: 4 16.0%

  • No! It's not worth the money

    Votes: 13 52.0%
  • Total voters
    25
Lynn Dixon

Lynn Dixon

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
May 12, 2018
Messages
200
Location
Chattanooga, TN.
Display Name
Display name:
CubedRoot
Hey all, I have my Cardinal in the shop getting an Aspen E5 installed and some other avionics work being done. I have an Insight Strikefinder that has been giving me an XO/X1 and Z error code, for a long time, and I am finally going to have it diagnosed and either replaced or trashed.

Talking with the shop, Inisght no longer will repair the older plasma display units, but they DO offer a full refurbishment and upgrade on the older plasma units. It upgrades it to the new LED display and they fully refurbish all the electronics inside the unit. The cost to have this done is $1400.

However, if you send them your antenna along with the unit, they will test the antenna as part of the refurbishment. Here's the kicker....if the antenna is bad, it cannot be serviced, as its a sealed unit. They sell a replacement for an additional $1800.

To have them test both the unit and the antenna its a $400 fee, but that fee is credited towards the work if you choose to have them repair the unit. So, I am at a cross road. My avionics tech has done all the testing and cleaning of the contacts, etc that Insight has recommended, and we are to the point of the failures coming from either the Antenna or the unit itself, so they'd need be sent in to Insight to be checked.

My aircraft has an IFD540 that has ADS-b in via a Skytrax 100, and I am currently a VFR pilot, but looking to start on my IFR this summer, and do the training in this Cardinal. How much value do you think a Strikefinder has to someone flying very light IFR / VFR? My best case scenario is that my antenna tests good, I pay the $1400 and end up with a essetially new strikefinder. Worst case, I pay $3200 and end up with an essentially new strikefinder AND an antenna.

Of course, I can always trash the thing, and just use the ads-b weather I get on the IFD, and realize that information is delayed a decent amount. I'm open to opinions from you seasoned pilots that have flow behind one of these things. Are they just toys / gimmicks? Do they give you valuable information? Is that value worth the possible $3200 to get repaired?

Thanks!

(I posted a poll for fun....)
 
How about replacing it with something newer? (project creep happening here!)
 
jallen0 said:
How about replacing it with something newer? (project creep happening here!)
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm open to suggestions. I have adsb in on my IFD540 and my tablet. Cockpit radar is probably a bit tooooo much scope creep... Lol. What would be good to replace it with
 
WX-500 should let you display strikes on the IFD.... Alternatively an XM or SXM receiver, not sure what's compatible there.
 
gacoon said:
Do you fly ifr in thunderstorm country?
Click to expand...

This right here. ADS-B has a lag of the weather on the screen and where it is now of about fifteen minutes. It's a useful tool but a Strikefinder will provide real time info. The two systems together are probably about as good as it gets in a piston single.
 
ADSB weather, by itself, is much more informative that the Stormscope (I had one for years). If you want overkill get XM weather, you can get a lot of months usage just using the money you were going to spend on the Stormscope.
 
Barnstormers is your friend...... I would not pay that price. If I really though the Strikeginder was worth it, I’d swap out with a Garmin WX500 for those prices.
 
I have a strikefinder, XM weather, for the last three years or so, ADS-B in weather. In the 10 years I've owned the airplane, I've never found the strikefinder to be particularly useful. Between uplinked nextrad weather radar data used for strategic use, and eyeballs for tactical use, the strikefinder doesn't tell me a lot that I don't already know. If mine broke, I wouldn't replace it. YMMV.
 
Brad Z said:
I have a strikefinder, XM weather, for the last three years or so, ADS-B in weather. In the 10 years I've owned the airplane, I've never found the strikefinder to be particularly useful. Between uplinked nextrad weather radar data used for strategic use, and eyeballs for tactical use, the strikefinder doesn't tell me a lot that I don't already know. If mine broke, I wouldn't replace it. YMMV.
Click to expand...

If he is anywhere between Colorado and WV, I think they are immensely valuable. In AR, or anywhere in BBQ country for that matter (That's Smoked, not "grilled) these things are worth every penny between March and October. I have a WX10A that works flawlessly right now.... Right now. If it craps the bed, either a working removed or I'd bite the bullet and get the WX500.
 
Unit74 said:
If he is anywhere between Colorado and WV, I think they are immensely valuable. In AR, or anywhere in BBQ country for that matter (That's Smoked, not "grilled) these things are worth every penny between March and October. I have a WX10A that works flawlessly right now.... Right now. If it craps the bed, either a working removed or I'd bite the bullet and get the WX500.
Click to expand...

Good point in that it is somewhat regional. On the east coast thunderstorm activity is a bit more predictable than the mid-west.
 
To the OP, supplement the TIS-B with an EFB for backup and rely on that rather than pour money into the antique.

My $0.02,
 
Dump the strikefinder, use ADS-B WX combined with your good judgement and experience. You're wasting useful load...
 
In a group of 14 owners of a Cardinal, 13 of which flew IFR routinely, exactly ONE thought the Strike Finder was worth fixing.

Just a data point.
 
If your flying through or near weather alot. XM and ADSB don't cut it. The is a real why many airplanes have real time radar or lightning detection. For a small airplane not sure why you would keep it on your airplane.
 
I have a WX-1000+ Stormscope. It's really nice as far as such things go. It's tied to the HSI and thus I don't have to clear it after I turn and that sort of stuff... But I still have trouble relying on it for much of anything. Maybe I just don't know enough about it yet... But I'm not sure whether or not to keep it next time we upgrade the panel. I'm not sure if it can interface with the GTN or TXi at all, though there's a section in the manual that does talk about King GPS interfaces.
 
love love love love my strikefinder. Can see where the cells are before they start showing up on adsb especially when it's 5SM HZ. I can start planning an angle to avoid the cells much further out.
 
In the southeast, where thunderstorms are common, I just don't fly when there are thunderstorms in the area, or I circumnavigate them by a wide margin. In fact, for several years, I had no idea if my strikefinder even worked.

But on our trip to Alaska last year, through Canada, where weather reporting is not nearly as thorough as it is down here, I found out that it really does work, and it works well.

The moral of the story is, if I only flew around home, I wouldn't even keep it, but if I flew up in the netherlands much, I would definitely fix it.
 
jallen0 said:
How about replacing it with something newer? (project creep happening here!)
Click to expand...
Something newer than what? A Strikefinder will do the lightning strike assessment better than anything else on the market! There is absolutely nothing else with which to compare it. Stormscope has never been able to distinguish between a real strike and an ionospheric bounce and it can't detect cloud-to-cloud strikes.
RADAR is attenuated by water, so it is also extremely unreliable.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
I have a WX-1000+ Stormscope. It's really nice as far as such things go. It's tied to the HSI and thus I don't have to clear it after I turn and that sort of stuff... But I still have trouble relying on it for much of anything. Maybe I just don't know enough about it yet... But I'm not sure whether or not to keep it next time we upgrade the panel. I'm not sure if it can interface with the GTN or TXi at all, though there's a section in the manual that does talk about King GPS interfaces.
Click to expand...
Stormscopes cannot detect cloud-to-cloud strikes and they will receive ionospheric bounce noise and display it as real data. Suddenly you have a storm off stbd when you can see CAVU.
 
tceq24443 said:
If your flying through or near weather alot. XM and ADSB don't cut it. The is a real why many airplanes have real time radar or lightning detection. For a small airplane not sure why you would keep it on your airplane.
Click to expand...
RADAR is severely attenuated by rain. I would never depend upon RADAR!
More than 90% of Strikefinders are installed on GA aircraft.
 
Lynn Dixon said:
Hey all, I have my Cardinal in the shop getting an Aspen E5 installed and some other avionics work being done. I have an Insight Strikefinder that has been giving me an XO/X1 and Z error code, for a long time, and I am finally going to have it diagnosed and either replaced or trashed.

Talking with the shop, Inisght no longer will repair the older plasma display units, but they DO offer a full refurbishment and upgrade on the older plasma units. It upgrades it to the new LED display and they fully refurbish all the electronics inside the unit. The cost to have this done is $1400.

However, if you send them your antenna along with the unit, they will test the antenna as part of the refurbishment. Here's the kicker....if the antenna is bad, it cannot be serviced, as its a sealed unit. They sell a replacement for an additional $1800.

To have them test both the unit and the antenna its a $400 fee, but that fee is credited towards the work if you choose to have them repair the unit. So, I am at a cross road. My avionics tech has done all the testing and cleaning of the contacts, etc that Insight has recommended, and we are to the point of the failures coming from either the Antenna or the unit itself, so they'd need be sent in to Insight to be checked.

My aircraft has an IFD540 that has ADS-b in via a Skytrax 100, and I am currently a VFR pilot, but looking to start on my IFR this summer, and do the training in this Cardinal. How much value do you think a Strikefinder has to someone flying very light IFR / VFR? My best case scenario is that my antenna tests good, I pay the $1400 and end up with a essetially new strikefinder. Worst case, I pay $3200 and end up with an essentially new strikefinder AND an antenna.

Of course, I can always trash the thing, and just use the ads-b weather I get on the IFD, and realize that information is delayed a decent amount. I'm open to opinions from you seasoned pilots that have flow behind one of these things. Are they just toys / gimmicks? Do they give you valuable information? Is that value worth the possible $3200 to get repaired?

Thanks!

(I posted a poll for fun....)
Click to expand...
Simple point: it is not an antenna - it is a sensor array containing three antennas and some IC's.
 
If it’s a style that is mounted in a “tray” with male/female terminals in the back, might want to pull it out, use some contact cleaner, and a q-tip or tiny flat bladed screw-driver to shine up the contacts. Worth a shot. My neighbor does that to his every few years when it throws codes and it’s good go to go for a while. Obviously, not something you want to rely on 100%.
 
Unit74 said:
Barnstormers is your friend...... I would not pay that price. If I really though the Strikeginder was worth it, I’d swap out with a Garmin WX500 for those prices.
Click to expand...

It’s L3, not Garmin and you don’t see them for sale (new).

I don’t fly IFR with TS in Florida, they simply pop up too quickly.
 
455 Bravo Uniform said:
If it’s a style that is mounted in a “tray” with male/female terminals in the back, might want to pull it out, use some contact cleaner, and a q-tip or tiny flat bladed screw-driver to shine up the contacts. Worth a shot. My neighbor does that to his every few years when it throws codes and it’s good go to go for a while. Obviously, not something you want to rely on 100%.
Click to expand...
Putting a drop of Stab22 on the pins after cleaning is magical as well.
 
I flew for about 15 years with XM weather and a Stormscope. XM is strategic and the stormscope was tactical. My flights at the time were predominantly Midwest, mid-Atlantic, through tornado country, and along the gulf coast (based in Texas).

My experience is that the two were a good combination: and t-storms are quite frequent in those areas. And the combo worked well (Strikefimder vs Stormscope differences are noted: the Stormscope came with the plane). I was picking through lines and developing areas often enough that I found that I was using both tools with good success. We're I doing it now, I'd still want both the NEXRAD and a tactical device such as Stormscope or Strikefimder).

But it depends on flying and where you go. I wouldn't bother with the Strikefimder if my primary flaying were in the Southwest, California, the Northwest or the Rockies. But east of Colorado? Yeah, I'd fix it or replace it.

Are any used units available on Fleabay cheaper than repairing the one you have?
 
I had a WX-900 Stormscope which died. I found a $300 complete unit on eBay and bought it to see if maybe it would work. It did. Replacing the head unit itself was all that was required.

Given I had nothing else to put in that space, and that it was maybe $450 including labor to keep it going, I figured it was worth it. I don't think I'd be willing to spend any more than that, though.
 
Tarheelpilot said:
That’s awesome. My experience still does not align with yours. I have used lightning detection and radar. I think both are useful. If given the choice to have only one I will take the radar. 49 3F
Click to expand...
You're wrong. Maybe dead wrong if you continue to think that way!
BTW, all lightning detectors are not equal. For example Stormscope plots ionospheric bounce as if it were real and it will not plot cloud-to-cloud strikes AT ALL!
 
Last edited:
MooneyDriver78 said:
Does that include Doppler radar?
Click to expand...
What other kind of RADAR do you think there is other than the type used to make X-rays.
Yes Doppler RADAR of the exact same type as is used for DME and transponders, because the exact type of RADAR is used in both, although the principle can be equally applied to the German system which used the 'bedspring antenna' which used much lower frequencies which is far less attenuated by moisture.
Your RADAR will even prove what I'm saying if you are paying attention. If you don't notice the difference, I suggest you stay on the ground! I don't want you falling on my house!
 
Elvin Wilkerson said:
Not worth a response.
Click to expand...
No. Actually your statement is not defensible. You basically just raised your hand and said “I have no idea how to use airborne weather radar.” Then when called out you doubled down with the hyperbole.

ok. I’m done feeding trolls for this month.
 
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