TruTrak, where are you?

pburger

pburger

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
May 26, 2007
Messages
391
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Houston, TX
Display Name
Display name:
Paul B.
TruTrak had a FB page that was a good place to monitor for announcements and updates. Even after the acquisition, they maintained this page for a while. Now, it looks like its gone. The only page I can find is BendixKing. I can't believe they don't have a dedicated page for TruTrak. I don't care if they call the page BendixKingTruTrak, or whatever, but have a page dedicated to TruTrak for TruTrak customers.

The news came out that new firmware with the Aspen/G5 integration has been approved. TruTrak said they would be posting the procedure for obtaining the firmware update in a couple of days. Well, it's been more than a couple of days, and now I can't seem to find them on FB. The TruTrak website is still there, but who knows for how long?

Does anyone here have any information on the logistics of the Vizion firmware update?
 
I was kinda wondering the same thing,,, Trutrak where did you go ? All the hype about the Trutak being ready for us Mooney drivers by Oshkosh and now two months later and not a peep on the release. Is the Bk’s true colors coming out again ? Over priced and under delivered.
 
Too busy figuring out how to rebrand something else for their portfolio. Real classy move dumping their Facebook.
 
Unit74 said:
Too busy figuring out how to rebrand something else for their portfolio. Real classy move dumping their Facebook.
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I don't know anything about TT or BK, but I've always viewed dumping Facebook as a mark of class. I prefer businesses that maintain their own websites and forums for customer support. If a business' main web presence is through Facebook, I'm not interested.
 
There is good information posted by a BK person on one of the Mooney forums. He is doing a reasonably good job as an advocate and keeping us informed. It would be rude to post the forum name on a different forum so I will give you enough space to figure out which Mooney forum it is.
 
It's not TT that is the problem. It is in fact, the company that absorbed them that is the problem. BK should stick to kerosene and leave piston GA alone at this point.
 
Mooneys R Quicker said:
I was kinda wondering the same thing,,, Trutrak where did you go ? All the hype about the Trutak being ready for us Mooney drivers by Oshkosh and now two months later and not a peep on the release. Is the Bk’s true colors coming out again ? Over priced and under delivered.
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Welcome to life as a BK customer! Now you know why those of us who have their stuff in our airplanes are tearing it out as quick as we can.
 
Just as a side note, I cancelled my Trutrak Vizion order and made it clear that it was the BK sell out that triggered this. They didn't give a ****....
 
Unit74 said:
Just as a side note, I cancelled my Trutrak Vizion order and made it clear that it was the BK sell out that triggered this. They didn't give a ****....
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Well, exactly what could they possibly do to change your mind? Unbuy the company? You didn’t really give them any reason to “give a ****”......
 
Unit74 said:
Just as a side note, I cancelled my Trutrak Vizion order and made it clear that it was the BK sell out that triggered this. They didn't give a ****....
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I’m sure TruTrak/BK saw that they we better off. I took your production slot.
 
Salty said:
Well, exactly what could they possibly do to change your mind? Unbuy the company? You didn’t really give them any reason to “give a ****”......
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My money, my voice, TT can stuff it.

Morgan3820 said:
I’m sure TruTrak/BK saw that they we better off. I took your production slot.
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Uh huh.... Sure. You been drinking the BK Kool-Aid I see. Business 101 right? I'm not alone, but blinders are cheap I suppose. :rolleyes:
 
Unit74 said:
My money, my voice, TT can stuff it.

TT doesn't care, nobody else cares either.

Uh huh.... Sure. You been drinking the BK Kool-Aid I see. Business 101 right? I'm not alone, but blinders are cheap I suppose. :rolleyes:
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I see that you gave up on the New Years resolution that you made a couple of years ago.
 
I dunno... my TruTrak still flies likes its on rails even after the BendixKing buyout. And I've been flying behind it for almost 18 months now.....

EDIT: Did they record the webinar? Anyone from here attend that can share their annoucements?
 
I attended the webinar. It had a little "Recording" logo in the upper left corner of the screen, so I'm not sure if it recorded it locally on my computer or that was an indication that the hosts were recording it.

It lasted 45 minutes and it put my mind at ease somewhat. I got the impression that the TruTrak product line is rocking along nicely, but is being rebranded. Here are some takeaways from my memory (I did not take notes):
  • The TruTrak Vizion is now the BendixKing AeroCruze 100.
  • The price is still $5100 for certified (with the STC), and $2100 for experimental.
  • They are finishing up the Mooney STC paperwork. The STC won't include the older wood-wing Mooneys, but they are doing a review of all the other Mooney models to see how many they can include based on the design used (i.e. - servo placement, etc.)
  • They are finishing up the American Champion paperwork.
  • They will start on the Comanche STC soon.
  • The Aspen/G5 interface upgrade is available right now - it costs $100 for certified, $700 for experimental because they have to replace the hardware for the experimental Vizion.
  • You can call the TruTrak office and get an RMA to send in the unit for the upgrade. I asked about the turnaround time, but I forget what Andrew said.
  • You can upgrade the firmware for the G5 interface even if you don't have the G5s yet. It will still work as before.
  • You will have to install a selector switch to select the ARINC interface from either your GPS or the G5s.
  • The TruTrak website is still up and running, but will eventually be merged with BendixKing. The manuals are available in both places for now.
  • TruTrak's Facebook and Instagram pages have been merged with BendixKing. The same folks will be providing content as before, just on the BendixKing pages.
Those are the things I can remember off the top of my head.
 
"They are finishing up the American Champion paperwork."

Did you mean Grumman American by chance? The Champ doesn't seem like a likely candidate. I have an email from TruTrak dated August 2018 where they said that they would start on the AA5 series mid 2019 and have it ready to ship about 4 months later.

I've installed the Aspen E5 and am eagerly awaiting the TruTrak AP!
 
pburger said:
I attended the webinar. It had a little "Recording" logo in the upper left corner of the screen, so I'm not sure if it recorded it locally on my computer or that was an indication that the hosts were recording it.

It lasted 45 minutes and it put my mind at ease somewhat. I got the impression that the TruTrak product line is rocking along nicely, but is being rebranded. Here are some takeaways from my memory (I did not take notes):
  • The TruTrak Vizion is now the BendixKing AeroCruze 100.
  • The price is still $5100 for certified (with the STC), and $2100 for experimental.
  • They are finishing up the Mooney STC paperwork. The STC won't include the older wood-wing Mooneys, but they are doing a review of all the other Mooney models to see how many they can include based on the design used (i.e. - servo placement, etc.)
  • They are finishing up the American Champion paperwork.
  • They will start on the Comanche STC soon.
  • The Aspen/G5 interface upgrade is available right now - it costs $100 for certified, $700 for experimental because they have to replace the hardware for the experimental Vizion.
  • You can call the TruTrak office and get an RMA to send in the unit for the upgrade. I asked about the turnaround time, but I forget what Andrew said.
  • You can upgrade the firmware for the G5 interface even if you don't have the G5s yet. It will still work as before.
  • You will have to install a selector switch to select the ARINC interface from either your GPS or the G5s.
  • The TruTrak website is still up and running, but will eventually be merged with BendixKing. The manuals are available in both places for now.
  • TruTrak's Facebook and Instagram pages have been merged with BendixKing. The same folks will be providing content as before, just on the BendixKing pages.
Those are the things I can remember off the top of my head.
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I would say that's a solid synopsis.

The session was recorded and will be on the BK youtube channel shortly.

Please let me know if you have any more question!

Cheers,

Steve
 
Steve P said:
I would say that's a solid synopsis.

The session was recorded and will be on the BK youtube channel shortly.

Please let me know if you have any more question!

Cheers,

Steve
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Steve, I have some questions:
  1. Is there REALLY a fee to upgrade the Vizion? I was always under the impression it was going to be a free upgrade (we pay shipping of course).
  2. Are there any plans to expand the AeroCruze 100 line for existing customers? Meaning adding things like an electric / auto trim upgrade?
  3. Is there going to be any further integration between the Aerocruze 100 and the Aspen E5 / ProMax lines? I was really hoping for altitude bug sync as well as full vertical steering passthrough (in addition to the lateral steering).
 
Lynn Dixon said:
Steve, I have some questions:
  1. Is there REALLY a fee to upgrade the Vizion? I was always under the impression it was going to be a free upgrade (we pay shipping of course).
  2. Are there any plans to expand the AeroCruze 100 line for existing customers? Meaning adding things like an electric / auto trim upgrade?
  3. Is there going to be any further integration between the Aerocruze 100 and the Aspen E5 / ProMax lines? I was really hoping for altitude bug sync as well as full vertical steering passthrough (in addition to the lateral steering).
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1. They are charging for labor (approx. 1 hour?)
2. I don't remember this being mentioned, but I could be wrong.
3. They said they are working on it, but that the altitude bug (for example) does not come out of the same data bus as everything else so they are looking for ways to work around that.
 
The $100 fee is for 1 hour of shop time to do the upgrade. I think that is fair.

Someone asked a two-part question, with the second part being about auto-trim. Andrew answered the first-part, but didn't address the question of auto-trim. They do offer auto-trim for the experimental version of the Vizion, but I have no idea if they are even considering auto-trim for the certified version. I would love an interface to my existing electric trim in my Arrow, but keeping the plane in trim really isn't that big of a deal, so I'm not losing any sleep over it.

Aspen is not sending the altitude bug data currently over the interface. They have an update coming out but Andrew said he isn't sure whether it will include the altitude bug. My understanding is that if/when Aspen sends that data that it will work, so it is on Aspen.

Someone asked if Garmin could possibly change the firmware in the G5 and break the interface to the TruTrak. Andrew said that the G5 interface is published, so it is not likely, but that he has no control over what Garmin might do. He went on to day that he is 100% sure that Aspen won't do that. I took that to mean that they are working closely with Aspen, and in fact Aspen advertises the interface to the TruTrak.

Someone asked if they were planning on lifting the limitation of "no coupled approaches". Andrew said they are working on expanding the capabilities under the STC, and he added that they are also looking at the 700' altitude restriction, too. This should be a paperwork change and would be good, because Garmin doesn't have those limitations.
 
Lynn Dixon said:
Steve, I have some questions:
  1. Is there REALLY a fee to upgrade the Vizion? I was always under the impression it was going to be a free upgrade (we pay shipping of course).
  2. Are there any plans to expand the AeroCruze 100 line for existing customers? Meaning adding things like an electric/auto trim upgrade?
  3. Is there going to be any further integration between the Aerocruze 100 and the Aspen E5 / ProMax lines? I was really hoping for altitude bug sync as well as full vertical steering passthrough (in addition to the lateral steering).
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Lynn,
  1. Are you talking about experimental of certified? Experimental will require a hardware update (all new boards) for this to work, so yes, there is a cost for that one (overhauls cost $700, and come with 2 years of warranty). For the certified systems, we aren’t charging for the software, but it does take about 3 hours of bench time, so we are charging one hour of bench time plus shipping - $100.
  2. We are certainly planning additions to the AC100 product, but a timeline and exact features have not yet been determined. We are seriously looking at things like auto-trim, yaw damper, lower altitude limits, removing coupled approach limits, flight director output, airspeed climb…things of this nature. Again, NONE of these are promised, but many are expected to explored and tested.
  3. We are continuing to work with Aspen on further integration. Although none can be promised at this time, we are excited about the possibilities along the lines of altitude bug, vertical steering, flight director, other approach modes and so on.
Cheers,
 
Steve, Any chance of getting Baro sync info from a Dynon HDX system? :)
 
Thanks SteveP. All I ask is that you don't forget us original adopters of the vizion. We could have easily placed our orders with other companies but we chose TruTrak. I'd like to say the same for Bendix King
 
@FlyingMonkey There's always a chance! As we continue the transition of TruTrak products to BendixKing, we plan to roll more options and features into that product line.

@Joe Christian Off the top of my head I don't have a date, but I'll find out and get back to you shortly.
 
One of the complaints of the Trutrak autopilot is that it is gps based and will only fly track and not heading. However, when connected to the Dynon HDX it is possible for it to be controlled by the HDX and fly actual heading. All 3 parameters of the TT are controlled by the HDX. I created this video to demonstrate in case anyone is interested.

 
FlyingMonkey said:
One of the complaints of the Trutrak autopilot is that it is gps based and will only fly track and not heading. However, when connected to the Dynon HDX it is possible for it to be controlled by the HDX and fly actual heading. All 3 parameters of the TT are controlled by the HDX. I created this video to demonstrate in case anyone is interested.

Click to expand...
Very nice!

When you have your toggle switched to the Skyview as the source, will the skyview also pass through GPSS from the navigator? Meaning will it follow a flight plan from the skyview instead of juts the heading bug? Will it also pass through vertical navigation on a flight plan via the skyview?
 
FlyingMonkey said:
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That's a nice video, thanks. I'm interested in the Vizion/AeroCruze100 and Gfc500 depending on final costs and capability when/if they get certified for the 206. I only need an alt&hdg helping hand for long flights. Weight is a consideration as well.
 
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Lynn Dixon said:
Very nice!

When you have your toggle switched to the Skyview as the source, will the skyview also pass through GPSS from the navigator? Meaning will it follow a flight plan from the skyview instead of juts the heading bug? Will it also pass through vertical navigation on a flight plan via the skyview?
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I will test this. From my non-expert understanding, the HDX has its own flight plan called the Skyview flight plan. It also can connect to and display course guidance from an external flight plan. You can VIEW either flight plan on the Flight plan screen- there is a toggle for "flight plan source." I am not sure what happens when you 1) leave the AP source toggle switch on Skyview and still use the iFD external flight plan and 2) leave the AP source toggle switch on Skyview and use the Skyview flight plan. I think I remember saying that in the case of #2 the TT will follow the Skyview flight plan but in "GPS NAV" mode which is not the same as GPSS. It won't anticipate turns I think and I am unsure of vertical command on an LPV approach. I will give it a try sometime and post back.
 
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