Aspen Avionics

[Patrick]

Has everyone seen the Aspen Avionics website? What are your thoughts about the product?

I think if they can deliver what they advertise at the price they talk about is should be a grandslam.

[kwmoore]

Click here. (http://www.aspenavionics.com/) Looks like an impressive product, hope it's more reliable than Avidyne! :)

[joejenie]

I'm currently having my panel done at Bevan and we looked into this last week in detail. It looks like they are going to be delivering them the end of the year. I'm definitely putting one in as soon as they are available and have been flying for a few months. It's too bad that I couldn't make the timing work to have it installed now, but that's probably a good thing to not be the guinea pig.

Joe Rainey

[jjbely]

I would really be cautious about the delivery dates, and would be surprised if this product was to be fully certified and on sale, debugged, by this time next year. Looking at Garmin glass panel retrofit units, the G600, we have known about it for almost 2 years and it will only be delivered next year at best. It is still very much a product in development. That is from Garmin, a large and established company. They are now coping with bugs on the 430W..

Otherwise , if they deliver, it's a nice product that will keep Garmin in touch a little bit and that is good for the market. It's a pity that Chelton is not pushing their product more, their system is amazing, just ask for a demo DVD. It also would be great on the TBM. One has already be fitted with dual units, I think. A bit over the top for a Katmai..

JJ

[Kent McIntyre]

I agree with all. I signed on as a dealer and visited with our sales rep. at length. If the equipment delivers on time and without a lot of bugs, it's going to make a dent in the market. It sounds like they are well on the way. Getting an STC with an Approved Model List (AML) was a sharp move. It cuts through the local red tap.

They're idea of interfacing with a multitude of autopilots is interesting, basically the plan is to use a digital to analog converter, or what we in the avionics industry refer to as a "happy box". If it works, it'll be great, if not, it could throw a wrench in autopilot interface.

[bwayne]

Aspen has a combination VSI and TAWS device they sell for $2995. I have a new one that I bought and never took delivery on (still sitting at the dealer in a box), that I would sell at a heavy discount because I don't have panel room and I can't get the dealer to refund.

If interested, send me an email at bwayne@trialsnw.com