EIS Upgrade recommendations

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FastFlight

Filing Flight Plan
Joined
Feb 7, 2025
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Display Name
Mike
Hi all,
I'm looking for recommendations to upgrade from stock equipment to a new EIS. Looking at reliability and cost.
 
1978 Cessna 182RG. Just bought it and plan on using it to complete my private pilot training and then my instrument rating. I have a GTN 750 installed already.
 
What's your panel like currently? I've always been a fan of the JPI EDM 930 or 900, big screens, can see everything at once, no separate interface box to find somewhere to install, but they take a decent amount of panel space. (especially the 930). I've done a few GI-275 EIS's recently and have really come to like those as well. While you do still have to find a spot to fit an interface box (the GEA24B or GEA110), and it has a smaller screen, so you have to go through pages to see everything, it has the ability to stream the engine data to Garmin pilot, which gives you a bigger screen to see all the parameters at once, and since the 275 mounts in a 3 1/8" instrument hole, there is less panel surgery needed than fitting in something like a 930.
 
I have a GI-275 EIS and absolutely love it. Integrates with my GNX-375 to give fuel estimates at destination. Automatically downloads a wealth of information to Garmin Pilot, which subsequently automatically uploads it to Savvy and FlySto for analysis. If you're flying with other Garmin avionics, it's hard to recommend one of the (otherwise excellent, I'm sure) competitors.
 
AvNavCom said:
I have a GI-275 EIS and absolutely love it. Integrates with my GNX-375 to give fuel estimates at destination.
Click to expand...
FWIW, the CGR-30P and EDM900 can do this too. They speak the same language (RS232) to the GNX-375 (and GTN, etc).
 
FastFlight said:
Hi all,
I'm looking for recommendations to upgrade from stock equipment to a new EIS. Looking at reliability and cost.
Click to expand...
What equipment do you have in the panel already? Are you planning any additional upgrades?

FastFlight said:
1978 Cessna 182RG. Just bought it and plan on using it to complete my private pilot training and then my instrument rating. I have a GTN 750 installed already.
Click to expand...
How long do you plan to keep this airplane?

I have an Insight G3 which has some cool features the others don't have, but the main feature it had was the ability to use all the existing wiring from the one that came with the plane. A couple of the things I like about it that I haven't seen elsewhere: While leaning, the fuel flow when a cylinder peaks is displayed on that cylinder's EGT bar, so you can figure out your GAMI spread immediately with very little effort. Also, it allows you to easily set what threshold you want for it to highlight LOP/ROP. I choose 10ºF LOP, and then just pull the mixture until all six bars are highlighted and I don't have to stare at the engine monitor the whole time.

There are several good entrants in the market, though, I also like the CGR units and of course Garmin.

Now, if you're planning to upgrade to a full glass panel someday, just go ahead and do Garmin now (GI 275 EIS) and save yourself any future headaches. If you're planning on flying this plane for another year or two and selling it, you might not want to spend that kind of money.

I am *not* a fan of JPI any more, their units record data in a proprietary format that seems like it's difficult to extract, and getting more difficult over time as they aren't keeping the software up to date. That's a no-go for me, logged data is one of the big things that lets an engine monitor save you money.
 
I'll add my vote for the GI-275. The brightness on the display is astonishing; when flying straight towards the sun the added brightness is much appreciated!
 
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