Thinkin' about putting a deposit on an IFD 440

FORANE

FORANE

En-Route
Joined
Mar 7, 2013
Messages
3,554
Location
TN
Display Name
Display name:
FORANE
I am seriously considering putting a deposit on an IFD 440. I currently have a non-waas 430. Looks like Avidyne has a well thought out unit with the IFD 540 and 440 series gps's. I looked at the GTN 650 and I believe I would be happier with the Avidyne.
Anyone else doing this?
Thoughts?
 
They have been advertising coming soon for a while. When are they going to deliver? Will they ever deliver?
 
Believe me I would love to see someone cut into Garmins kingdom. I am just not sure it is going to happen here. For the anticipated price of a 440 you can almost get a 650 installed
 
The other thing to keep in mind is that you're buying version 1. I am personally not a fan of buying version 1 of anything when it comes to aircraft, and especially avionics.
 
tmyers said:
Believe me I would love to see someone cut into Garmins kingdom. I am just not sure it is going to happen here. For the anticipated price of a 440 you can almost get a 650 installed
Click to expand...

I'm getting a 650/750 combo installed and it didn't even occur to me to look at the 440/540's. While everyone complains about Garmin, they are the industry leader and in 12 years, I've never had a failure in a GNS 430 or 530 or transponder. :D I personally wouldn't invest/spend this amount of money for a brand new unproven product. :no: Too much at stake besides the cost of the equipment to make it worth it for me and my family. :D
 
tmyers said:
For the anticipated price of a 440 you can almost get a 650 installed
Click to expand...
If you are starting from no GPS in the plane, this may be close to true. Might be true even if you're moving up from a non-WAAS 430, since you'd still need to upgrade antenna and maybe some wiring to put in the 440.

If you are upgrading from a 430W, the Avidyne would be quite a bit less, since it's a slide-in replacement, while the 650 will require new tray and associated wiring.

(This is based on the "pre-sale" pricing currently offered on the 440. Not sure what might happen to Avidyne and Garmin pricing once the 440 is actually on the street.)
 
I have a deposit on an Avidyne IFD440 which NOW shipping. I sold the aircraft it was going in and it won't work in the new one. So, if anyone is interested, I am willing to sell mine. Email me at mar960@gmail.com
 
what did you sell and what did you buy? Why won't it work in the new plane?
 
FORANE said:
I am seriously considering putting a deposit on an IFD 440. I currently have a non-waas 430. Looks like Avidyne has a well thought out unit with the IFD 540 and 440 series gps's. I looked at the GTN 650 and I believe I would be happier with the Avidyne.
Anyone else doing this?
Thoughts?
Click to expand...

The display they had at OSH made it interesting sounding, are they delivering it yet? I have just slightly more faith in Avidyne than I do in Bendix King, which is 0.

One other thought, what is the cost of upgrading the the 430 to 430w and adding the Airstream then controlling the programming of the box with Garmin Pilot on an iPad? The best I could figure that was the lowest cost way to deal with the interface hatred I have for the GNS boxes and upgrade to the GTN interface which I think is the easiest out there. Also having the ability to create all the programming at home then upload it to the plane on arrival saves not only time, but fuel, and discomfort sitting there in the heat or cold having to program it preflight with that idiotic spin push, spin push, spin push... ad infinitum GNS interface (not to mention entering clearance amendments in flight by rubberbanding them).
 
Mark960 said:
I have a deposit on an Avidyne IFD440 which NOW shipping. I sold the aircraft it was going in and it won't work in the new one. So, if anyone is interested, I am willing to sell mine. Email me at mar960@gmail.com
Click to expand...

How much is said position worth?
 
What's the cost of upgrading your existing 430 to a WAAS? Then get a GPSS box for it to your autopilot. Probably get all of it cheaper than the Avidyne.

Last time I checked, the IFD 440 was $14K and change.
 
txflyer said:
What's the cost of upgrading your existing 430 to a WAAS? Then get a GPSS box for it to your autopilot. Probably get all of it cheaper than the Avidyne.

Last time I checked, the IFD 440 was $14K and change.
Click to expand...

The idf540 are selling all day long for $12.5k, so I'd expect the 440s in the $9.5-10.5 k range.
 
Unit74 said:
The idf540 are selling all day long for $12.5k, so I'd expect the 440s in the $9.5-10.5 k range.
Click to expand...


Maybe that was an estimate back when I looked ... :dunno:

What's the cost to WAAS a 430? Can't you send them in and it's just software and maybe a little hardware?

Get GPSS at the same time and be really happy.
 
txflyer said:
Maybe that was an estimate back when I looked ... :dunno:

What's the cost to WAAS a 430? Can't you send them in and it's just software and maybe a little hardware?

Get GPSS at the same time and be really happy.
Click to expand...

IIRC, it was 3K+ for the WAAS upgrade, and then some $$ for the install; new cable and antenna. this was around 2 years ago.
 
rbridges said:
IIRC, it was 3K+ for the WAAS upgrade, and then some $$ for the install; new cable and antenna. this was around 2 years ago.
Click to expand...

Yeah, depending on your install, I'd bet it will be $4K for the upgrade.:eek:
 
N747JB said:
Yeah, depending on your install, I'd bet it will be $4K for the upgrade.:eek:
Click to expand...

So, $4k for the upgrade, $1k for Airsteam, $500 for an iPad. $5500 to upgrade plus whatever the annual cost of whatever Garmin Pilot is.
 
Mark960 said:
I have a deposit on an Avidyne IFD440 which NOW shipping. I sold the aircraft it was going in and it won't work in the new one. So, if anyone is interested, I am willing to sell mine. Email me at mar960@gmail.com
Click to expand...


Can't you just refund your deposit with Avidyne?
 
Yes, I can get my money refunded. But I figured someone who is thinking of purchasing the 440, could save some money by taking over my reservation. I put down $9,300.
 
Interesting, I didn't know Avidyne had a deposit program for the IFD440?
What a strange amount for your reservation, how did you come up with that?
 
Well, food,for,thought.

If you have a 530w, you can get the idf540 for $7500 installed with trade in. Based on the sliding scale between the 530/430 and 540/440, I'd expect the price to be about the same or slightly less installed with trade in of your 430w. So I'd say $7k for a 440 installed with trade in. Keep your thumb on the paper copy of Trade a Plane. The adds should be up real soon if they are shipping now.

Paying $9300 for a fresh unit plus 50 hours of labor at $95 hour puts you at about $14k installed.
 
The $9,300 is what Avidyne charged. As far as install cost, the IFD440 is a direct slide replacement for the Garmin 430. So you get features of a Garmin GTN without the install costs. Actually, it has features that make it better than the Garmin GTN series. IMO
 
Mark960 said:
The $9,300 is what Avidyne charged. As far as install cost, the IFD440 is a direct slide replacement for the Garmin 430. So you get features of a Garmin GTN without the install costs. Actually, it has features that make it better than the Garmin GTN series. IMO
Click to expand...

Such as?
 
Can't remember all, but to mention a few, you can enter data touch screen OR twisting knobs. Geofill will automatically enter a known waypoint that matches the first couple of letters based on distance. (Ex: I am in FL, if I am entering a waypoint KR it will automatically show KRSW. If I am entering a flight plan with airways, once the first airway is entered, it will automatically show intersections associated with the selected airway. They also include a Bluetooth keyboard to enter data. When you select a comm frequency, it will display the name (Miami Twr, Ft Myers Apprch, etc...)

Check out the Avidyne web site to see some of their videos. It really is an impressive unit
 
I have to agree with Mark960. The IFD440 seems to be a much better product over the GTN 650. I just scheduled my install for two 440s (easy slide-in install) and NGT-9000. I think Garmin really dropped the ball by not designing the 650 as a slide-in replacement for the GNS 430 unit.

I like the fact that the IFD440 can be used with knobs and buttons or touchscreen. I don't like a lot of finger prints on my screen. I like the Bluetooth and wifi capability, the external wireless keyboard, the frequency name in the window just to name a few.

I have experience using the GTN 650 and I absolutely hate the way you have to enter in waypoints and airports with the 650. Why didn't they go with a QWERTY keyboard? Why Garmin? WHY? I'd rather keep my 430s with my Flightstream 210 than install a 650 IMHO. I know many will disagree.
 
Heck, I'd just WAAS the 430. There is a reason so many planes, both private and working, have 430s and 530s.

I also wouldn't bother with the flight stream or any of those other impulse buy gadgets, really isn't needed, even flying into NYC or LA area, it's just not that big of a deal, maybe for under $500 OTD, but that's about its functionalitys worth.
 
Being able to edit the 430 via Foreflight is a game changer for older GNS boxes. It's a cheap way to bring 650ish functionality to an antiquated system.
 
Unit74 said:
Being able to edit the 430 via Foreflight is a game changer for older GNS boxes. It's a cheap way to bring 650ish functionality to an antiquated system.
Click to expand...

If entering a waypoint on your iPad vs just entering it on the 430 is a game changer, you're not playing the game right.
 
Unit74 said:
Being able to edit the 430 via Foreflight is a game changer for older GNS boxes. It's a cheap way to bring 650ish functionality to an antiquated system.
Click to expand...

I completely agree with Unit74. And if you've never used the Flight Stream 210 while flying IFR then you probably can't appreciate it's functionality. If you're a guy who doesn't use an iPad while flying then you're not one of the pilots the FS 210 is geared towards. To each his own, I can respect that. But to say he's not playing the game right, no, he's probably playing a different kind of game.
 
You can literally fly yourself into the poor house trying to keep the latest greatest tech.

You know it would have been nice if Garmin had hinted beforehand that they were going to come out with the GTN series right after we installed our 430W.

And I agree, not making them slide in replaceable was just ignorant. Or very calculated, I don't know which.
 
Last edited:
How do the Avidyne systems compare to garmin as far as data subscriptions go?
 
cowman said:
How do the Avidyne systems compare to garmin as far as data subscriptions go?
Click to expand...
OP here,
Data for the Avidyne is more costly than the GTN 650, which in turn is more costly than the 430w which is more costly than the 430.

This is one of the reasons I elected to sell my position for an IFD 440 right about the time they obtained certification on the 440 box.
Other reasons included:
after placing a deposit on the 440 I managed to buy a 430w and sold my non-waas 430.
The 440 was advertised to include a heading mode flight planning like when receiving vectors from ATC - I planned to use that with my old autopilot that didn't have heading mode, but ended up upgrading my autopilot so I didn't need the function. Heading mode ended up being abandoned by Avidyne during certification.
Avidyne had stated they would support capstone ads-b universal compatibility, but that seemed to change right about the time they announced their overpriced ads-b in only device. This was a big reason for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top