The only way to avoid your frustration, Timothy, is to always make a purchase decision on deliverable function at time of purchase. And that is a valid buying strategy because one gets what one pays for, nothing more or less. It definitely favours Garmin.
Garmin plays a very slick game with announcement timing and compatibility with other Garmin products vs competitors’. They can afford to and get away with it because of their market dominance. They take a “here it is, take it or leave it” approach and no one has any idea of what is coming next or the eventual $$$ outlay for equipment that could be obsolete (but not unusable) the day after purchase. Indeed, they make no promises at all (vs ones not kept), other than to deliver what they say is available now.
I’m less inclined to be so harsh on Avidyne simply because as David in the David vs Goliath environment they’re in, they need to find ways to survive. They are not alone in that respect. As mentioned, the same environment existed in the computer business over the past decades.
I have a good experience with Avidyne support, and have had a defective unit replaced within 3 working days (plus a weekend) from the US thanks to a pre-ship without waiting for the RMA return. When my Garmin 330 failed, I would have been 2 weeks AOG getting the repaired unit back from the UK if I hadn’t had the luck to be at an airfield with a shop that was prepared to canabalize a local Cirrus for a used unit until mine came back from Garmin.
My point is that I would like to balance your experience with something else to show that everything is not black and white.
Peter, each has his own experience. My experience with IBM was not at all the same as yours. I won’t go into all the detail. And I stand on my statement that many of their customers wouldn’t risk choosing a competitor simply because IBM were the “safe” choice despite when the competitor had a better offering. Nobody was ever fired for choosing IBM, even when IBM didn’t deliver as promised (and it happened more often than many think). I’m not saying IBM made bad product, far from it. And there is no question that Garmin makes good products. Otherwise, they couldn’t survive.
Your comment about Avidyne getting an underdog vote in the US is true, but there is more to it than that. There is more recognition that competition is good for the market. That attitude is less pervasive in Europe, or at least there is less willingness to support competition as part of the decision-making process (i.e. “let others take the risk”).
I like their products, dealing with many of their people has been a pleasure and I think it would be great for them to succeed. But I was told a release date would be in months for the IFD440s when, had I believed them, I would have sold the second plane before the product was released 3 years later.
The 10.2 software was formally announced a year ago and canvassed well before that. If I had bought a box at Sun ’n Fun last year expecting the upgrade imminently I would be pretty annoyed.
Like everything there are two sides to all stories. I for one can confirm first hand that last year I experienced an overheating issue with both boxes. I got an advance exchange on both simultaneously and not one at a time. So far I cannot relate to any bad customer support experience, it has been one of the best I have seen so far. Is Avidyne the riskier choice? Most probably, but there are buyers for Nestle shares as well as for Snapchat shares, to each his own risk appetite.
From my perspective, like Peter, I was also holding back. Putting in a big Garmin didn’t really add much value as far as I was concerned. In my opinion, it has a less usable map than Sky Demon, I don’t plan on doing non VFR approaches so it would end up being an under used toy in my plane.
Then I decided to comply with 8.33 by doing the minimum possible and hoped TKM would come up trumps.
However I am changing my mind again…………….. the IFD550 has Synthetic vision and can duplicate screens on an i-Pad. This feature is great and as long at the get the 10.1 software approved before November (when I have my Aircraft booked in to sort out for 8.33), that’s probably what I’ll do now.
I think you mean the 10.2 software, which was released along with the availability of IFD550 at the beginning of March. Both are now being installed, and there should be significant installation experience by the fall. Best place to follow this is on Avidynelive. Applies to FAA approval. If you need EASA, then it would be wait and see. From past history, not likely by November unless Avidyne has found a faster process than they used for the IFD540.
