Misc. electronic conspicuity boxes: Garrecht / Air Avionics / TRX-1500A / Air Connect / PAW / PilotAware / LXnav / PowerMouse / FlarmMouse / Flarm / Uavionix / SkyEcho / SafeSky

I wonder, can the 1500a be connected to an Aspen with the hazard awareness software unlock?

In theory yes, it is the same data format. At this time it is not fully tested yet.

Having purchased a Garrecht VT-01 Mode S Transponder and having had all sorts of problems with it then I would avoid Garrecht until they can be a lot more supportive to their existing customers. They have a somewhat belligerent attitude in that their problems are always caused by something else.

Sorry to hear you have so many problems.

I found Garrecht always very responsive, and a very low failure rate. I think on average it does have the same failure rate as Trig. Both didn’t have that much problems, and support was quite good at Garrecht, to very good at Trig’s.

If you still have problems, try contacting them by E-mail. The don’t seem to answer their phone to often. Do you still have problems with your VT-01?

having had all sorts of problems with it

What problems are you having?

The don’t seem to answer their phone to often

Not answering emails is pretty common, for all sorts of reasons, but not answering the phone is highly dodgy.

Garrecht is a good company making high quality products. It’s very engineering driven which can lead to communication difficulties. They have recently joined forces with Butterfly Avionics (the distributors of PowerFLARM) and called that joint venture Air Avionics.

The Butterfly guys are excellent in customer support, you can call them at any time and they will take the time. Therefore this joint venture sounds like a good idea. You might want to talk to them.

BTW: Garrecht offers to upgrade the VT-01 transponder with a turn knob to the VT-2000 with a keypad and color LCD screen for a very reasonable price. That is very good service, compare it to Garmin who charge you thousands for almost nothing (ADS-B in the 330 transponder) and scammed people with the GTX328. I’ve had a Garrecht transponder for years and been in touch with the company several times and have a high opinion of their products and expertise. Now I have a Funkwerk (ex Filser) transponder and that company is hopeless and clueless.

I have to agree with Achima. Garrecht solutions are well engineered, and quite clever, suchs as the changeable rear end on the VT-02 transponder, to fit different transponder racks. I was amazed none of the other manufacturers didn’t look into this. Only Becker took over a while later.
From a cosmetic point of view I would say it good be better, but with the upgrade it is.

BTW: Garrecht offers to upgrade the VT-01 transponder with a turn knob to the VT-2000 with a keypad and color LCD screen for a very reasonable price.

I think this is only for the flat (radio rack) VT-02. The VT-01 is a round model.

Now I have a Funkwerk (ex Filser) transponder and that company is hopeless and clueless.

I have had major problems with these. After about two years about all units have been back for warranty repair at least twice. Nowadays I would benchcheck this units before installing. They seem to have improved their quality now. They also changed names again, now it is called Funke or something like that.

I was looking to get one installed in our Cirrus to allow us to spot Flarm equipped gliders / aircraft plus ADS-B equipped aircraft as well as giving proximity warnings for Mode C / S aircraft. Initially we were going to put the 1500A in and have the traffic displayed on one of our GNS 430s but when it came to fitting into the aircraft, all the little charges added up, it was around €1900 for the A variant but with the installation and approvals, we wouldn’t have much change from 4500€. On top of that I was informed that I couldn’t fit the 1500A to display traffic on one of the 430s legally because the TRX-1500A wasn’t approved to be fitted to equipment which was on the MEL for (e.g.) IFR flights so I would either have to accept that I could no longer have an IFR approved aircraft or I would have had to have fitted the Air Connect and plumb it in via my iPad.

Bearing in mind I am connecting a Flarm Mouse to a PAW and this will show me ADS-B, Flarm and Mode A / C / S warnings for less than 20% of that cost, that is a lot of cash would could otherwise be spent on flying for little reward so we scrapped that idea…..

Steve, after checking UK accident reports for the last few decades, I’ve come to the same conclusion.

Of about seven reported UK mid-air collisions, a certified TAS system might have prevented one (in the circuit at Shoreham). On that basis, we might nearly as well invest €10k in a nice ladies’ handbag and screw a 5 kg lump of lead behind the panel.

At less than half the installed price and weight, PowerFLARM or TRX-1500 might have prevented three or four of those collisions.

PAW+FLARMmouse looks as if it does the same for less than one AMU. Not as tidy as the behind-the-panel-mounted gizmos, but we can afford to throw it away if and when electronic conspicuity technology advances – and meanwhile, Mrs J might still get her purse.

Statistically, staying north of Manchester seems to be the only 100% sure way to avoid mid-air collisions in U.K. airspace – if you can put up with the climate, sheep and other natives…

Of course, accident reports tell us what, if anything, might have prevented a collision – statistics on which gizmos have actually prevented mid-air and ground collisions are harder to find.