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Steam gauge DA-40 with Aspen or Garmin retrofit glass panel
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 2:10 pm
by tomb
Good morning,
I would be interested in hearing from anyone on the forum who has done a retrofit of the Aspen or Garmin glass panel products to a steam gauge DA-40. Would be especially interested in what problems you encountered, performance and reliability, would you do it again, and if you don't mind commenting on this, the overall cost?
Thanks in advance.
Tom
Re: Steam gauge DA-40 with Aspen or Garmin retrofit glass pa
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 2:22 pm
by Gary
I had the Garmin G500 installed in my 2003 steam gauge DA40 and am very pleased with the results. I already had GNS530/430W with WAAS and a GDL69 XM receiver. Mayday Avionics in Grand Rapids Michigan did an excellent job with the installation.
http://www.maydayavionics.com/
http://www.maydayavionics.com/index.php ... &fileId=74
Re: Steam gauge DA-40 with Aspen or Garmin retrofit glass pa
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 2:36 pm
by tomb
Thank you Gary! Any chance you could share a photo of your panel with me? Sure appreciate it.
Tom
tbranton@flyingb.net
Re: Steam gauge DA-40 with Aspen or Garmin retrofit glass pa
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 3:33 pm
by Gary
tomb wrote:Thank you Gary! Any chance you could share a photo of your panel with me? Sure appreciate it.
Tom
tbranton@flyingb.net
It is the panel in the Mayday Avionics gallery in the link above and below. It also details what they did.
http://www.maydayavionics.com/index.php ... &fileId=74
Here are links to two panel shots in our photo gallery.
http://www.diamondaviators.net/forum/ga ... image_id=7
http://www.diamondaviators.net/forum/ga ... image_id=5
Note how well the G500 altitude, altimeter and A/P setting agree in the photo in the last image.
Re: Steam gauge DA-40 with Aspen or Garmin retrofit glass pa
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 4:42 pm
by tomb
Gary,
Got it. Thanks so much.
Tom
Re: Steam gauge DA-40 with Aspen or Garmin retrofit glass pa
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 4:57 pm
by Steve
Tom:
The CEO of Aspen has a very early (2001 or 2002) DA40 with triple Aspen displays in it. I saw it at KAEG, and he showed me some of the features. It was a nice setup that fit well in the panel. I don't know anything about reliability issues. I would consider an upgrade if (when) my KI525 HSI dies.
Steve
Re: Steam gauge DA-40 with Aspen or Garmin retrofit glass pa
Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2011 5:10 am
by Lance Murray
Here are some pics of my DA40 with the Aspen. Overall I am happy despite some early adopter issues. The airplane has a superior useful load compared to the G-1000 airplanes.
I added the Aspen, Avidyne TAS-600, WAAS, and a wired Garmin 496 for weather and Terrain Alerting.
Re: Steam gauge DA-40 with Aspen or Garmin retrofit glass pa
Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2011 5:12 am
by Lance Murray
I personally like that my Aspen panel setup is similar to my panel at work.
Re: Steam gauge DA-40 with Aspen or Garmin retrofit glass pa
Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2011 11:41 am
by Erik
That looks really nice Lance. Is the Aspen stable now? A friend has one in a P210 and it seems really nice. I also read they are coming out with a SVT upgrade which is just a software upgrade for about $2500 due to release this year.
What airplane model is that you drive at work?
Re: Steam gauge DA-40 with Aspen or Garmin retrofit glass pa
Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2011 12:51 pm
by Gary
Lance Murray wrote:I personally like that my Aspen panel setup is similar to my panel at work.
Why don't the Aspen display, AI and TC agree? In IMG_0218.jpg
the Aspen shows a shallow right bank but the AI and TC show level flight.