On the WAAS point, I totally agree. We postponed the WAAS upgrade when it was available because it was so darn expensive, and neither I nor my co-owner were yet instrument rated. Now that we’re both rated, there’s definitely some added benefit, but still not enough to justify what Garmin was asking when the upgrade was available — and definitely not when I see what the NXi is going to cost.Rich wrote: ↑Wed Jul 03, 2019 1:37 pm A good point. There are many thousands of planes out there flown IFR that lack WAAS. I do find it makes all sorts of things easier for me, with exactly one ILS anywhere near my home airport, which has 2 LP+V approaches I can use. But it’s not indispensable.
BTW, Matt, I’m hanging out today in my home town of Carteret. A mere stone’s throw (OK, you’d have to be close to Superman to reach it with such a throw) from LDJ.
Point being, while it may be quite costly to rip out the G1000 from my airplane, the fact that I just had to spend $16,000 to equip for the ADS-B mandate, swap out a busted GIA-63 and broken MFD, only means there’s going to be more cost to maintain this legacy panel going forward. Eventually, Garmin is going to stop providing the parts needed to fix this thing, and then what? Not to mention database upgrades...
When I talk with my mechanic about all the awesome stuff he’s doing with experimental stuff that’s now installable in certified aircraft, I’m incredibly jealous. He was also able to equip for ADS-B for much, much less than I. Sigh...
Re: Carteret, I know the area well from the air! I happen to be on the other side of the planet at the moment (Naka Island, Thailand) but do let me know the next time you’re in the area! Always great to meet other Diamond owners.