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PaulR said:
No one can know the precise date, given that at each of the final steps remaining (outlined in this post: IFD540: latest) there could still be issues and delays. I have obviously been following this very closely (as can anyone on their forums), and if I had to guess now, I would think that the IFD540 would be generally available before Thanksgiving, with the Pilot program starting around Oct 1st.
Whether there will be a price advantage, the market will shake out, but in any case I would expect that ALL prices will start to fall given that there will be a choice, good for all consumers. When I bought in, there was a decided price advantage (40% off) in the pre-buy package, on top of which this includes shipping, dealer installation and (just announced) extends the warranty to two years.
If you must have something today, or this month, then Avidyne is not the route to go. If you want something this year, then it should work out OK. As you probably remember, I just left the 430W in place with my big panel redo, but put in a spacer below it (to make a 530 sized opening), so it will allow for a quick removal, and slip in install of the IFD540. So for me the timing is not critical. (other than impatience!)
As to the differences, I am getting a little gun-shy in posting, as it seems to foster an emotional reaction from folks. It shouldn't as it is just a comparison of features. There is nothing wrong with the GTNs, they take a big step forward from the GNS, and anyone will be happy with them. But it is also pretty clear that the IFDs (when released) will be another good step forward from the GTNs. It is my hope that a GTN "Mark II" might be released some time in the near future (not in fifteen years), that step forward yet again. Then comes along the BK/ASPEN unit, which might take it up a notch as well.
The IFDs have a design that is born of an FMS construct, and that is something that I am very much in tune with. About 70% of the code is just moved over from their Release 9 panels.
There is a much improved vertical navigation capability. You can program in multiple altitude restrictions in the flight plan.
Together with this, it has the "Boeing Banana", an extremely powerful feature in the descent and climb, dynamically draws a 20 deg arc predictor of where you will cross the next altitude restriction based on your current VS.
http://www.piperforum.com/f10/ifd540-yet-another-feature-2936/
The IFD440 has all of the features of the IFD540, except of course the screen size. This is unlike the 650/750 pair, a number of 750 features are omitted on the 650.
All of the below features are available on the IFDs, but NOT available in the GTNs.
- Size and pin compatible with a 430W (or 530W respectively) install, when upgrading you literally pull out the GNS and slide in the IFD.
- Capacitive touchscreen, but also including multi-touch features like pinch to zoom.
- Not locked to the touchscreen, knobs and buttons for most functions, more turbulence proof.
- Graphical Airway flightplan building
- Geofill - finds waypoints close to your location (or flightplan end) to fill in, as you input, usually only need a couple of characters specified
- On Screen Procedure Preview, before entry into a flightplan
- Custom Holds at any point, user configured, with automatic entry calculation
- Rubberband flight plan planning
- heading mode (in addition to LOC & GPS), to hold a heading to an intercept of an approach or airway
- Textual COM station identification (from the database)
- Textual VOR station identification (from Morse), with automated NAV tuning (*)
- Touchscreen full QWERTY keyboard, instead of the linear panning keyboard (*)
(*) Two of the above features are sort of available in the 750, it has auto-ID for NAV freq, and has a full screen keyboard, although it is ABCD rather than QWERTY.
The other really BIG thing, more recently announced, is a commitment to CAPSTONE format data interchange. That means you will have no trouble moving ADS-B weather data to your IFD (or ASPEN), from other units that support CAPSTONE, like the new low-cost ASPEN ADS-B boxes. Garmin is currently using a proprietary format. You can't get Garmin ADS-B weather to display on an ASPEN display, nor an IFD, at present.
http://www.piperforum.com/f10/capstone-standardization-3412/
That is it for now. Reportedly there are other features that are being kept quiet until the units are released, for competitive reasons.
* Orest
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