IFD 440 vs GTN 650: thoughts?

[Canuck]

I don't see a big-enough price advantage in starting with a used GNS 430W, so I'm looking at putting either an Avidyne IFD 440 or a Garmin GTN 650 into my plane in the next year or so. Orest has made a strong case for Avidyne, but I'd like to collect other opinions. Here's where my thinking is so far:

Price: the Avidyne system is ~1 AMU more expensive. That's too close to matter.

Database pricing: not sure here. Are they roughly the same for a Canada/US combined package?

Openness: Avidyne is far more open than Garmin. As far as I can tell, third-party apps are allowed to connect to the GTN 650 only by special arrangement, while the IFD 440 has an open protocol that anyone (e.g. FltPlan Go) can pick up.

Support: Garmin has a great history of flat 1 AMU for repairing any 430, and I assume that also applies to the 650. Also, I'm almost certain Garmin will still be here in 10–20 years, while Avidyne could go the way of Narco.

Usability: By all reports, Avidyne has a far better UI, and the ability to use an off-the-shelf Bluetooth keyboard (with the optional ~2AMU bluetooth/wifi add-on).

The one that makes me most nervous about Avidyne is the support one. Will the company still be around to fix the unit in 2030?


Cheers, David

 

[jruhnke]

 

[TheDoc]

 

[arkvet]

 

[USMCF18]

 

[BGFYankee]

 

[datorres88]

 

[Orest @ CYFD]

 

[BGFYankee]

 

[Orest @ CYFD]