Avidyne Slides Into Home Plate To Replace Garmin 430/530

We caught up with Mr. Steve Gubbins, International Sales Manager of Avidyne, to discuss the Garmin to Avidyne transition, and the special deal available only to AirVenture 2022 attendees; a $500 gift card with the purchase/upgrade of a new Avidyne GPS. If you’re seeking to replace your Garmin GNS430/GNS530 WAAS or non-WAAS GPS, consider heading over to the Avidyne booth in Hangar C at EAA AirVenture 2022 to discuss options.

The old adage “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” is still an accurate sentiment”, and perhaps your rig is adequate for your mission, however, if you're a tad exhausted from spinning and pushing the FMS knobs a multitude of times for a relatively simple (loosely speaking) flight plan, then it’s worth giving Avidyne a cursory review. Let’s face it, Garmin does not appear to have a direct upgrade path, except for some surgery from the “stealership”, a week of downtime, and no amount of firmware updates will give you the functionality of a touch screen anything! Besides the obvious dealer incentive, Garmin seems far removed from their general aviation (GA) customers, whereas, as Mr. Gubbins stated, "Avidyne listens to the customer" and is well aware of the importance of such a relationship in this increasingly disconnected (automated) world.

In Garmin’s mind, your upgrade path to the GTNxxx series of GPS’ is to simply hand over your wallet, say yes please and thank you, and seek relief in the secondary market! Going the Avidyne trade-up route avoids that hassle, and in walks Avidyne offering a trade-up program where you trade in your GNS430/530 in exchange for an appreciable discount off the price of a new Avidyne IFD440 or IFD540 respectively. Of course, the fine print says the unit must successfully pass a bench test, the screen free of defects, and should any repairs be required, that will eat into your discount. Best of all, the switcheroo is a relatively simple one, that uses the same rack/frame. Touch-screen functionality, easy flight plan updates with rubber-banding, intuitive victor airway routing, coupled with the ability to use the Bluetooth keyboard, and custom holds, the thing seems to sell itself.

Once you send in a picture of your device sticker, Avidyne can make an evaluation and present you with the upgrade cost, provided you don’t have something peculiar going on with your power supply, such as a 28v inverter on a 14v system that will force a $800 reduction of your trade-in for an additional gizmo to accommodate that oddity. Mileage may vary, pre-covid, the trade-up costs for a GNS430 was circa $8,000, today its about $1,000 more! Avidyne offers an app/simulator (the IFD100) you can install (unfortunately its only available for the Apple iPad, but its as close as you can get to evaluating the real thing, and it's exactly what you’d use when paired with the Avidyne units for a secondary interface. Avidyne is located in hangar C booth 3130A. If you missed them at the show, consider reaching out to their dealers/resellers, you might be pleasantly surprised and save money/hassle in the process!

FMI: https//avidyne.com