Just in time for AirVenture 2021, Avidyne kicks the competition up a notch with its newly designed retrofit flight displays it calls Vantage. These are dual 12-inch diagonal hybrid-touch displays (PFD and MFD) with built-in AHRS, and are initially designed to replace existing Entegra PFD and MFD screens used as original equipment in early Cirrus (model year 2002 to 2008) and some 700-plus Piper models. Avidyne says the older Entegra displays will still be supported.
2022 for retrofit of their older displays and 2024 for anything else like a Cessna 182, which will really be 2028 after Garmin has had two more product cycles.
More competition for large GA EFIS would be a big win for everyone. Honeywell/King’s announcement ~3 years ago had promise but just did not materialize, and likely the case here as well.
Avidyne’s DFC90 autopilot has great promise too and it never moved beyond the narrow slide-in retrofit either.
No one more than me would love to yell “Go Team” I’m buying one, but Garmin is the only reliable supplier for most and Dynon for a few.
Maybe someday we will get a breakthrough option for our legacy aircraft other than Garmin.
The days are numbered for such hard mounted, inflexible, and expensive systems. imagine how car entertainment systems look after 5, 10, 20 or 30 years after being installed. We are already at the point where people use their phones instead of hard mounted systems for current navigation and communication.
Avidyne’s IFDs are the most pilot friendly available! Customer support is beyond compare! Their IFD’s have so much more than radios and navigation: For example, built in, at ‘no extra cost,’ is a 10 watt USB charging port that also function as the data entry port for keeping your IFD IFR current. Factory support with periodic firmware updates (for free) keeps the features and benefits expanding. And, yes, I have two installed.