Repair Parts Running Out For GNS 430/530 - AVweb

I’ve never been a big fan of Garmin. They make good products, but I don’t like their marketing strategies and their “we don’t play well with others” attitude in building their products. Having said that, I agree that halting support for products built over 25 years ago makes sense. The evolution of integrated circuits and even the circuit boards themselves makes makes it nearly impossible to duplicate old parts once the manufacturers have moved on and junked the old assembly lines. The display screens seem to be a particular issue. Garmin dropped support for the GNS 480s and the original MX20s some time ago, mainly due to the display screens. Matt W. makes a good point about the G1000 and higher end displays that will likely follow a similar fate eventually. Some readers wax nostalgic about the old King KX*** radios, and yes, they were good, but that overlooks the much greater capabilities of more modern navigators. That higher level of capabilities comes at a price. After all, how many of us still use the same cell phones and small-screen TVs from the early '90s. The difference is that those high volume, low cost, consumer items are not as painful on the wallet as our aircraft avionics.