Another Sun ’n Fun has come and gone.. Lakeland is just two hours from my home, so I have never missed one since I moved to Florida in 1997. I used to work the show (and Oshkosh) as an avionics consultant with Eastern Avionics every year from 1997 to 2008, all week long with heavy pressure to sell, sell, sell, resulting in sore ankles and a scratchy throat and yes, a lot of new customers. Now, as a writer, I look forward to “catching up” with the vendors that I have gotten close to and have supported through my articles, and I seek out new products. I try to talk to any vendor in the avionics industry. I’m looking for new products that you might want to know about. Frankly, while I understand, many vendors wait for Oshkosh to announce new products. I found very little “new” at Sun ’n Fun.

This has me asking a question: “What is the current state of the GA avionics market?”

I see a lot of sales activity. Avionics shops are busy, but I see two things happening. First, the used avionics market has very little to offer a legacy aircraft owner trying to do an affordable panel up­grade using good, used avionics. Frankly, this is how owners of legacy aircraft have kept it affordable. And secondly, manufacturers have been quiet with new product introductions in the past five years. Let’s take a look at these two issues, the used market and an overview of the most active manufacturers serving the new avion­ics market, from the perspective of a guy who owned and flew for over 40 years and who has spent 28 years on the inside.

The Used Avionics Market

When I moved to Florida in 1997, I previously owned six aircraft; starting with a Piper Colt in 1972 and ending with the Cherokee Six I sold in 1992. This was also a period when the avi­onics industry was flourishing. There were lots of manufacturers and competition was strong. When I started working at Eastern in 1997, the used avionics market was loaded with good used op­tions, Bendix King being the leader in the new market and also dominating used avionics sales. Garmin and UPSAT were just getting started. We made a living on used Bendix King, but none of that equipment is viable today. In fact, most of the manufactur­ers that offered and supported viable used options in 1997 are gone, leaving all that equipment unsupported and of no value to a pilot on a budget. Let’s take a closer look at the survivors and current leaders in the GA avionics marketplace. In this article we will do an overview of the big-name manufacturers with broader products targeting the GA market today (in alphabetical order). Next month, we will talk about the “specialists.”

Avidyne Avionics

I’ve mentioned the phases the industry has gone through in previous articles. Today, we are in the EFIS phase, but back in 1997, the MFD or Multi-Function-Display phase was just be­ginning and Avidyne was an innovator with FSD (Flight Situa­tion Displays), as they were called. Pilots were able to add panel-installed mapping and charts so they could ditch their old black and white radar displays for a modern, color display that also displayed flight information. Today, Avidyne offers a full line of avionics from audio panels to Mode S.

However, the introduction of the IFD integrated navigator in 2014 is what really put Avidyne on the map. The decision to make the IFD440, or large format IFD540 and 550 (with ARS and optional synthetic vision), a slide-in replacement for Gar­min GNS series navigators was brilliant! Simply stated, if you are about to upgrade a Garmin GNS navigator, you save about $5,000 in installation and connectivity costs with the Avidyne, versus upgrading to the Garmin GTN series.

In addition, Avidyne still offers a very good, active traffic solution, and has been the source for panel upgrades for the popular Cirrus brand. As thousands of Garmin GNS navigators reach their useful end, Avidyne is perfectly situated to benefit. Therefore, I expect big things from Avidyne to continue.

Dynon Avionics

Dynon entered the avionics market in 2003 with the introduc­tion of the EFIS-D10 unit for the experimental and light sport market. Jump thirteen years and Dynon’s Skyview HDX big screen (10″) option became available for experimental/light sport. In 2018, the Skyview HDX got full FAA certification and is now available for installation in nearly 800 certified aircraft models. At the time, the Garmin G500 EFIS system was the only option for a certified aircraft owner to add big screen EFIS. Dynon went on to add engine monitoring and a full-featured two-axis autopilot to the system. In short, and I have repeated this many times in my articles and to my clients, if you are in the market for big screen EFIS, primary engine management, and a full featured and inte­grated, two-axis autopilot, then Dynon is a value leader.

I estimate the Dynon HDX system fully installed in a Cessna 182 or Piper Archer to be about $45,000 plus about $5,000 for a new panel. One thing that may have been holding Dynon back a bit was the speed in which they were adding STC’s for their autopilot. Autopilot manufacturers pursue STC’s based on re­turn on investment. Notice there are no STC’s that I know about for the Aircoupe! This often means that many popular legacy airframes are low priority for STC’s. Dynon and Trio came up with a brilliant solution. They created an interface for the Trio Pro Pilot autopilot and are now co-marketing the Dynon HDX with the Trio Pro Pilot. This just added a ton of legacy models to Dynon’s EFIS market! In addition, show Dynon that you have a qualified mechanic and IA to sign off and you may be able to avoid the backlog we are seeing at avionics shops. If I am right and we are in the EFIS phase, then Dynon is in the right place at the right time with the right product!

Garmin Avionics

No question, Garmin has dominated the GA market since 2004 when the WAAS version of the 430 hit the market. We saw a lot of new products from Garmin through 2018, but my research shows they have slowed down considerably since then. And, I have talked to shops and manufac­turers who tell me Garmin is moving towards the corporate market. At Sun ‘n Fun, Garmin showed their new GCO 14 remote carbon dioxide detector ($549) that is only compatible with their GTNXi se­ries navigators and the GI 275 indicator. They also recently added a color controller/display option (GMC605C) for the GFC600 autopilot that targets sophisticated singles and turbine aircraft. In the electronic flight instrument market, Garmin offers the GI 275 (and G5) flight instruments for those not in the market for big screens. The GI 275’s appear to be more popular. As I mentioned, the G500 TXi was the only option for GA pilots prior to the Dynon option com­ing to market. Garmin’s G3X was experimental/light sport prior to that but Garmin got the G3X certified in 2019 to, I suspect, compete against the Dynon HDX. Compete, yes, but without an affordable integrated autopilot like Dynon’s, you must use the GFC 500 which is $30,000 alone. So, the G3X with EIS (engine information system) and the GFC500 installed is about $67,000 plus new panel ($5,000). I refer you back to the Dynon discus­sion on the previous page for comparison.

There is something else Garmin that has been bugging me for a while. Many Garmin shops have become Garmin only shops! When you are considering an avionics upgrade and you walk into an avionics shop, you hope to be able to discuss all your options. Many Garmin shops won’t show you other alternatives and many will only sell and install Garmin. I tried to send a client to a shop some months back that I did a lot of business with in the past. I recommended a shop I knew and trusted. I contacted the shop closest to him. We did a lot of business in the past but had not talked in years. The client and I decided that the Trig TX-56A navcom and Trio Pro Pilot autopilot were right for his mission and budget. The shop refused to install the Trig or Trio avionics, and at the same time, insisted my client should equip for true IFR, even though the pilot was light IFR with an 800-foot personal minimum.

In this busy “wave” of avionics activity that we have seen in the last 10 years (sparked by ADS-B and EFIS), and as an advo­cate for legacy aircraft owners, I think some avionics shops have forgotten who the client is!

Genesys Aerosystems/S-TEC

For much of the early years of the GA aircraft market, autopi­lots were factory installed and came with the airplane. Cessnas came with autopilots from their ARC division and Pipers from Century Flight Systems. I think that some Century employees thought they had a better idea and so S-TEC got its start in 1978 located right down the street from Century Flight Systems in Mineral Springs, TX. The better idea was to drive the autopilot with a more reliable turn coordinator instead of the vacuum AI and make it all electric, eliminating the vulnerability of a vac­uum pump failure. Since then, S-TEC, later Meggitt, and now Genesys (owned by MOOG) has dominated the aftermarket autopilot market. Ten years ago, S-TEC offered an autopilot for just about any aircraft owner from basic wing leveler through sophisticated, full-featured, three-axis systems for the guy (or gal) flying hard. Last year, they eliminated all but their best models. Today, they offer their new (2018) System 3100 digital system and the analog System 55X, a holdover that pretty much represented the best you could put in your true IFR aircraft pri­or to 2018 when Garmin introduced the GFC500/600. No ques­tion, Genesys/S-TEC has the most experience in the autopilot market, but I think Garmin’s GFC500 is getting the most action amongst the true IFR crowd.

Conclusion

In 2025, there is a lot of good avionics technology available to the GA aircraft owner. The integrated navigator, first introduced in 1998 by Garmin, has revolutionized the panel. More reliable digital autopilots are here and available even for basic legacy air­craft. Plus, they are affordable; under $12,000 installed for the legacy aircraft owner. Next month, we will take a look at some of the smaller manufacturers that tend to be focused on a single segment of the market.

Till then, thanks for reading!