How much are you guys spending on ADSB parts?

[Ed Cesnalis]

I want to simply purchase a new Garmin GTX 345 with WAAS and Bluetooth, add a shark fin and sell my existing Mode S on Ebay.

This should cost me around $4,000 parts after selling the xponder.

How much of a premium would I be paying to go this route?

[FlyingMonkey]

GDL-82, $1800 and -$500 FAA rebate, so ~$1300 total.  The GTX345 is awesome, but over twice what a GDL-82 costs.

[Ed Cesnalis]

31 minutes ago, FlyingMonkey said:

GDL-82, $1800 and -$500 FAA rebate, so ~$1300 total.  The GTX345 is awesome, but over twice what a GDL-82 costs.

GDL-82 is an out only solution,  what are you spending on the 'in' side?

[FlyingMonkey]

54 minutes ago, Ed Cesnalis said:

GDL-82 is an out only solution,  what are you spending on the 'in' side?

Stratux, $200.  Using it now.

 

[WmInce]

3 hours ago, Ed Cesnalis said:

GDL-82 is an out only solution,  what are you spending on the 'in' side?

uAvionix Ping Buddy, $150. Works just fine so far. 

[Ed Cesnalis]

That was helpful.  There is a $2-3,000 premium upgrading my transponder over the GDL-82.  Guess I'll save the money.

[Warmi]

Yeah, I was contemplating GTX 345 as well but ultimately why bother, I already have a working transponder that does all I need , so GDL 82 was the answer + I already had GDL 39 for the IN part ....

[KentWien]

I did a Garmin 345 WAAS with antenna and had it professionally installed. Total was $7450. I absolutely love it. Works well with multiple ForeFlight devices and Garmin Pilot and Garmin 796 all at the same time. 

[FlyingMonkey]

12 hours ago, Ed Cesnalis said:

That was helpful.  There is a $2-3,000 premium upgrading my transponder over the GDL-82.  Guess I'll save the money.

Just be aware that if you're using Garmin Pilot or one of the Garmin GPS units as your ADS-B display, neither the Stratux nor anything else other than a Garmin ADS-B in device (GDL-39 series or GDL-50 series) will talk to your Garmin gear.  I use Garmin Pilot, but decided to use my iFly as the ADS-B display.  

I think you can find used GDL-39 units pretty inexpensively now, especially if you get the original model without the AHARS.

[Ed Cesnalis]

23 minutes ago, FlyingMonkey said:

Just be aware that if you're using Garmin Pilot or one of the Garmin GPS units as your ADS-B display, neither the Stratux nor anything else other than a Garmin ADS-B in device (GDL-39 series or GDL-50 series) will talk to your Garmin gear.  I use Garmin Pilot, but decided to use my iFly as the ADS-B display.  

I think you can find used GDL-39 units pretty inexpensively now, especially if you get the original model without the AHARS.

Got it,  to stick with my existing Garmin Pilot display I need to spend ~$500 instead of ~$200 for cheapest in solution.

[FlyingMonkey]

19 minutes ago, Ed Cesnalis said:

Got it,  to stick with my existing Garmin Pilot display I need to spend ~$500 instead of ~$200 for cheapest in solution.

That's probably correct numbers.

[John Vance]

9 hours ago, KentWien said:

I did a Garmin 345 WAAS with antenna and had it professionally installed. Total was $7450. I absolutely love it. Works well with multiple ForeFlight devices and Garmin Pilot and Garmin 796 all at the same time. 

It pays to shop around for this installation, and it can be well worth the cost to fly a couple of hours to a state with more favorable sales tax laws (some don’t tax avionics hardware).  I had the same installation done in South Carolina (December 2016) for $1500 less.  Total cost for me was $5300 after the $500 Gov’t rebate and $100 “Garmin Bucks” coupon.  Well, OK, add a cheap motel for 1 night plus a couple of flying hours. My airplane actually lost a little weight, because the 345 is lighter than the GTX 330.  Granted, it’s not cheap but it a clean installation and it works beautifully, just as KentWien says. 

[John Vance]

3 minutes ago, John Vance said:

It pays to shop around for this installation, and it can be well worth the cost to fly a couple of hours to a state with more favorable sales tax laws (some don’t tax avionics hardware).  I had the same installation done in South Carolina (December 2016) for $1500 less.  Total cost for me was $5300 after the $500 Gov’t rebate and $100 “Garmin Bucks” coupon.  Well, OK, add a cheap motel for 1 night plus a couple of flying hours. My airplane actually lost a little weight, because the 345 is lighter than the GTX 330.  Granted, it’s not cheap but it a clean installation and it works beautifully, just as KentWien says. 

I forgot to mention that I sold the GTX 330 for about $700 on eBay, bringing my total down to about $4600, including professional installation.

[Warmi]

From my experience ... labor is pretty much the only variable cost - the actual hardware may differ by a few bucks here and there but ultimately that's only around 50% of the cost ... that's another benefit of going ELSA ... if you can do it yourself you can pretty much install everything at half the price or even less.

[John Vance]

3 hours ago, Warmi said:

From my experience ... labor is pretty much the only variable cost - the actual hardware may differ by a few bucks here and there but ultimately that's only around 50% of the cost ... that's another benefit of going ELSA ... if you can do it yourself you can pretty much install everything at half the price or even less.

Granted, but if you are paying say 5% sales tax for both hardware and labor on a 6k tab, that’s $300 that may be avoidable. I found that the labor costs varied tremendously from shop to shop, and some quoted what seemed to be punitive pricing b/c it’s 1) composite 2) S-LSA.  For anyone who happens to live in the Southeast, I was very happy with South Carolina Avionics Services at KOGB.   The installation price cost was well under 50%, of the total, more like 25% for my install.  The point of all this, for those who may be on the fence, is that there are several small savings that can add up to make the total cost of the 345 a bit more within reach. 

[FlyingMonkey]

17 hours ago, John Vance said:

Granted, but if you are paying say 5% sales tax for both hardware and labor on a 6k tab, that’s $300 that may be avoidable. I found that the labor costs varied tremendously from shop to shop, and some quoted what seemed to be punitive pricing b/c it’s 1) composite 2) S-LSA.  For anyone who happens to live in the Southeast, I was very happy with South Carolina Avionics Services at KOGB.   The installation price cost was well under 50%, of the total, more like 25% for my install.  The point of all this, for those who may be on the fence, is that there are several small savings that can add up to make the total cost of the 345 a bit more within reach. 

I’m not sure what you are saying about tax in response to Warmi’s post.  He’s not paying tax on labor at all.

[John Vance]

It was not intended to be a comment on anyone’s situation, sorry if it was taken that way. I can’t do my own work. So in my situation, my local shop was forced to charge nearly 7% for both labor and materials. A flight over the border reduced that to zero.  That plus a few other savings made it possible for me. That’s all. 

[Ed Cesnalis]

On 3/27/2019 at 5:18 AM, FlyingMonkey said:

Just be aware that if you're using Garmin Pilot or one of the Garmin GPS units as your ADS-B display, neither the Stratux nor anything else other than a Garmin ADS-B in device (GDL-39 series or GDL-50 series) will talk to your Garmin gear.  I use Garmin Pilot, but decided to use my iFly as the ADS-B display.  

I think you can find used GDL-39 units pretty inexpensively now, especially if you get the original model without the AHARS.

[Warmi]

If you want to get the Garmin solution , you may as well look for the GDL 39 3D - it may be only a few bucks more and it will give your garmin pilot altitude info which will make synthetic vision work much better...

Well, if you care about this fancy synthetic vision stuff that is ...

[FlyingMonkey]

On 3/28/2019 at 5:24 PM, John Vance said:

It was not intended to be a comment on anyone’s situation, sorry if it was taken that way. I can’t do my own work. So in my situation, my local shop was forced to charge nearly 7% for both labor and materials. A flight over the border reduced that to zero.  That plus a few other savings made it possible for me. That’s all. 

Ah.  You quoted Warmi in your post, so I assumed you were directly responding to that.  I understand now, and I totally agree.  Take advantage of different state taxes, if you can find the shop to make that happen!

[SportFlyer1]

Mine just completed was a replacement of the GTX330 with a GTX335 w/WAAS for the 'out' solution and a GDL 39 for the 'in'. The GDL 39 speaks weather and traffic to my GPS 696 and is mounted behind the panel. Was done by Juan Leon at Sonoran Avionics near Roger Lee at KRYN along with my annual. Juan is fast, knowledgeable and reasonably priced. He also handled all the MRA paperwork, since I'm a dunce.