Brandi and I put a final decision time frame of Oshkosh 2011 for our avionics choices. It's easy to chase new technology and keep waiting on what's coming but at some point you have to cut holes in the panel and run wires so we have started to firm up our choice on panel layout and components. We went with the following items to provide an IFR panel with redudancy.
- Dual 10" Dynon Skyview
- Garmin 430w
- PS Engineering 8000BT audio panel
- Garmin SL40 Com. radio
- Garmin 696 XM weather GPS
An interesting item to note is that we wressled with excluding steam gauages or not and decided that the GPS derived 6-pack gauges on the 696 would be a sufficient backup in the event of a complete loss of electrical systems. The 696 has a battery backup that should last long enough to get out of clouds. We went with the 696 both for this redudancy aspect but also for the xm weather and radio. We considered the Garmin G3X system but liked the 10" screens of the Dynon and were comfortable navigating around the skyview menu systems. It was a tough choice and could probably have gone either way.
