Hi Chris – I’ve been flying my 2006 PA32 since June 2018. This was my first introduction to an Avidyne glass cockpit. I’ve flown around a 100 hrs in it, mostly IFR and I find it very intuitive. The layout is fairly standard on the PFD and the MFD gives a reasonably high quality picture, although not up to today’s standards of TFT screens. Interfaced with the 2 GNS430W’s and an STEC 55 autopilot it works really well. Compared to the G1000 the downsides as I see them are:
Dedicated PFD/MFD – so no redundancy
Support in the UK is non existent – return to Germany
For fully coupled approaches you will need a subscription to Jeppesen for their plates and a similar subscription to Garmin for the 430’s.
I’m still on a learning curve, so it’s far more capable than I am. I flew in a friends 182 recently, he has a G1000 setup, it looked more compact but more complicated to use. However, before I purchased my aircraft I read an article comparing both systems. As you would expect, there are pros and cons for each and, the conclusion was, “it’s what you get used to”. I would have bought a Saratoga with a G1000 cockpit if one had been available in Europe but they are few and far between. Importing from the States was cost prohibitive thanks to the Tax Man.
hopes this helps a little
Andy
