2 years ago we were forced to replace (for $600) our MX20 display
because it had vertical lines. At the time, we were led to believe
these were "growing pains" and that what is now Garmin AT had
re-designed the MX20 box so display failures would be less common. The
new displays even came with an 18 month guarantee. (wow)

As you may have guessed, ours has failed again, despite the "new"
design. We also have a special avionics fan back there to help with
cooling. The Garmin AT rep now says this isn't a heating problem and
isn't really a problem at all. According to him, the displays are only
expected to last about 18 months.

Anyone else have this problem? The rep says all the larger aircraft do
and that this is just part of maintenance, sort of like changing your
oil (my interpretation). Too bad these delicate displays are about the
best on the market (for their size) otherwise I'd love to get rid of it.

) wrote:

> Anyone else have this problem? The rep says all the larger aircraft do
> and that this is just part of maintenance, sort of like changing your
> oil (my interpretation). Too bad these delicate displays are about the
> best on the market (for their size) otherwise I'd love to get rid of it.

Yes, my MX-20 has had this problem twice. The first time was under the
previous owner, who sent it in for warranty repair sometime around fall
2002.

The second time, last May, occurred under my watch. When the aircraft
went down for its annual, I contacted Garmin's Apollo tech group and
explained that the exact problem had occurred again. This tech asked
me to send the unit in and that it would be repaired under warranty
again.

I recall that he mentioned either a design flaw or poor chips causing
the problem and that it had been permanently corrected with this latest
fix my unit was about to receive.

At no time did he ever mention anything about an 18 month life cycle.
Your story has me concerned.

--
Peter

I am on my 6th repair. Actually, this time they gave me a
reconditioned unit, as mine has been repaired so many times. I have
always been told it is not a porblem with the monitor itself. I first
began getting colorful vertical stripes when my unit was about a month
old. I was getting at least 50 and sometimes way more than that, so
that it was hard to see the display. I sent it back and they said it
was all taken care off. It did work better for a few months, but then
the stripes reappeared. I sent it back again and and it came back
working fine for a few months. The third time it went back a fan was
installed. That worked for several months, then the stripes came back
again. The fourth time I was getting pretty mad. I was told they were
going to replace some faulty part they discovered. The fifth time,
Garmin AT had taken over. They assured me their repair would do the
trick. The sixth time, I said enough already. I want a different
unit. I was expecting a new unit, not a reconditioned one. My plane
is just coming out of annual so I haven't flown with the
new/reconditioned unit. With it historically taking a few months to
show the stripes, if it is going to do it again, it will be later this
spring. Every repair has been under warranty and Apollo and Garmin AT
have been kind and easy to deal with. But it is very frustrating to
shell out lots of $$$ for the unit and have this repeatedly happen. No
one there said anything ever, in all my conversations with them, about
the unit expected to last only 18 months.

I think the key difference here is "designed" versus "expected." It was
probably designed to last indefinitely but with all the problems they've now
come to "expect" them to last only 18 months. I chuckled at the 18-month
"guarantee." Now we all know why things break right after warranty. So it's
not an urban legend after all...

Garmin's probably designing an upgrade behind the scenes that will include
the design/component quality issue as well as other features.

Marco Leon
> wrote in message
ups.com...
> I am on my 6th repair. Actually, this time they gave me a
> reconditioned unit, as mine has been repaired so many times. I have
> always been told it is not a porblem with the monitor itself. I first
> began getting colorful vertical stripes when my unit was about a month
> old. I was getting at least 50 and sometimes way more than that, so
> that it was hard to see the display. I sent it back and they said it
> was all taken care off. It did work better for a few months, but then
> the stripes reappeared. I sent it back again and and it came back
> working fine for a few months. The third time it went back a fan was
> installed. That worked for several months, then the stripes came back
> again. The fourth time I was getting pretty mad. I was told they were
> going to replace some faulty part they discovered. The fifth time,
> Garmin AT had taken over. They assured me their repair would do the
> trick. The sixth time, I said enough already. I want a different
> unit. I was expecting a new unit, not a reconditioned one. My plane
> is just coming out of annual so I haven't flown with the
> new/reconditioned unit. With it historically taking a few months to
> show the stripes, if it is going to do it again, it will be later this
> spring. Every repair has been under warranty and Apollo and Garmin AT
> have been kind and easy to deal with. But it is very frustrating to
> shell out lots of $$$ for the unit and have this repeatedly happen. No
> one there said anything ever, in all my conversations with them, about
> the unit expected to last only 18 months.
>

> wrote in message
ups.com...

>I am on my 6th repair.

If you guys are having this much trouble.... what is the potential for
problems with the glass cockpit?

Help me out here... the MX20 is an MFD used, I assume, for GPS and the like,
not for primary flight instrumentation, right?

But what is different in the technology of, say, the G1000 in so far as the
*display* is concerned???

Valid point but there are many MFD's out there that do not have that
problem. To extend the concern with the MX20 to all primary flight displays
is stretching it. It's kind of like being worried about your Goodyear tires
because Firestone had that catastophic failure problem in theirs. In other
words, it's not impossible but until they start seeing a problem in PFDs,
it's not a big concern.

Besides, I believe the certification process is more stringent for PFDs.
Anyone know more?

Marco Leon



"Icebound" > wrote in message
...
>
> > wrote in message
> ups.com...
>
> >I am on my 6th repair.
>
> If you guys are having this much trouble.... what is the potential for
> problems with the glass cockpit?
>
> Help me out here... the MX20 is an MFD used, I assume, for GPS and the
like,
> not for primary flight instrumentation, right?
>
> But what is different in the technology of, say, the G1000 in so far as
the
> *display* is concerned???
>
>
>
>



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Icebound ) wrote:

> If you guys are having this much trouble.... what is the potential for
> problems with the glass cockpit?
>
> Help me out here... the MX20 is an MFD used, I assume, for GPS and the like,
> not for primary flight instrumentation, right?

The MX-20 displays a moving map and, if the aircraft is so equipped,
will also show traffic, downlinked weather, lightning data, and active
radar data.

> But what is different in the technology of, say, the G1000 in so far as the
> *display* is concerned???

Perhaps the issue is that Garmin is trying to support the MX-20 that was
designed by Garmin's predecessor, versus supporting the G1000 that was
developed by Garmin's engineers.

--
Peter

"Peter R." > wrote in message
...
> Icebound ) wrote:
>
>> If you guys are having this much trouble.... what is the potential for
>> problems with the glass cockpit?
>>
>> Help me out here... the MX20 is an MFD used, I assume, for GPS and the
>> like,
>> not for primary flight instrumentation, right?
>
> The MX-20 displays a moving map and, if the aircraft is so equipped,
> will also show traffic, downlinked weather, lightning data, and active
> radar data.
>
>> But what is different in the technology of, say, the G1000 in so far as
>> the
>> *display* is concerned???
>
> Perhaps the issue is that Garmin is trying to support the MX-20 that was
> designed by Garmin's predecessor, versus supporting the G1000 that was
> developed by Garmin's engineers.
>
> --
> Peter
>

Possible but the engineers who designes the UPS stuff are still employed by
Garmin.

Mike
MU-2

Well, well, well, I took my plane up for its post-annual flight last
night, the first flight with the reconditioned MX20 (that was the 6th
attempt to get rid of the stripes). As soon as I turned it on, I had a
thick band of colorful stripes on the left, and as the flight
progressed, more individual stripes showed up all over the screen. I
am so p*ssed. I will be calling them this morning.

As a troubleshooter, my tech dude will swap outhis MX20 into my plane
to see if something in my plane is causing interference.

Any my Skywatch was seeing my own plane and giving constant traffic
annunciations. Very annoying! Maybe this will go away with a properly
functioning MX20.

A36 > wrote:

<snip>
> Any my Skywatch was seeing my own plane and giving constant traffic
> annunciations. Very annoying! Maybe this will go away with a properly
> functioning MX20.

I cannot imagine how your improperly functioning MX20 would cause Skywatch
to pick up your own aircraft as another.

Perhaps you have separate issue?

--
Peter

Any chance of getting your money back and have them foot the bill for an
Avidyne? I know--it's a long shot but it seems like the right thing to do.
Has Garmin mentioned anything in regards to a "newer" MX-20 version with the
Garmin label that contains fixes and upgrades?

Marco Leon

"A36" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Well, well, well, I took my plane up for its post-annual flight last
> night, the first flight with the reconditioned MX20 (that was the 6th
> attempt to get rid of the stripes). As soon as I turned it on, I had a
> thick band of colorful stripes on the left, and as the flight
> progressed, more individual stripes showed up all over the screen. I
> am so p*ssed. I will be calling them this morning.
>
> As a troubleshooter, my tech dude will swap outhis MX20 into my plane
> to see if something in my plane is causing interference.
>
> Any my Skywatch was seeing my own plane and giving constant traffic
> annunciations. Very annoying! Maybe this will go away with a properly
> functioning MX20.
>



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With the "new" (reconditioned) unit, Stormscope wasn't set up, WSI
weather wasn't set up, and I had a shadow of myself on the Skywatch.
The problem may not be with the actual unit, but with how it was
configured or set up. My various components aren't talking to each
other. I was mad, because it was supposed to be ready to go.

Garmin AT says each time I have contacted them, that *this* change will
fix everything. I want a new unit, plus the shipping charges I have
made many times over. I'll let you know what they say.

"A36" > writes:

> [...] Any my Skywatch was seeing my own plane and giving constant
> traffic annunciations. Very annoying! [...]

It sounds like your TCAS widget may not be wired up correctly to your
transponder's suppression control signal.

- FChE

First off, Garmin AT is sending me a new-new replacement, not a rebuilt
one. I hope this solves the issue. Three years of trying to get of of
stripes has been enough. The folks are Garmin AT havae always been
pleasant and easy to deal with.

The Skywatch issue is a new problem. It has worked flawlessly for 3
years and suddenly it sees a shadow of myself. Maybe it is just
coincidental that it failed exactly when the replacement MX20 went in.

"A36" wrote, "... Maybe it is just coincidental that it failed exactly when
the replacement MX20 went in."

My experience is that too frequently when someone pokes around behind the
panel to fix something, something else gets broken or disconnected.