Avionics by subscription

[Peter R.]

During a routine inspection of my Bonanza's Garmin GNS430 back in July
2004, a reputable avionics shop informed me that the unit's localizer and
glideslope reception were below Garmin's specifications. Since the unit
was a few years out of warranty, the only option I had was to return the
unit to Garmin. In return, Garmin would charge me a flat fee of US$600 to
completely overhaul the unit, addressing the initial problem and any others
they might uncover.

Three weeks later, Garmin returned the unit in "as good as new" condition,
having fixed the initial problem, updating the firmware, and replacing a
knob that had become sticky.

I later learned that there was a two week delay in returning my unit
because Garmin'd techs could not acceptably address the localizer and
glideslope reception problems during their first two attempts. Fortunately
their quality control group caught the problem and sent it back to the
bench twice before it finally passed QA.

I paid the $600 and was again happy. Over the next year I customized the
unit to my needs by changing displayed fields on various screens, adding
frequently-used IFR flight plans, and adding user waypoints.

Exactly 14 months later, or two months after its renewed warranty expired,
the glideslope receiver of the GNS430 again has failed. Initial
discussions with Garmin have revealed that they want another $600 to repair
the problem. Needless to say, this is unacceptable and negotiations are
ongoing.

The name of this game is avionics by subscription.

--
Peter
Not looking forward to having to again customize the unit to my liking.























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[Jon Kraus]

Peter,

We had to do the same thing with our 430 when the comm1 board went
south. They said they charge $600.00 for the overhaul. I asked if there
wasn't anything they could do about the price and they lowered it to
$400. :-) My avionics guy said he never heard of them doing that
before but I wonder if no one has ever asked for a reduction before. It
is kinda like asking the credit card companies if they'll give you a
better interest rate (not that I ever pay intrest mind you). ;-)

Anyway, we got our unit back in a couple weeks and not only did it work
like new it looked like new. They had replaced the display because they
said the anti-glare shield was worn and also replaced the plastic bezel
because the paint had come off. It has been a year now and everything is
still like new.

Jon Kraus
'79 Mooney 201
4443H @ TYQ

Peter R. wrote:
> During a routine inspection of my Bonanza's Garmin GNS430 back in July
> 2004, a reputable avionics shop informed me that the unit's localizer and
> glideslope reception were below Garmin's specifications. Since the unit
> was a few years out of warranty, the only option I had was to return the
> unit to Garmin. In return, Garmin would charge me a flat fee of US$600 to
> completely overhaul the unit, addressing the initial problem and any others
> they might uncover.
>
> Three weeks later, Garmin returned the unit in "as good as new" condition,
> having fixed the initial problem, updating the firmware, and replacing a
> knob that had become sticky.
>
> I later learned that there was a two week delay in returning my unit
> because Garmin'd techs could not acceptably address the localizer and
> glideslope reception problems during their first two attempts. Fortunately
> their quality control group caught the problem and sent it back to the
> bench twice before it finally passed QA.
>
> I paid the $600 and was again happy. Over the next year I customized the
> unit to my needs by changing displayed fields on various screens, adding
> frequently-used IFR flight plans, and adding user waypoints.
>
> Exactly 14 months later, or two months after its renewed warranty expired,
> the glideslope receiver of the GNS430 again has failed. Initial
> discussions with Garmin have revealed that they want another $600 to repair
> the problem. Needless to say, this is unacceptable and negotiations are
> ongoing.
>
> The name of this game is avionics by subscription.
>

[Peter R.]

Jon Kraus > wrote:

> We had to do the same thing with our 430 when the comm1 board went
> south.
<snip>

Here's hoping your comm1 board doesn't go south again anytime soon. ;)




--
Peter
























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[Jon Kraus]

Sounds like a got a couple more good months left.



Peter R. wrote:
> Jon Kraus > wrote:
>
>
>>We had to do the same thing with our 430 when the comm1 board went
>>south.
>
> <snip>
>
> Here's hoping your comm1 board doesn't go south again anytime soon. ;)
>
>
>
>

[Peter R.]

Jon Kraus > wrote:

> Sounds like a got a couple more good months left.

LOL! A few months to guarantee no warrantee coverage.

--
Peter
























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[Mike Noel]

I had to send my out-of-warranty GPSmap 296 back to Garmin because it kept
turning off by itself during flight. I sent a few notes to their service
dept, updated the software, then talked to a tech on the phone. The tech
was very obliging and Garmin turned the unit around within a week at no cost
to me except the original shipping charge. They diagnosed corrupted user
data and returned it working properly and with the latest Americas database.

Probably partly because of this experience, I chose an Apollo/Garmin SL30 to
replace an aging Nav/Com in my Archer.

"Peter R." > wrote in message
...
> During a routine inspection of my Bonanza's Garmin GNS430 back in July
> 2004, a reputable avionics shop informed me that the unit's localizer and
> glideslope reception were below Garmin's specifications. Since the unit
> was a few years out of warranty, the only option I had was to return the
> unit to Garmin. In return, Garmin would charge me a flat fee of US$600 to
> completely overhaul the unit, addressing the initial problem and any
others
> they might uncover.
>
> Three weeks later, Garmin returned the unit in "as good as new" condition,
> having fixed the initial problem, updating the firmware, and replacing a
> knob that had become sticky.
>
> I later learned that there was a two week delay in returning my unit
> because Garmin'd techs could not acceptably address the localizer and
> glideslope reception problems during their first two attempts.
Fortunately
> their quality control group caught the problem and sent it back to the
> bench twice before it finally passed QA.
>
> I paid the $600 and was again happy. Over the next year I customized the
> unit to my needs by changing displayed fields on various screens, adding
> frequently-used IFR flight plans, and adding user waypoints.
>
> Exactly 14 months later, or two months after its renewed warranty expired,
> the glideslope receiver of the GNS430 again has failed. Initial
> discussions with Garmin have revealed that they want another $600 to
repair
> the problem. Needless to say, this is unacceptable and negotiations are
> ongoing.
>
> The name of this game is avionics by subscription.
>
> --
> Peter
> Not looking forward to having to again customize the unit to my liking.
>
>
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>
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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[Doug]

My King KLN90B developed some weird behavior with the right and left
knob. I sent it in, they kept it 6 weeks and it came back witht the
right knob fixed, but the left knob still flakey. Solution? Send it in
again. Groooaan!!

[Paul kgyy]

I had my 430 installed by J.A. Air in 2000. An initial problem with
the GPS a couple of months later resulted in a new unit, no charge. I
installed a Wx500 stormscope last year and they removed the old 24 volt
unit (and 12 volt converter) and again installed a new 12 volt unit at
no additional charge. When I had the JPI EDM fuel totalizer wired into
the 430 a couple of years ago, they installed new software in the 430,
again at no additional charge. So my support experience has been
excellent.

Having said that, their labor rates do appear to contain padding for a
few freebies. But having said THAT, all of the installations they've
done for me over the years have worked flawlessly.

[Peter R.]

Paul kgyy > wrote:

> When I had the JPI EDM fuel totalizer wired into
> the 430 a couple of years ago, they installed new software in the 430,
> again at no additional charge. So my support experience has been
> excellent.

Get back to me when a board inside your 430 goes. :-)

In my case, Garmin could only come down to US $300 to repair my failed
glideslope receiver a mere 14 months after their first repair of this
component. Also, I had to add another squawk to the unit going back:
The PROC button was becoming non-responsive, only working every other press
or so.

I will admit that I am happy that Garmin provides free loaner units while
our units are sent in for the repair. However, I am grumbling about the
fact that there is no way to preserve the user-changed settings, waypoints,
and flight plans when the unit is sent in for repair. Upon return of the
repaired unit, this will be the third time I will have to apply my
preferred changes.

--
Peter
























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