I teach in the C-182 with G1000. It's a nice airplane but it has a
very sad useful load and quite a high fuel burn for being as slow as it
is. As a result you end up having to use those extra large tanks but
then it becomes a two person airplane.
You might check out the G1000 systems offered in the Mooney line up.
The G1000 integration is tighter in the Mooney (the autopilot is fully
integrated, in the C-182 you have to set attitude and barometer in both
separately).
The nice thing about the Mooney is that you can get a really good known
ice system that has an amazing track record for performance. Cirrus
also has a known ice system but seems to have had some problems in
icing conditions.
I'm not aware of twins that are being offered with G1000 systems.

I think, after you buy, you will realize its the right choice. Knowing
you can jump in your plane and launch on a 1000 mile IFR trip is
priceless. Showing up at the FBO to find the atitude indicator out for
repairs in the rental will make you a convert.

-Robert


wrote:
I'm starting the process of shopping for an airplane.
I'm thinking of buying one in 2 to 3 months.

I want a cross country plane that can carry 2 people
and baggage/camping gear, and sometimes 4 people with light baggage.

As a computer geek I'm very enamoured with the new glass cockpits,
and I'm in the process of getting checkout in a new G1000 182.

I'm currently thinking about a 1 or 2 year old G1000 182 or G1000 DA40.

Any comments from people that have lived with the new glass for awhile?
I've been doing a lot of resarch on the web and keep seeing comments
about reliability, software glitches etc....
See:http://www.da40g1000.com/

For the price of flying new Glass, one could buy an older airframe, add
new engine, prop, avionics, interior and paint and have $100K left over.

I'm also fighting the twin/single dilema, I'm not sure I fly enough
(50 to 100hrs a year) to be really current in a twin, but
One of my standard flights is to go up the coast from San Diego
CRQ-AVX-SBA avoiding LA class B and traffic.

This is 100 miles over water and doing this in a single allways makes me feel queasy.

As a result I've also thought about getting a older barron, or 310 and
putting in new engines, props and avionics, still probably cheaper than a
new "Glass" bird. The only downside is that sightseeing low and slow along the
coast is not as much fun at 150K as it is at 75K
I'm only a little conflicted on requirements, If I had infinite $ I'd own two
planes.... a breezy and a light jet ;-


Any thoughts from the peanut gallery....

Paul