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Accessories Aircraft Aircraft Stepups Avionics Cockpit Accessories Editorial

More Low-Cost EFIS:Prices Tumble Lower

AeroVonics has in mind inexpensive replacements for vacuum instruments with its AV-20 and AV-30 self-contained multifunction instruments. The $800 AV-20 fits into a 2-inch instrument hole-the size of a typical clock-and provides 11 discrete functions, including attitude, AoA, bus voltage, flight timer, TAS display, G-meter and a clock. There are actually two versions of the instrument. The AV-20 is a minimal variant that doesnt have the gyro sensing. It will sell for about $499. The AV-20S packs all the features. We saw the instrument demonstrated at AirVenture and although it appeared to have some sort of extraordinarily sharp display, AeroVonics Jeff Bethel says no, its just a garden-variety TFT. But the AV-20s software tweaks the graphic processing at the sub-pixel level, giving the instrument dense colors and smooth refreshes.

Paul Bertorelli
Verified

If we haven’t reached the point where you can no longer afford to keep your iron gyros, surely we’re not far from it. At AirVenture 2018, yet another startup introduced a low-cost EFIS—two, actually—and across the field, Dynon unveiled the D3, its latest low-cost portable EFIS.

Albuquerque-based AeroVonics came from the blue with the AV-20, an $800 miniature EFIS and a planned $1600 instrument that will compete squarely with Garmin’s brisk-selling G5. As interesting as that might be, the backstory is even more intriguing. AeroVonics products are pushing the FAA’s relaxed certification protocol to the limit, suggesting that more products may be on the way under the FAA’s NORSEE process. (See below.)

Paul Bertorelli

Paul Bertorelli is Aviation Consumer’s Editor at Large. In addition to his valued contributions to Aviation Consumer, his in-depth video productions on sister publication AVweb cover a wide variety of topics that greatly contribute to safety, operation and aircraft ownership. When Paul isn’t writing or filming, he’s out flying his J3 Cub.