IFD540 - Ready For prime time

After an initial change out (tech support was very helpful), my IFD540 has been absolutely solid. Works with everything.

It is hard for me to understand with the long development period in the run up to release, how is it that there seem to be such show stopping problems?

The other thing that is curious, and it may help to explain why this did not get stamped out during development, these real issues that some folks are seeing, seem to be rather sporadic.

I have had zero issues with my single IFD540... it works each time and every time.  My installation was not a slide in replacement but a 'de novo' install along with Mode S transponder.  I wonder if there are issues with the slide in exchange with the Garmin?  Any one else want to chime in on this??  I have a late model Cessna 182S with a factory panel (ie, not chopped up or molested). 

Regarding the comment, "ready for prime time", while some people have had problems--serious problems that Avidyne needs to quickly and competently address--that's not been the universal experience.  I'm sure that by now, there are at least many hundreds of units installed, and I'm sure plenty of them have had nearly trouble-free experiences like mine.  (I did have one update failure which was solved by formatting the USB stick and re-trying, and I have seen a GPS loss-of-lock once in 25 hrs of flying that I expect to be resolved with a software update.)

Edited by MysticCobra - 06 Apr 2015 at 8:57am

I'm glad others are having success, but I've had nothing but issues with Avidyne all around.  I'm 0 for ~5 for tech support calling me back.  They have only 1 time been able to address my question when I called (what is the tracking number of my RMA).  Every other time they've said they would have to check and call back and I have never received a call back.

TogaDriver wrote: What I would LIKE to see from Avidyne is some acknowledgement that our bug reports are being logged, ranked, and addressed.

That you can be assured of.  I am the keeper of the formal Problem Report database.  We have an extensive, and very formal process for this.   A top level summary of that process:

• Reports come in via all kinds of means - AvidyneLive, direct calls to Tech support, emails to tech support line, communication with installers, customer complaints at trade shows, etc
• Each report is parsed, and when called for, investigated by either myself or folk(s) in other parts of Engineering
• Unless immediately dismissed as user error or some other immediate and absolute means (and communicated back to the original reporter and acknowledged/confirmed by them), the report then gets it's own entry in our Problem Report (PR) tracking database.
• The Product Manager for the given product, frequently (in the case of the IFD540, daily) paws through the PR database, looks for trends and prods engineering for continued investigation when needed, and then rack & stacks the list in priority.
• At the start of every new release cycle, we are required to review all open PRs and priority stacking to draw the line on the release definition.  That line firms up over the course of the release development and then gets locked at the appropriate time.
• Independent and parallel to this, our QA department is measuring and monitoring field performance and has heavy input on the weighting/priority determination.
• As a side note, that PR database contains both "problem" reports and all the neat new ideas folks submit so we have one Mother-Of-All-Databases for each product.

Clearly there is a lot more to it than that but you get the idea.

Thanks, Steve.  I figured you had a strong bug tracking process in place.  I didn't mean that comment to sound harsh.  I'd just love to be able to ask about BUG #xxxx and see if it's being addressed in a particular release.  It's the hyphen in my xxx-retentive, I guess.

AviJake wrote: brou0040 wrote: I'm glad others are having success, but I've had nothing but issues with Avidyne all around.  I'm 0 for ~5 for tech support calling me back.  They have only 1 time been able to address my question when I called (what is the tracking number of my RMA).  Every other time they've said they would have to check and call back and I have never received a call back. Tech Support was directed to respond today.

The IFD540's were removed and the GNS530W's reinstalled.  Everything worked flawlessly.  No skywatch errors, no GPS failures, no erratic behavior for wind calculation from the ADC in the G500.  

During my install, there were intermittent issues but so far that's now all resolved.  The root cause of all the intermittent problems was the tray.  If you have gone through three units and nothing has improved doesn't logic tell you that perhaps it might be an installation issue?  

Edited by tony - 09 Apr 2015 at 8:26am

Gablesm wrote: The IFD540's were removed and the GNS530W's reinstalled.  Everything worked flawlessly.  No skywatch errors, no GPS failures, no erratic behavior for wind calculation from the ADC in the G500.   I'm waiting to hear back from the avionics shop.  If Avidyne can't explain why each issue occurred and how to resolve it, then I have no intention of re-installing them.  I fly a P46T because it's highly capable and highly reliable.  The current software and potentially hardware that is in this platform makes the airplane highly unreliable.

Gablesm,

Any updates on this issue?

My IFD 540 was also a clean installation (no 530) and it has been flawless.

I've got about 10 hours in the aircraft in the 3 weeks since I picked it up.

I would be very curious to know if all those who are having these issues are 530 slide in replacement units.

Edited by SB Jim - 16 Apr 2015 at 9:47am

I think the next release is 10.1.00 which is due out later this month.

It would be very interesting to slide one of your 540's into an aircraft with a known, working tray (Garmin or Aviydne) to see what happened.

As a long time CNX 80 owner I can tell you the mounting trays were the source of a lot of problems and getting the units seated properly was very important.

Where are you based?

TogaDriver wrote: We had problems with the GPS initially.  It turned out the 530 tray was set back about 1/8" from flush with the front of the panel edge, but that was enough to make the GPS antenna contact from back-shell to IFD marginal.  Once Jeff (KDVO - Direct Avionics - great guy) fixed that problem the GPS was rock solid and everything worked once we got the config correct.

How did he fix the problem? I just installed my unit and saw it acquire GPS once and never again. Scary, because I just shipped the Avidyne tray to my g530 buyer.

The good news here is that most of us who have replaced our GNS-530W units with the IFD540 have had to buy an Avidyne mounting tray as well.  That's because you can't sell your GNS-530W anymore without the mounting tray and hardware, since Garmin stopped selling them separately in an effort to try and frustrate IFD540 "plug and play" installations.  So most of us aren't trying to slide the IFD540 into an old Garmin mounting tray and make it work.  Using a new Avidyne tray should mean fewer connection problems... < ="cosymantecnisbfw" co="cs" id="SILOBFWID" style="width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block;">

Edited by GMSutton - 18 Apr 2015 at 1:30pm

Absolutely not.  And the 75 or so people who have done NOTHING other than remove the 530 and slide in the 540 will agree.

Do you have data to back that up ? Below AviJake says 75 folks have used the 530 tray. Everyone I know is using a 530 tray. How many more are out there than 75 ? I'm thinking not many based on some figures I have seen.

I do know I have had and am still having plenty of issues. The 540 won't initially acquire sats, reboot and hope the first one works....I have had to reboot up to four or five times before it sees any sats. Just yesterday I flew for maybe 45 minutes or so and the VHF nav/com part never worked (and it took one reboot to see sats) I'm not sure I have had one flight where everything worked. Like the title reflects, Ready for prime time ? Based on all the issues people are having...NO way. Somebody, Avidyne, FAA ? Jumped the gun and if it's the FAA then some heads should roll. Eight or nine years with the 530 and never the first issue.

Picture:
http://instagram.com/p/1qcqqeBxwO/

GMSutton wrote: The good news here is that most of us who have replaced our GNS-530W units with the IFD540 have had to buy an Avidyne mounting tray as well.  That's because you can't sell your GNS-530W anymore without the mounting tray and hardware, since Garmin stopped selling them separately in an effort to try and frustrate IFD540 "plug and play" installations.  So most of us aren't trying to slide the IFD540 into an old Garmin mounting tray and make it work.  Using a new Avidyne tray should mean fewer connection problems... Mike

Edited by Bad1996 - 19 Apr 2015 at 12:42pm

1)  One of you mentioned flying a PA-46T (FAA: P46T).   Piper got it perfect on the first try with the Mailbu! (Hint:  That was a joke. )

Ken -

Gablesm,

I agree, your equipment needs to be reliable.

I've yet to see an LOI error on my IFD 540. But I've seen a dozen or more on each flight with my CNX 80 since the 540 was installed.

The only other items installed were an AXP 340 Transponder and a USB charging port.

I suspected the charging port as any time I used it the squelch on both COMs would trip and I'd have to listen to static until someone spoke on the radio.

I had the shop replace the unit they installed with the Mid Continent "True Blue" port and all the problems disappeared.

Based on what I've read (and my experience with the CNX 80) you may be having an issue with the installation trays, as that can wreak havoc with avionics.

I know it doesn't help you but my 540 continues to work flawlessly.

I hope you get it sorted out.

Gablesm,

Garmin was installed Jan 2002 by the previous owner. I don't know if there were issues but now, thirteen years later I would have hoped they could make the VHF work and the box would see sats on the first start (it did see them on the first start today)
I did do holds today and one approach and all worked very nice with my new GPSS. When it changed from hold to a different hold or hold to approach there was a delay in drawing the new lines that I didn't really like but I guess it's waiting for an appropriate transition time. The VHF did go out twice.
My 540 is being shipped back tomorrow.

MysticCobra wrote: Bad1996 wrote: Eight or nine years with the 530 and never the first issue. If you only had the 530 for 8 or 9 years, then you still got it 8 or 9 years after it first came on the market...plenty of time for them to work the bugs out.  (530 first released in 1998.) I wasn't in aviation when the Garmins first came out, but I'd bet there were a few early adopters who had problems, too.

Gablesm,

What is your plan?

Wait for 10.1.00 and try again?

Or?