This is an initial impressions and review post. I just got my AV-20s installed and flew it for about an hour.
I tested it by going into unusual attitudes, rapid rocking of the airplane side to side as well as forward and aft. I have to say that it is nearly as smooth as the mechanical vacuum gyro.
I compared to the iPad at the same time. The iPad could work in an emergency, but honestly it was nowhere near as smooth as the AV-20s. There is another good reason to install one of these. Many of us probably think the iPad is good enough for a backup. Well, I found an awesome reason why not to rely on a phone, iPad, etc. My iPad decided to reboot its self in the middle of this test. Any doubts I had about spending the money on an AV-20s suddenly evaporated. It was well worth the money just as an emergency device.
But then I found myself looking at the AV-20 more and more - especially in night flight. I found it to be easier to fly than scanning turn/slip as well as attitude gyro.
I didn't really understand AoA at first. But after doing some aggressive maneuvering I found where it makes a huge difference. Again, this is something you won't get from an iPad.
AoA basically pre-warns you that the airplane is in a condition that will eventually lead to a stall. The stall horn doesn't sound until well after the attitude alert. Example: I was at 85 knots on climb-out. That's slow for my Lance. 92 is normal. The AoA started to alert me at as little as 10 degrees pitch-up. However, if my airspeed is higher, say 110 knots, it lets me do as high as 20 degrees pitch up with no complaints. As airspeed bleeds off, the AoA starts to turn red, even though the airplane is nowhere near stall speed.
The alerts catch my eye more easily because it blinks a warning.
The choice of mounting in this location worked out pretty well. I have many complaints about where my engine monitor is mounted. It's by my left knee. I have to look off to the side for long periods while doing the leaning process. Now with the AV-20s mounted just above the GEM I can at least monitor pitch and roll out of the corner of my eye. I can also set my fuel timers in the same quadrant of my panel because it includes dual timers.
I found the flight timer and engine timer to be interesting. The flight timer automatically starts when the airplane exceeds 40 knots. Engine timer starts on power up.
The TAS is also very interesting, although I am scratching my head as to the accuracy. I don't think my airplane goes this fast at that power setting. The TAS is reading much higher than what I know to be average ground speeds. But it's possible the TAS is accurate because the density altitude was pretty high on this particular evening. More testing needed.
You can see the difference with LOP and ROP performance very easily. The picture above is LOP. Below is ROP. (not trying to open that argument again - just reporting results). I think this lets me more easily decide easily which power setting I will use vs. fuel economy.
Over-all I am quite happy with this little unit.
Installation: It was fairly simple to install, if focusing on just the install of this unit. I spend a lot more time installing than I needed to because I had bad pitot/static rubber hoses to replace and found a bunch of other problems "while I was in there". I ended up installing quick connects and poly lines to half my pitot/static plumbing. The rubber lines were all cracking and I just didn't trust them.
... But for anyone who knows what they are doing, it shouldn't take more than a few hours to install.
I mounted the Davtron OAT probe in an inspection panel under my left wing. I had to fish the wires through the wing with a fiberglass rod. The probe mounts easy enough after the hole is drilled. That was probably the easiest part of the installation.
I tested it by going into unusual attitudes, rapid rocking of the airplane side to side as well as forward and aft. I have to say that it is nearly as smooth as the mechanical vacuum gyro.
I compared to the iPad at the same time. The iPad could work in an emergency, but honestly it was nowhere near as smooth as the AV-20s. There is another good reason to install one of these. Many of us probably think the iPad is good enough for a backup. Well, I found an awesome reason why not to rely on a phone, iPad, etc. My iPad decided to reboot its self in the middle of this test. Any doubts I had about spending the money on an AV-20s suddenly evaporated. It was well worth the money just as an emergency device.
But then I found myself looking at the AV-20 more and more - especially in night flight. I found it to be easier to fly than scanning turn/slip as well as attitude gyro.
I didn't really understand AoA at first. But after doing some aggressive maneuvering I found where it makes a huge difference. Again, this is something you won't get from an iPad.
AoA basically pre-warns you that the airplane is in a condition that will eventually lead to a stall. The stall horn doesn't sound until well after the attitude alert. Example: I was at 85 knots on climb-out. That's slow for my Lance. 92 is normal. The AoA started to alert me at as little as 10 degrees pitch-up. However, if my airspeed is higher, say 110 knots, it lets me do as high as 20 degrees pitch up with no complaints. As airspeed bleeds off, the AoA starts to turn red, even though the airplane is nowhere near stall speed.
The alerts catch my eye more easily because it blinks a warning.
The choice of mounting in this location worked out pretty well. I have many complaints about where my engine monitor is mounted. It's by my left knee. I have to look off to the side for long periods while doing the leaning process. Now with the AV-20s mounted just above the GEM I can at least monitor pitch and roll out of the corner of my eye. I can also set my fuel timers in the same quadrant of my panel because it includes dual timers.
I found the flight timer and engine timer to be interesting. The flight timer automatically starts when the airplane exceeds 40 knots. Engine timer starts on power up.
The TAS is also very interesting, although I am scratching my head as to the accuracy. I don't think my airplane goes this fast at that power setting. The TAS is reading much higher than what I know to be average ground speeds. But it's possible the TAS is accurate because the density altitude was pretty high on this particular evening. More testing needed.
You can see the difference with LOP and ROP performance very easily. The picture above is LOP. Below is ROP. (not trying to open that argument again - just reporting results). I think this lets me more easily decide easily which power setting I will use vs. fuel economy.
Over-all I am quite happy with this little unit.
Installation: It was fairly simple to install, if focusing on just the install of this unit. I spend a lot more time installing than I needed to because I had bad pitot/static rubber hoses to replace and found a bunch of other problems "while I was in there". I ended up installing quick connects and poly lines to half my pitot/static plumbing. The rubber lines were all cracking and I just didn't trust them.
... But for anyone who knows what they are doing, it shouldn't take more than a few hours to install.
I mounted the Davtron OAT probe in an inspection panel under my left wing. I had to fish the wires through the wing with a fiberglass rod. The probe mounts easy enough after the hole is drilled. That was probably the easiest part of the installation.
