Pilatus will never have G1000. They're dedicated to Honeywell. The Apex is a distant second to Garmin. It's good just not awesome like the Garmin. The new Pilatus jet is Honeywell. With a few software tweaks, the Honeywell could be as good as Garmin. Not sure why they can't get their act together.

The Honeywell is however "integrated". Steam gauges are not "integrated" Glass is about "integration". Everything is automated. Massive reduction in work load. If I'm wrong then why don't they build steam gauge airplanes anymore?

I'm not knocking your TBM. I know it works for your mission just like my PC12 works for mine. Like I wrote in an earlier post, my mission is different from most others simply because of where I am based.

There's only one airplane that comes to mind that can do this:
The SJ-30

http://www.sj30jet.com

it's fast (0.83 M) it's long legged (2,500nm) goes high (49,000') and has one hell of a good pressurization system (12psi) - and all in a single pilot airplane. Amazing. a dream machine for me!

Then you haven't been behind both. I have been behind both and the Garmin is way ahead. I have 1000 G1000 hours and 200 Apex hours. Flying behind the G1000 once or twice does not expose you to how much info is available in that thing.

If it's not single pilot..... It's not an option.

I've hired a pilot to fly with me a couple times on long trip. It's outrageously expensive and a pain in the ass. I don't want to deal with the guy when I land. I don't want to pay for his hotel and to fly him home. He's my responsibility.

requires two pilots

A Phenom 300 is close. But too much for me.

Then you haven't been behind both. I have been behind both and the Garmin is way ahead. I have 1000 G1000 hours and 200 Apex hours. Flying behind the G1000 once or twice does not expose you to how much info is available in that thing.

Some Merlin's have 640 gal fuel capacity which will go a looong way at 300kts/70 gph. A less niche choice would be a Cessna 441. In each case the direct drive Garret turboprops are about as efficient a plane as you will find. RVSM is available for the Cessna, not sure of the Merlin.

Also a Cheyenne 400 might make it.

BT member Erwin Klassen has a Merlin he uses to fly from Paraguay to Canada.

Jason,

I did initially ask about the Meridian. And mostly I was comparing my mission to how it competes with the TBM. I understand everything is a trade off. It's very intriguing to me to see how the Mustang stacks up to the TBM. I do like the G1000, especially the GFC 700 autoplilot. In a perfect work I would love a G1000 TBM 850. I fly in and out of shorter runways that the TBM would perform much better than the Mustang. The Mustang can be acquired with a lower acquisition cost, with the G1000 and perform relatively close to the TBM. That said the Mustang will be more expensive to operate, more training and a type rating. With all that said......the Meridian will fulfill the majority of my missions. 500 nm usually with 3 people.

Then there's no possible way you can feel the way you do. Ever done a Navdata update on the G1000 and the Apex? That's the beginning of where the Apex falls apart. The Apex is crap compared to Garmin. There's no way you could think it's awesome.

Jason, I forget if I like ketchup on my hamburger or not. Can you tell me which I prefer?

You'll have to do training for the TBM also. My training for the PC12 was a week at Simcom plus a little dual. For the jet I wanted training was a little more involved but so what...... then it's behind me forever. Stepping down in training is much easier than stepping up. If you get the TBM and then decide you want a jet now you'll be paying for both training's.

Fuel just isn't the "make it or break it" that I thought it would be in turbines. I could easily pay for more gas all things being equal. You have a lot of options with JetA that you don't have with 100LL. I'm not the hostage I used to be.