I saw an Aspen Avionics demo unit today and spent some time talking to the company rep who was very helpful in answering all my questions and explaining everything to me. In short, it's one heck of a box and has even more capability and smart ideas than are clear on the web site. The units are through production and ready to ship the day they get the certification which they feel strongly will be the end of march. My avionics shop expects about $12,000 installed.

Also had a chance to sit in the Diamond Jet mockup. It was significantly larger inside than I expected. Much nicer than the website pics. Seemed roomier inside than the eclipse (and it is). It is a big plane! Too bad about the price and operating costs. 1.5 million, $150/hr for the airframe and engine service contract, 50GPH fuel, and who knows what for insurance... probably over 20k / year. I guess $400/hr isn't that bad when you consider that a columbia 400 rents for $350/hr here in Seattle. Really nice plane though.

I'm excited to see the lower price Aspen unit. Looks like a lot of cool stuff if you forgo the HSI. Does the GPS Steering come on the cheep one?

John