Couple of thoughts. My wife (IFR rated pilot) refused to give up the G1000 we had flown in our 2006 Columbia 400, so I had to limit my consideration to G1000 850s. Terry at Avex convinced us that if you are looking at spending $2m on a used 850, it is better deal to buy new and get the benefits like 5 year free service, transition training, etc. It would have been beyond our means if not for finding a partner, cutting fixed costs in half. Made it work great. Finding the right partner is the secret, it took us a year but we did.

As for the 900 bringing bargain 850s to the market, don't hold your breath. We are not even a little bit tempted to move up. The prop can be added to our 850 and get most of the cruise and climb improvements, the rest are not enough. We got the pilot door, I think making it standard is a good move.

Making the transition from a Columbia 400, no turbine time, very little retractable time, no pressurization time, was costly for insurance. $32k first year, $15k second year.

Walt Adair of Turbines Solutions Camarillo CA is a very good transition training CFII, the best.

BTW Walt Adair says he likes the G600/GTN 750 panel better than the G1000. My problem with that is that the Garmin auto pilot, fully integrated into the panel can't be over rated.

Bottom line for us, we love the TBM850, our dogs really love the TBM850, we had always tried to stay below 14,000 for their sake. There are some who say that you can do brain damage to dogs if you are flying higher than 12,000 without O2 or pressurization. No longer an issue. Our dogs have over 600 hours in their log books. And love to go with us in the plane

Good luck

Lou,

I appreciate your input. I would love nothing more than to find a partner and go straight to the 850 G1000. I have looked long and hard and have been unable to find anyone I thought would be a reasonable partner. We just returned from a trip in the G36. Turbulence was bad below 10k. With the TN we were high and in smooth air. Approaches with the G1000/GFC 700 were a breeze.

We left the hangar and wife had tears in her eyes about selling the Bo!?! Hopefully, will have the logistics worked out with the new plane this week. I'm gonna keep my wife outta the Bonanza until then!

I'm gonna miss the G1000/GFC 700 as well...............but I think the G600/ 750 combo will be a good compromise. Just gonna take some time learning different buttons again!