Avidyne Offers Budget Versions of its New Avionics for Cirrus

At the Avidyne press conference on Tuesday, company founder and CEO Dan Schwinn said that he hasn't heard any customers complain that the new Avidyne R9 lacked features-it is, in fact, loaded with new capabilities-but he said that he had heard a few potential customers wishing that it cost less. With this mind, Schwinn formally announced a new, less expensive version of R9 for Cirrus Airplanes, known as the Entegra R9 Silver, which costs just $39,500, compared to $72,800 for the full-featured edition, now known as the Platinum edition. The Silver hits that price point by making a number of concessions to cost. For one, it makes do without the WAAS receiver or antenna-Schwinn said that a good number of VFR-only pilots see little additional value to WAAS-the FMS is fully upgradeable, if they change their mind about WAAS. The Silver edition also lacks the keyboard, a doable proposition since the system can be controlled entirely with the bezel mounted keys. Lastly, the system makes do with a single ADAHRS and magnetometer, instead of the dual systems on the R9 Platinum. A second new version, the R9 Gold, is the same as the Silver package but retains the WAAS capabilities.