REFLECTOR: Reflector Digest, Vol 60, Issue 16
Brooke Wolf
bwolf1 at tds.net
Tue May 5 20:52:26 CDT 2009
> Glad you asked Andy! What is your take on Continental 550's out of
> Performance Engines in California? (Anybody else, please chime in).
Brooke
>
>
> From: "Andy Millin" <amillin at sbcglobal.net>
> Date: May 5, 2009 4:30:50 PM EDT
> To: "'Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list'"
> <reflector at tvbf.org>
> Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Blue Mountain and GRT
> Reply-To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list <reflector at tvbf.org
> >
>
>
> Ok Brooke, what do you want to know about engines? :)
>
> Andy
>
> From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org]
> On Behalf Of Brooke Wolf
> Sent: 05-05-2009 4:06
> To: reflector at tvbf.org
> Subject: REFLECTOR: Blue Mountain and GRT
>
> Ok Andy and Michael. You are making it easy. For me it will be
> Aerocomposite Prop and GRT avionics. Now about that engine!!?
>
> Brooke
>
>
> On May 5, 2009, at 3:12 PM, reflector-request at tvbf.org wrote:
>
> From: Michael Watson <mikewatsspg at gmail.com>
> Date: May 5, 2009 2:26:22 PM EDT
> To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list <reflector at tvbf.org>
> Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Blue Mountain Avionics
> Reply-To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list <reflector at tvbf.org
> >
>
>
> GRT HX is the way to go. These guys are innovative and have one of
> the best
> support system in the industry. They just added Flight Director and
> AHRS driven
> Angle-of Attack to their synthetic vision HITS unit and they are
> relatively cheap.
>
> On Tue, May 5, 2009 at 10:51 AM, Andy Millin <amillin at sbcglobal.net>
> wrote:
> Warning: This is another one of my long winded posts … you may want
> to ignore it now!
>
>
> Evaluating a product can be a difficult subject to broach on the
> Reflector. On one hand, if you have done the research, the
> community can benefit. On the other, it is easy to come off as a
> shill. I’m not selling anything!!!
>
>
> I remember when Blue Mountain debuted at Oshkosh. They did not have
> a working, deliverable unit. They had a demo unit and were taking
> deposits and orders. They had the largest display I had seen
> available in glass. It looked great. I don’t normally like it when
> products are described as “sexy”, but the Blue Mountain stuff was
> sexy.
>
>
> At the time I think Chelton was advertising that they had just
> dropped the cost of a dual display system from $50,000 to something
> like $36,000 with the tag line “now cost isn’t a factor!”. Well
> hell, buy three!!! If BM was selling this big, beautiful unit for
> $12-14K, the price was very attractive.
>
>
> Many people recount that Greg Richter is one heck of a salesman. He
> knows how to make things look good. He has always had highly
> polished marketing material. He knows how to sell the “sizzle”.
>
>
> My friends Jim and Heather Butcher took the plunge and put down a
> deposit. BM said the $12K was a show price. I think the units went
> from $12K to $14K, but I don’t know the exact numbers.
>
>
> Jim and Heather finished their Europa. They installed the BM EFIS
> and EIS. From the beginning Jim had problems. Features that were
> promised were not in the unit. Other features technically would
> work, but Jim had to do all the research. They have a Rotax. Greg
> said that it would work well. It turns out they were the first to
> install BM with a Rotax. There was nothing to copy from and BM
> didn’t know Rotax at all. Support was minimal. It was impossible
> at times to tell if the unit was malfunctioning or just not
> calibrated correctly. Jim is very savvy and very tenacious. He dug
> in. In the process he found several bugs in the software. He
> reported them to BM. All the while getting more frustrated. They
> were supposed to be flying not debugging a very expensive piece of
> equipment.
>
>
> When Jim had most of the EIS working they went flying. The whole
> scenario came back for the EFIS. I believe the unit was pulled
> three times and sent back for update or modification. Jim is a very
> smart guy and he just was not getting it to work. During his test
> program, the ELT came up on his card. He had yet to turn it on
> during flight. He did so. When he keyed the mic on the radio, the
> ELT went off. How is that related to the EFIS???? Jim started
> working the problem. He found that with the EFIS off, the problem
> never happened. With the EFIS on, it always happened. He never
> researched it further. He had been fixing bugs for the better part
> of two years and had just had enough; the last straw. The unit was
> pulled.
>
>
> Jim called BM and asked if an upgrade to the newer box might solve
> the problems. BM said it might, but that they would only give him
> pennies on the dollar for his current unit. That might well have
> been their last contact with the company.
>
>
> They replaced it with GRT. Jim is not troubleshooting problems. It
> works. They are happy. They are flying.
>
>
> Over the years I have heard many stories about BM. It is hard to be
> in the Experimental Community and not know at least one person that
> bought BM, tried to make it work, and then pulled the thing out and
> replaced it.
>
>
> I have good friends that spent a great deal of money and got nothing
> but headache and heartache. These are my friends and I have always
> wished them well. I wanted this to work for them.
>
>
> It is also hard at times to hold your tongue when you hear someone
> say they want to buy BM. I wince. I hate badmouthing anyone. I
> want to balance that against someone getting burned because I didn’t
> have the guts to speak up…
>
>
> I’m posting this in the genuine hope that it might be of use to
> someone in the decision process. I have nothing against Greg
> Richter. I don’t own his products. I think competition is good and
> the more options we have, the better. Let me qualify that, the more
> GOOD options we have, the better.
>
>
> Like anything else, please*10^10, do your research. (field
> performance, support, upgrade policy, etc…)
>
>
> In the interest of disclosure: My good friend Carlos works for
> Grand Rapids Technologies. My research has led me to believe I want
> their equipment in my plane. I don’t work for GRT. I have heard
> very good things about Dynon as well.
>
>
> FWIW,
>
>
> Andy
>
>
> =====================================
>
>
> Andy Millin
>
> amillin at sbcglobal.net
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Visit the gallery! tvbf:jamaicangoose
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