I don't think so, but I will obviously have to do some research. Alpine been
designing Mopar products for a while. The Mopar RB1 (an awesome GPS head
unit that is Sirius Sat ready...) was shipping back in May, and it is an
Alpine based product...

I own Garmin products, but I also know they are vicious in protecting their
pricing and controlling distribution (which is why I am still suspect of
their UPSAT purchase.) You are correct, that autos represent the biggest
market and lowest margins, but the most successful technologies are the ones
that can generate high volume sales (witness Wi-Fi or the old VHS over
Beta...) GPS did not become ubiquitous until "cheap" solutions came to
market. Garmin also incorporated in the Cayman's as a tax haven. Perfectly
legal, but considering the bulk of their operations are in the US, a tad on
the sleazy side for my taste. Aerospace is a great market for Garmin,
because it is niche. The 35 "mouse" was way overpriced for many years until
others came to the market, they really milked that one...

Don't get me wrong, the 430/530 are still amazing for what they do. I am
just concerned that they overpromised continued support of these products.
When making my UPSAT vs Garmin decision a few years back, my discussions
with Garmin engineers "suggested" Garmin had a software solution for a WAAS
upgrade. Now we know it is a major hardware upgrade, and really don't know
when it will be ready (or if it will ever pass the TSO...) I know from
discussing from individuals working in engineering that most of their
resources and talent are pushing the G1000. Upgrading the 430/530 may be on
the back burner for a while since they have bet their aerospace future on
the G1000 (and spending a lot of coin to get it out the door.)



"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message
. net...
Actually what you are referring to is Chrysler and Garmin did not lose the
business.. The system bought by Chrysler from Alpine was at a higher
price
(~$1600) point than the one being developed by Garmin for Chrysler. The
stock was ready to take a hit, having run from $20 to $50 with no real
pullbacks. Automotive is indeed going to be the largest market but the
margins are going to be the lowest.

Mike
MU-2


"Mark T. Mueller" wrote in message
news
I believe it was GM. It was reported back in June. Garmin's stock took a
hit
after the announcement, since the auto sector represents the greatest
revenue growth potential for GPS equipment makers...

Aviation, as we all know, is a very small, niche market compared to the
auto
sector.


"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message
link.net...

"Mark T. Mueller" wrote in message
...
The 430/530 do not meet the WAAS TSO (146a, I believe). They were
designed
long before this TSO went final. Garmin always said the 430/530
would
be
"upgradeable", but I think the final TSO caught them by surprise.

You WILL need a hardware upgrade in the boxes to provide the 1 Hz
refresh
rate required by the TSO. Garmin reps at OSH this year stated the
upgrade
should be available early next year, but based upon Garmin's typical
schedule challenges, it will probably be more like late 04 before
they
can
provide good turn-around, and that's assuming they don't find any
"issues"
with the hardware upgrade...

There will be a significant software upgrade as well.

Seeing as there are only a handfull of LNAV/VNAV approaches
published,
I
don't see the hurry in finding the que. I will wait a bit until the
hardware
upgrade is on the street for a couple months and any inevitable
problems
are
worked out...

In the meantime, were I to buy right now, I would probably go for
the
CNX80,
but I would be concerned that Garmin has just bought UPSAT and
future
product support. The "gist" I got from the Garmin reps at OSH was
their
entire engineering staff is focused on rolling out the high dollar
G-1000,
and everything else is taking a back seat at the moment. Kind of
disappointing, since I was hoping they would come out with an
interface
for
the 530 with WxWorx instead of that pathetic EchoFlight...

Garmin lost a major auto contract recently because of their high
pricing
structure. Don't know how that's going to effect their business
model,
but
I
hope they refocus on their core aviation market.

I'm waiting.

DB

What auto maker was that?

Mike
MU-2