Ray Andraka wrote:
Edward A. Falk wrote:

OK, my nav122 has died with a stupid mechanical failure in the
frequency-selection gear. Seriously, WTF was Narco thinking when they
put plastic gears in such an expensive box?

So, question the first: Does anybody make aftermarket replacement
parts, or should I buy a dead unit and canibalize it?

Question the second: If I choose not to fix it, what are good options
for a replacement? Does anybody make a clever all-in-one gps or
something that would fit in the same panel hole?

-ed falk

You could call Narco and ask what they'd charge for putting new gears
in. I've found their factory service to be quite reasonable. The only
caveat is that they will go over the entire unit, bringing it up to the
latest mods and doing a full factory acceptance test on it before they
let it back out. The upside is that you get a 90 day warranty on the
entire unit. From what I understand, whether it is worth it or not
depends on the serial number, earlier ones used different boards and
have more problems with connectors and what not, and may not be
economically repairable. Mine is a "B" chassis, whose synthesizer board
went bad. Narco fixed the synth card (replaced a ROM), repainted the
face and needles, replaced gears that were cracked but had not failed
altogether yet. There was something else they fixed too, but I can't
recall what it was. The total charge was under $250 (this was 2 years
ago this month). That was well worth it in my book, far less than the
cost of any replacement, and less than I got for the NAV 11 on EBay that
this unit replaced. Narco will do a flat-fee evaluation of your unit
and call you with the cost to repair if you choose as well. The flat
fee I think is 1 hour of shop time, which I think was $105. If you
choose to repair, that fee is applied toward your repair.
I've had both good and bad experiences with the narco factory.
The most recent experience was bad. This was a year or two ago.
Sent in my 122 in for a localizer problem. The NAV worked good. I asked
for an estimate and they called me said that it would be $700.00 and the
radio was already repaired.
I asked them what cost $700, and they said that they replaced the whole
gear mechanism and fixed the localizer problem. There wasn't a thing
wrong with the gear assembly. I told them I wanted an estimate and why
they didn't give me one. They didn't have an answer.
I told them for that price I didn't want to get it repaired. They said
that they wanted $700 and that was all. Then they said that I should
give them %300 and they would remove all the pieces they put in and give
me back a bucket of nav 122 parts back.
I asked them WTF an estimate meant. They gave me no answer.
They then said that everything left the shop 100@ and said that quality
control was their driving factor. After a bunch of **** talk I gave them
$700. *******s.
Got the 122 back and it had the exact same problem. QC, Bull****. It was
all money driven.
Sent it back three times and the third time they again charged me $130
COD where I didn't have an option.
I'll never send another radio back to their factory.

I've always liked the Narco stuff and still do, but don't like the way
they treat their customers. My next plane will have other stuff in it.

Dave