E
arlier this year, when Garmin
made the surprise launch of
the GI 275 lineup of retrofit
flight instruments, designed
to be close to plug-and-play
replacements for aging small, round, analog
flight instruments, the company once again
changed the used-airplane game. It’s not the
first time that it has done that. The company
had previously introduced an affordable
electronic instrument, the G5, affordable
flat-panels, low-priced autopilots and even
a couple of new lower-priced navigators,
all of which have already gone into a lot
of airplanes.
Still, the GI 275, in terms of overall impact,
will likely eclipse the importance of all of
those new products, and by a big margin. A
3.125-inch panel-mount round gauge that
does the jobs of several different analog
round gauges—and for a low price, too—the
GI 275 will not only enjoy wide adoption,
but also multiple instruments likely will be
purchased, in most instances.
Because the GI 275 is a standard 3.125-
inch round instrument, it requires no cut-
ting of the panel, making installation a lot
easier, translating directly into “a lot cheaper.”
There are literally hundreds of thousands of
instruments in panels out there that could
be replaced. It could be more than a million
replacement candidate instruments.With the introduction
of a new lineup of
electronic, round
flight instruments,
Garmin has once
again revolutionized
the used-aircraft
marketplace.
BY ISABEL GOYER
planeandpilotmag.com 31