I'm sure this has been covered before but I'm wondering how much it would cost (purchased new and fully installed) to put a second G3X or a G5 into a -9A? Along that line do people find a second G3X adds a lot to VFR flight, and would a back up G5 be enough?
Thanks
I'm answering with the assumption that by "another G3x" you mean another screen (GDU).
What I'm doing in my Glasair is a single 10" horizontal GDU in front of the left seat and a iPad Mini in front of the right seat. I'll also have a G5 backup display, a single comm, a combination IFR GPS/xpndr, a remote audio panel, 2 axis autopilot, and Garmin's engine monitor box.
The plane will be IFR legal and capable. I won't mind flying approaches to minimums or flying long distances in the clouds, but I will avoid icing and convective activity like my life depends on it.
I went with a single Garmin display because I don't mind having the engine instruments along the side of the display in a small-ish format. I also don't mind having the maps across the panel on the iPad via Foreflight. The maps and capabilities even with this system and even looking across the panel FAR, FAR exceed the displays in the Airbus I fly for work! I'll have nav and ADSB redundancies via the iPad, Foreflight, and a Stratux ADSB receiver with its own AHRS and power supply. Realistically, mine will be flown single pilot 90% of the time and VMC 98% of the time. I think it's a good compromise between capability, complexity, and cost.
As for cost... man, this is a real tough one. I can tell you that I'll have between $30k and about $35k in parts alone for my Glasair. I checked with one of the well-known installers who's also a frequent contributor to this site and was told it'd be 6-9 months before he could get me in and the labor would be roughly the same cost as the equipment.
In your case, I'd say the cost of the labor would be somewhere between 50 to 100% the cost of whatever equipment you wanted to install. This is HIGHLY variable based on how the original equipment was installed and whether there's room in your panel to just cut some holes and install the new stuff. If you have to start moving existing stuff around and if the original installer did a terrible job, it could turn into a real disaster.
If you're of a mind to try doing it yourself, definitely stick with some of the sellers who are known to be supporters of Van's Airforce because you'll have questions. You might pay 3-5% more than the lowest price sellers, but the advice you'll receive will be worth far more than that. If you're looking to just drop it off and write a check, be sure to ask some questions to see if the shop really wants to work on an experimental. Some shops insist on doing things the same way as Piper did it in 1969, so they'll see something like a blade style fusebox and insist that you rip it out and install a buss bar and Klixon circuit breakers.
You can shop around to see what the various components are going for via online sellers. In general, a G5 will cost around $2000 by the time you get the connector kit, backup battery, mounting solution, etc. A 10" screen will be in the neighborhood of $5500 all in. An iPad mini is now around $800 and the Guardian flush mount is around $200. You can build a Stratux based on a Raspberry Pi mini computer with AHRS, ADSB and WAAS GPS for about $250.
Long post, but I hope this helps.
And here's a shot of my Glasair panel... just because it's so darned easy to attach pics with this new forum software!