Future availability of 4500 units

I just noticed today that the 3000 and 4000 series units no longer appear on the website product listing, or in the price list. Presumably, they are being discontinued. While this isn't unexpected, and I certainly understand the business and technical cases for doing so, two questions remain...
- Will "the list" of outstanding developments still be pursued for these units? or at least, features developed/refined for the 5000 units backported to the 4000 series, if the hardware will support it? Hopefully, the remaining known bugs will be fixed (like the display issue where the course and bearing needles disappear when viewing the VP-X page) before development is discontinued.

And, selfishly:
- When will production end completely for the units, if it hasn't already? I only ask because I have a big hole in my panel where a second 4500 was supposed to go, pending arrival of more cash. My understanding is that the 5500 is an entirely different size and mounting arrangement.

Thanks & all best ~

It would be nice to hear a response to this question. Are we as 4500 customers going to be out in the cold soon or will we always have support? Why would we as loyal customers want to recommend the 5000 series to our friends if you won't respond to a very good question? Just Asking?

It is Christmas, give the guys a chance.....

I think that all the wonderful people at AFS are strong enough to look at my post without being offended. I don't appreciate your criticing so I will call them from now on so as not to offend you on their Forum. Have a Happy New Year. Larry

We 4500 owners look forward to hearing what you find out.

We decided to remove the AF-4500 and AF-3400 from our current products page. Almost all sales are for the AF-5000 systems and it does not make sense to continue to manufacture a very low volume product. In the last few weeks we had four different customers receive brand new non AF-5000 units and then call and want to return them for AF-5000 systems. This was even after we tried to push them toward the AF-5000.

We still service and support all of our systems and offer an upgrade path for older systems. We are currently beta testing a new AF-4000 software release and I will verify that the VPX - CDI problem is fixed.

We still have some AF-4500 units that we can sell and we are getting used units from AF-5000 upgrades.

We are close to releasing the new AF-5200, same size and mounting as the AF-3400 with the new AF-5000 CPU and software.

Thanks for the reply Rob. This is exaclly what what we needed to see on the Forum to keep the 56/5800 deal alive in the RV-14 that we just started. Larry

Rob,

Thanks for the update. I would love a new 5000 series that would fit into the same hole as the 4500. If you can retro fit down to the 3400. why not the 4500?

Rick

Rob --
Thanks for the info and commitment to supporting the older boxes.

Is there a clearinghouse for the used 4500 units that come in on upgrades? I'd be interested in a 4500MFD at some point. The 5500 looks great, but it would necessitate cutting a new panel due to the size difference; a task I'd like to put off until we upgrade the whole thing for IFR in a few years.

Have to agree with Rick, a 5000 series in the same mounting as the 4500 would be ideal, but perhaps the market isn't there for that.

All best & happy holidays to the AFS team ~
-JDW

Thanks, Rob. Will there be an upgrade or trade-in discount for existing 3400s/4500 customers?

Yes, we current have a trade in discount for the older systems.