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MGL Radios - unboxing

Flying Canuck

Well Known Member
Patron
Received my MGL order today, V16 COM, N16 NAV and Razor control head. Didn't have to wait for long, ordered on November 3, shipped on November 10 after fulfilling a back order on one item.

I couldn't find out much about what each box contained beforehand so I thought I'd document that here.

The V16 and N16 both come with a D25M connector (solder type) with backshell and a crimp SMA connector.

The Razor comes with a D15M connector (solder type) and 2 120 ohm resistors (for CANBUS).

It would have been nice to know what was included in the boxes, I already bought everything that was included because I thought I was going to need it. I'll use what I bought for d-sub connectors because they are crimp style.

I've attached a picture to this post.

These items will be making their way into my panel in the near future along with a PMA8000B audio panel that I picked up. I've got a Bob Archer NAV antenna and a Delta Pop COM antenna arriving next week to round this out. The Garmin GPS 175 is planned for the spring which will complete my IFR upgrade.

COVID-19 related bonus, today's package arrived (USPS/Canada Post) without any import charges or taxes, that saved me more than $120. Guess they want to avoid having people come in to the post office to pay.
 

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Interesting, as I distinctly recall watching an MGL promo video years ago titled "What's In The Box."
 
Interesting, as I distinctly recall watching an MGL promo video years ago titled "What's In The Box."

They do have a video called that, but it's for their iEFIS product. It does show the included items but there is nothing in there that you can use to infer what's with the products I bought.

I was also thrown by the fact that they sell a harness separately so I didn't expect to see much connector wise.

Ideally, the contents of the box should be included in the documentation. That's a pretty standard approach. Not a big deal, but it would make system planning a little easier.
 
Did you get to fly? What do you think of that combo? Does the radio work well? How about the VOR? Which EFIS did you integrate with?
 
I did get this flying but only recently. Haven't been able to test ILS yet, nothing nearby. I do get decent VOR reception, haven't tested its limits yet. The COM radio has taken me a little longer to get working and I can't say I've got enough experience with it yet to have an informed opinion.

The Razor control head's interface is a little clunky, but it's functional.

I'm interfacing with a Dynon Skyview HDX, emulating an SL30. No problems coupling with the NAV source. Once I got this configured it's been solid.
 
I did get this flying but only recently. Haven't been able to test ILS yet, nothing nearby. I do get decent VOR reception, haven't tested its limits yet. The COM radio has taken me a little longer to get working and I can't say I've got enough experience with it yet to have an informed opinion.

The Razor control head's interface is a little clunky, but it's functional.

I'm interfacing with a Dynon Skyview HDX, emulating an SL30. No problems coupling with the NAV source. Once I got this configured it's been solid.

That's helpful. I need to add a VOR/ILS to my build so that I can do IFR training in it and buying a nav/com is certainly cheaper than renting a cessna. On my short list is the garmin GNC-255, but at $4k it's pretty expensive. The MGL radio is less than half and includes some nice features like stuck PTT warning, signal strength, additional VOR head, etc.... but when I was looking at videos online the little bubble under a finger press combined with people repeatedly missing the button they were looking for and retrying has really caused me pause as it appears that the user interface is actually pretty terrible, especially in the days of touch everything cellphones and ipads.

I'd be curious if you think that the functionality overcomes the lack of polish. I'll subscribe to the thread and look forward to hearing more.

Thanks
 
I will say one thing about the UI on the Razor, it isn't easy to work with in rough air. I'm sure it will get better with more familiarity but it suffers from a less precise touch interface that makes it a challenge.

I haven't used it for ILS yet, so no comment on functionality there yet. I'll update this thread with my experiences once I get them.
 
I don't mind the interface but I agree it is not super easy to use in turbulence (not that any touch screen is easy to use in turbulence). One thing I wish was an option is to have the knob default to volume instead of freq change. I always use touch to change the freq and would like to directly use the knob for volume.
 
I will say one thing about the UI on the Razor, it isn't easy to work with in rough air. I'm sure it will get better with more familiarity but it suffers from a less precise touch interface that makes it a challenge.

I haven't used it for ILS yet, so no comment on functionality there yet. I'll update this thread with my experiences once I get them.

Hey Claude,

Did you ever use your setup for ILS?
 
Hey Claude,

Did you ever use your setup for ILS?

My IFR training stalled completely last year, but I did get a couple of ILS approaches in. It works well when they don't park a vehicle in front of the antenna while I'm on the approach - great leaning opportunity though.

Someday I'll get back to the training, my written exam expired so I'll have to re-write. I'm only 5 hours short on time. The priority now though is flying in general. Since returning from OSH this year, I've only flown 0.7 hours on a fuel run.
 
My IFR training stalled completely last year, but I did get a couple of ILS approaches in. It works well when they don't park a vehicle in front of the antenna while I'm on the approach - great leaning opportunity though.

Someday I'll get back to the training, my written exam expired so I'll have to re-write. I'm only 5 hours short on time. The priority now though is flying in general. Since returning from OSH this year, I've only flown 0.7 hours on a fuel run.

Claude, I recently added a very similar setup to yours (N16 on an archer nav antenna) to my rv7, and am trying to diagnose an issue with com transmissions interfering with nav (vor / ils signal degrades whenever I transmit on com, even with a handheld). Have you had any issues with that by chance in your setup?
 
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