Fear of a mid-air collision ranks high on the demon list for many owners-high enough that there’s a lively market in panel-mounted traffic systems that cost the better part of $20,000 or more to install. There’s also intense competition in the field, leading us to ask if one system is really better enough than another to recommend it over its competitors.The short answer is that performance doesnt drive the traffic box choice as much as price and display preference does. All of the systems weve tried adequately do the basic job of seeing threatening traffic and although none have a perfect record of seeing every threat airplane, we didnt see enough difference between the products to recommend one over another solely on performance.

Although anyone who learned to fly during the 1970s suffered the 90 dB din of an unmuffled cabin, thats old school now. These days, we all wear headsets and panels have audio systems or at least intercoms, which make the endeavor more civilized. We see ever more airplanes that have integrated audio panels with built-in intercoms. Even the basic current production audio switching panels have on-board voice-activated stereo intercoms, which place all of the audio controls in a single console. This saves room on the panel and streamlines installation.

Five years ago, the hot buzzword in the popular press was “connectivity,” but now that Starbucks and even Wal-Mart have Wi-Fi hotspots, weve moved on-wireless and cellphone access is now assumed. Unless you happen to be in the cabin of a light aircraft. At several junctures during the past decade, the inflight phone market looked like it would take off, making phone and wireless service affordable for the piston crowd. But the market remains iffy at the low end, the best bet being a satellite-based Iridium system piped into the aircraft audio system. Thanks to broadband Wi-Fi, more choices are on the way, but for now, heres an overview of how to make a call from a light aircraft.

The all-in-one GPS color mapcomm has become such an avionics standard that a used airplane without at least a Garmin GNS 430 hardly gets a second look. And for any owners planning an upgrade in this market, you’ll likely be sending money to Garmin anyway, for it owns all three mapcomm megaboxes, the GNS 430/530 and the GNS 480, which it acquired when it bought UPSAT in 2003. So which is best for a given airplane? There’s no easy answer, but in this article, we’ll summarize the major features of each. Each product does so much that we cant detail all of the operations. For this review, we’ll hit the high notes only.

Although they havent descended to the status of Cracker Jack prizes, by now, most owners have been through several generations of portable GPS navigators. What that means is that the bottomless-pit phase of GPS marketing is temporarily over. Manufacturers and buyers dwell in whats essentially a replacement/upgrade market.

Utilitarian to the core, we arent impressed by flashy instrument panel work. And by this, we mean panels decked out in custom colors and patterns that blend with a pricey leather interior and a toney exterior paint job. But were not crazy about the 1970s-style Royalite overlays, either. These long ago outlived their appeal and few have aged gracefully.

Emergency locator transmitters are the least fun-to-buy avionics, second maybe to transponders. Mechanics and avionics shops regard the ELT system as a nuisance to maintain, while owners cringe at spending money on ELT repairs and maintenance.

In the world of avionics, we learned long ago that most projects arent nearly as easy and inexpensive as initially anticipated. If your shop or the avionics vendor says, “easy job, no sweat,” count on the invoice being higher than you thought it would be. This is definitely proving to be true with the long-awaited WAAS upgrade for Garmin GNS430 and GNS530 navigators. Make no mistake, the $1500 upgrade Garmin promised entails a major overhaul of these boxes and delivers lots for the money.

In the world of airborne terrain systems, there are either high-priced TAWS products aimed at high-end turbine-powered iron or the familiar bare-bones terrain alerting found on cheaper portable GPS and MFD base maps. Nothing, in our estimation, provides the ultimate in dedicated terrain awareness at a price that wont break the bank.

The Bendix/King KFC225 offers the best ride but S-TEC has more models for more airplanes at prices even thrifty owners can afford.