406 ELT Caviat Emptor

[Paul462]

We ordered an Ameri-King 406 ELT from Gulf Coast avionics a week or two ago for $852, advertized in writing as follows: "It transmits aircraft GPS/NAV data, immediately and accurately, on triple (406 Satellite/243 Military/121.5 Civilian) MHz frequencies."

Upon receipt, I read through the entire installation manual, then called Ameri-King's Engineering Manager Kieth Van to confirm the supplied harness met the wire requirements to carry the RS-232 signal from the panel GPS to the ELT.

I started getting a bad feeling when Kieth's first question was "How much did you pay for the ELT?" The upshot was the $852 unit did not include the necessary GPS interface (written advertizing to the contrary). Gulf Coast subsequently quoted a total of around $2,300 for an AK-451 with GPS interface. I elected to send the unit back to Gulf Coast for a full refund, having wasted several hours on this bit of false advertising.

Ameri-King's Kieth Van stated the correct unit to order is the "ELT w GPS" unit (he pronounced it "ELT With GPS"). I pointed out to him that in American English, "ELT with GPS" means an ELT with on on-board GPS receiver, and that if he wished to advertise an ELT with a GPS interface, he should advertise "ELT w GPS Interface". I hung up with the impression he wasn't planning on correcting his advertising any time soon.

Moral: The AK-451 does not include the necessary GPS interface. The AK-451 w GPS doesn't include an on-board GPS. Caviat Emptor.

Does anybody know when the ACK unit will be available?