TBM-700 is a great airplane offering lots of speed and economy and Socata just upgraded this package to TBM-850 adding more speed, range, climb, etc.Two things strike me however about this aircraft. First while others offer full glass cockpit Socata seems to be stuck in dark ages. No Avidyne, no Garmin D1000 - not even available as options. Very peculiar.Next is the price. TBM-850 will set you back at least $2.5 mln. Considering this is single engine turboprop and that you can have twin jet engine for $1.4 mln it may look very overpriced. Of course one may argue that Eclipse 500 is not being delivered to customers yet and final price may still change but all the signs in the sky point to the fact they are on track and price won't change in any significant way. Makes you wonder what will happen to $2.8 mln TBM-850 (fully equipped). Also to be fair we should compare interior volume of both airplane, maybe TBM has some room advantage that would at least partially justify the price.Michael J.http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/pmdg_744F.jpghttp://sales.hifisim.com/pub-download/asv6-banner-beta.jpg

Operating costs?

O/T Michael,I know you get around, have you had any chance to see the Eclipse up close yet? I am interested in what the VLJ's will do to this segment of propjets. Latest on Eclipse's website shows cert. is on hold til' June now.-John

>I know you get around, have you had any chance to see the>Eclipse up close yet? Yep, John. This is me standing next to Eclipse during its Bay Area stop at San Carlos airport. There is even a photo of me sitting in the cockpit. http://photos.yahoo.com/[email protected]Michael J.http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/pmdg_744F.jpghttp://sales.hifisim.com/pub-download/asv6-banner-beta.jpg

Thanks for sharing... Sorry my Eclipse here uses default gauges and doesn't have the Bells & Whistles most add-on's have, but remember it's there for the downloading if you're interested...http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID...04ac&DLID=51560-John

>Operating costs?Operating costs of TBM 850 will of course be lower. But you can argue that with $1 mln price differential it will be a while before your higher operating costs catch up with you ;)Michael J.http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/pmdg_744F.jpghttp://sales.hifisim.com/pub-download/asv6-banner-beta.jpg

MichaelThe 850 has caused me no end of problems. A large company who have been running a 700 were going to move into a Citation with us but then got a silly part ex price against an 850.This was a company we had been talking to for a year and had put a lot of work into.They are now going with the 850 :-(Long term with a number of twin light jets hitting the market I feel their short term gain on the part ex deal will turn into a massive depreciation.Word has it that the 850 was born against a concern over the collapse of the 700 market with aircraft like the Eclipse, Citation Mustang and Adams 700 offering equal running costs at higher speeds and more prestige and percieved safety of twin baby jets.I fail to understand people trying to save a few bucks on fuel and in the process loosing hundreds of thousand dollars in depreciation.Oh well you win some you loose some :-(Peter