RE: tachs...the lastest issue of Private Pilot reviews 3 or 4 digital tachs. I left it @ work, or I could provide more info. They include prices too. Figure about $500. I have one in my RV-3 -- a Taskem. It's not certified, but could be a "second" tach in a certified aircraft, I suppose. The good news is that it works great (very stable and accurate), is very small, easily installed and cost $179. I love it...it took about 10 minutes to get used to the 10 rpm readouts. We first used a cheap ($80) unit -- can't remember the brand -- it was junk. RE: manifold pressure gage...they are common in the homebuilt world where we need to match a prop to the engine/airframe combination. The gage is a direct measurement of power output. The factory trainers don't have them because of cost and the fact that they have known (& published) power tables for reference. As a result, we don't learn with a m.p. gage, so we don't use them in our light planes. Adjustable prop drivers refer to the gage regularly, of course. True, you can use the gage in place of a tach, but we're used to the tach, I guess.
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