First ILS flown with the SP-400
I did it yesterday. The SP-400 ILS works as advertised - readable, steady, precise and easy to follow. Most IFR planes I fly only have one battery and one generator, so the SP-400 is a cheap backup. I have had 4 generator failures in 2000 hrs (3 of them in 3 different PA-32s that I have flown a total of less than 150 hrs - watch out for PA-32s!) - 2 generator failures occured in IFR, one during night IMC, which was scary because the aircraft battery was not fully charged at the time of the failure, so I did not know how much time I had before things would go dark. When I first heard of the SP-400 I thought of that incidence immediately. Of course I use a handheld GPS also; a trusty old GPSmap196 or a Garmin 96C; nothing fancy.
An SP-400 shortcoming, perhaps: my (very) old KX-99 will accept an OBS selection without actually recieving a VOR; the SP-400 will not. It is not really an issue for emergency use. Tuning a VOR, the SP-400 centers the needle automatically. When the reception/needle is steady, it locks the OBS setting. The big display shows OBS, bearing/radial and of course a big CDI. I guess this it how it should work for emergency use.
Another problem that I need to investigate: using a headset adapter and an old David Clark 13.4 headset I was able to transmit, the station 30 NM away reading me 5, but I could not hear the answer, only a weak noise. Using the SP-400 without headset, holding the speaker close to my ear, worked better. But using the headset should of course be preferred, so I need to find out what is wrong.
The SP-400 COM reciever is significantly better (more sensitive) than my old handheld, the KX-99. I can tell by dialing distant ATIS'es on the two of them.