EASA revoked the type certificate for the Eclipse 500, if I recall correctly. But it's still valid in FAA land. And these being N-regs, they should be able to fly again. Here's an explanation from an owner from a US forum about the problems with these older 500's:
Regrettably, it's not as simple as that. This plane has several significant issues.
This is an Avidyne Eclipse, non-ETT, one of the very small number of planes remaining in the category (most of the 38 built like this have been upgraded). Eclipse Aerospace (who took over the assets of bankrupt Eclipse Aviation) stopped supporting these planes as of March 31, 2013. You can still get them worked on, but there are some parts unique to these planes that are no longer available.
As you noted, it's not FIKI. It also has no GPS for navigation (the ad says it has GPS, but you can't navigate with it), and it's limited by AD to 30,000 feet.
You can fix the 30,000 foot limitation, but you can't just pay a little money to make the plane FIKI. It can only become FIKI through a major upgrade that would entail adding new tip tanks and other structural modifications as well as removing the avionics and replacing them with all new ones. I believe they're not offering that upgrade any more (though maybe they'd do a special deal for it). When it was last offered, as I recall it was over $1 million because it is such a big upgrade.
The Eclipse is a great plane, but the fleet suffers from having several different versions, and that makes it tough for a potential buyer to know what he's getting without assistance from somebody that really knows these planes. This is a bit of a "gotcha" plane in that regard.
All that said, these early un-upgraded Eclipse 500's represent an amazing value for the right buyer who can understand and work around the limitations of an un-upgraded Eclipse. Where else can you get a personal jet with just 100 hours on it that burns about as much fuel mile per mile as a twin Cessna and pay only a half million for it?
Ken
The plane in question--the $550 K Eclipse--can fly up to 41,000 feet if it gets a little work. It would need RVSM approval (the plane's got group approval already, so it's mostly a paperwork exercise). And it would likely need new engine liners to get over the 30,000 foot AD limitation.
OTOH, this jet, like others, is intended to be a traveling machine, and you can't travel very far in it if you stay below 18,000 feet. Also, one of the big draws of a jet is the ability to top weather. I wouldn't worry a whole lot about the lack of FIKI in this plane (it will limit you, but not that much) UNLESS you also say that you can't fly it high. The combination of no-FIKI and no high flight would mean very little winter flying.
That early Eclipse was delivered with two very nice GPS sensors that do absolutely nothing but generate synthetic DME. The FMS "frontend" that was supposed to integrate them (so you could navigate by them) was never finished.
Some owners have installed an after-market Garmin 400W; that works nicely but can't be integrated into the PFD without a major upgrade that isn't offered any more. But you could easily mount a CDI and you're good to go. There are some regulatory hurdles in installing a GPS that you wouldn't have with most other planes, but it's been done by a number of owners and makes for a very usable aircraft platform.