Engine Monitor Data Change Upsets Owners
In the days of Internet forums, companies have to be careful about riling their customers — those customers are likely to start chatting online, find other disgruntleds and build a crescendo of bad feeling. That seems to be what’s happening with some users of JP Instruments’ (JPI’s) engine-monitor units. JPI has encoded the data output of its monitors so it can’t be read by third-party software that owners would use to collect parameters and monitor the condition of their engines. Whether this is to protect itself liability-wise or to discourage competitors is unclear, but it has certainly made some customers unhappy. It seems the company is working on a fix, which may require a fee from users to translate the file format and perhaps leave those customers less than satisfied.
In the days of Internet forums, companies have to be careful about riling their customers -- those customers are likely to start chatting online, find other disgruntleds and build a crescendo of bad feeling. That seems to be what's happening with some users of JP Instruments' (JPI's) engine-monitor units. JPI has encoded the data output of its monitors so it can't be read by third-party software that owners would use to collect parameters and monitor the condition of their engines. Whether this is to protect itself liability-wise or to discourage competitors is unclear, but it has certainly made some customers unhappy. It seems the company is working on a fix, which may require a fee from users to translate the file format and perhaps leave those customers less than satisfied. Due to the changes, an upcoming article in Aviation Consumer finds that although the JPI units are still a good product, at least one rival company may prove a better choice for users who prefer non-encoded data output. For more details, check out Aviation Consumer's June issue.
