AnywhereMap Travel Companion

[woodmanrog]

Just thought I'd give a little feedback on the new ATP from Anywheremap.
I was very excited to try this unit as it seemed to do everything and more than the much more expensive Garmin 496. I purchased my unit at oskosh this year from one of the vendors at the show other than the company direct because the booth for Anwheremap was closed for the day. (Strange way to do business at the most attended airshow in the country). I found one of the vendors and made my purchase. No one had the weather upgrade in stock so I ordered that from the internet. In Wisconsin I booted up the auto maps and had a lot of fun driving to various destinations. Worked fine in this application. When I returned home to Florida, I waited anxiously for the weather components. When the XM weather arrived I installed the Bluetooth reciever into the plane and hooked up the ATP.
The real test came when my wife and I flew to a flyin last Saturday. The first disappointment was that the unit is NOT SUNLIGHT READABLE. I even handheld the GPS under the bottom of the radio stack and had trouble seeing any of the screen. I am calling Anwheremap Monday to see if there is a fix for this problem. If not, the unit will be returned. The second issue is that the touch screen is so sensitive that you end up changing settings on the screen in flight without meaning to. I have rather large hands and it is very difficult to hit the proper icon while in flight. Thirdly, the unit ws supposed to have a CD with the operator manual in the package. Mine was missing along with the stylus that is supposed to be in the box. I downloaded the 30 page manual off of the website. The directions are very well laid out and operation is a breeze once you sort out all of the different information under each icon.
Overall, the product is very appealing, especially the price, but if you cannot see it in the airplane it is useless. Tech help has been very responsive to my last 2 phone calls. I hope there is a resolution to the viewing problem.
Roger Hirschbein
Turtle Wood Designs

[Steve]

My ATC is mounted directly to the panel on a small angled mount, not one of the included ATC mounts. It is tucked under the glareshield on my -9A. I haven't had any trouble reading the screen yet. The Koger sunshade is in constant use this time of year anyway here in the sunny mountain west.
There is NO disk included. Tech help said it was a misprint and will be corrected.
The stylus is in a hole along the top edge od the ATC. Use a finger nail to pull it up and out.
Kudos to ATC tech help for quick answers on the issue I had with setting local time on my ATC.

Steve

[b17fe]

Rodger,
You also need to go into the Ipaq -settings-system-backlight-brightness and adjust it.
They also sell a handy stylus which hangs around your neck ... http://www.anywheremap.com/detail.aspx?ID=6 .
I've had AWM for an extremely long time.Once you are familiar with it you will find you can 't do without it.
Lots of features that all the rest are trying to catch up with.

[Hooznext]

Steve, would you recommend the ATC to another pilot? Would you purchase it again knowing what you know?

I am looking at the ATC and the new AV8TOR, hear good and bad about both. The one thing I really like about the ATC is the traffic interface. As I understand it AV8TOR will have traffic someday but not in recent times.

I'm intrigued with both these units, don't fly enough hours to justify spending $1,000.00+ on some of the other units and like the feature list of these units. Just don't want to spend $800.00+ and regret it.

Does anyone know Anywheremap's return policy? I can get the AV8TOR at Sporty's and not have to worry about return if I am not happy.

Thanks

[638RS]

Here is a link to their return policy...

http://www.anywheremap.com/pages/Returns.aspx

It will cost you a minimum of 10 %

I was considering this unit but decided not to purchase it...

[Steve]

Check your pm, Hooz.
Steve

[Hooznext]

Steve, I left you a PM.

I am still weighing all the options for this price range, if I could get both at Sporty's I would make a move today. I am leaning to the ATC, another feature they have is lifetime subscriptions http://www.anywheremap.com/detail.aspx?ID=221

Thanks for the input, I'll post my decision once I made the purchase for others.

[drmax]

Originally Posted by woodmanrog

Just thought I'd give a little feedback on the new ATP from Anywheremap.
I was very excited to try this unit as it seemed to do everything and more than the much more expensive Garmin 496. I purchased my unit at oskosh this year from one of the vendors at the show other than the company direct because the booth for Anwheremap was closed for the day. (Strange way to do business at the most attended airshow in the country). I found one of the vendors and made my purchase. No one had the weather upgrade in stock so I ordered that from the internet. In Wisconsin I booted up the auto maps and had a lot of fun driving to various destinations. Worked fine in this application. When I returned home to Florida, I waited anxiously for the weather components. When the XM weather arrived I installed the Bluetooth reciever into the plane and hooked up the ATP.
The real test came when my wife and I flew to a flyin last Saturday. The first disappointment was that the unit is NOT SUNLIGHT READABLE. I even handheld the GPS under the bottom of the radio stack and had trouble seeing any of the screen. I am calling Anwheremap Monday to see if there is a fix for this problem. If not, the unit will be returned. The second issue is that the touch screen is so sensitive that you end up changing settings on the screen in flight without meaning to. I have rather large hands and it is very difficult to hit the proper icon while in flight. Thirdly, the unit ws supposed to have a CD with the operator manual in the package. Mine was missing along with the stylus that is supposed to be in the box. I downloaded the 30 page manual off of the website. The directions are very well laid out and operation is a breeze once you sort out all of the different information under each icon.
Overall, the product is very appealing, especially the price, but if you cannot see it in the airplane it is useless. Tech help has been very responsive to my last 2 phone calls. I hope there is a resolution to the viewing problem.
Roger Hirschbein
Turtle Wood Designs

Did you try out the back lighting settings before sending it back? I am curious as to this issue. If you get it figured out and turns out that it works, I'll buy one. Please let me/us know.
Thx, DM

[Auburntsts]

I've flown with mine in the morning and afternoon now and found no issues being able to read it in sunlight. For me the best combination is to turn the brightness all the way up and set the terrain color on the topo setting to "light". The terrain contrast takes a hit but the text and symbols standout quite clearly.

My only beef so far is the battery life is only a little over 2.5 hours with the backlight all the up (about 3.25 with it turned down). You can buy an additional battery from HP, but that involves shutting the unit down, removing the ATC from its cradle and swapping the batteries out. My plan is to build my own battery pack and feed the ATC via the mini-usb port when whatever plane I'm flying doesn't have a 12v outlet (ran into this the other day with a 1998 C-172).

Otherwise I'm happy with the ATC and would recommend it. I played with the AV8TOR at OSH and it seems like a quality unit, but in the end I got a deal on my ATC that I simply could not pass up.

[MikeS]

The AV8OR is still pretty much a half-baked potato. With NO customer service.

Anyone interested in the ATC & AV8OR check out the threads on the AOPA forum "Flight Bag" website. Lots of user reviews & other comments.

Mike