iFly 720 Comments

[TomVal]

While in the DFW area this weekend, I stopped at one of DR’s advertisers, “North Texas Pilot Supply", owned by Ken & Tina. They are great to work with and I encourage you to give them a call when shopping for pilot supplies. Be sure to identify yourself as a VAF member when placing the order.

Today, I’ve been playing with the unit. I did purchase the external battery. Ken recommended not purchasing the external GPS until you gain some experience with the stock unit installed in the aircraft. I have to say, I’m impressed with the GPS. Sitting in my condo in the middle of the living room, I captured the satellites with no problem!

The Wi-Fi feature is great. No need to download updates via the computer. My slight disappointment is with the sunlight readable claim about the screen. Perhaps I’m asking too much, but I held the unit in direct sunlight and in my opinion, it was not as readable as I had hoped. However, with slight shading, the screen readability is okay.

I charged the battery to about ¾ full. After about an hour, the battery died. I recharged the battery to full and it has been operating okay for the past two plus hours.

On the Airport Information feature, (Airport Facility Directory), the data does not include published traffic pattern altitudes.

I briefly looked at the Internet feature page. I loaded AirNav.com. The text formatting on this page does not fit the page as published by AirNav.

The Flight Planning feature has good flexibility, however, the data only accepts two variables, cruise speed, and fuel flow. It would be nice to program the start/taxi, climb, cruise, and descent variables.

It is also nice having a complete data base of VFR/IFR charts and plates. However, it’s hard to break old habits, I still purchased a sectional for the local area.

The iFly Streets have some interesting features. I haven’t used it yet.

Overall very nice features for the money and I think I will be very happy with the unit.

[TomVal]

FYI,

Today I brought the 720 out to the aircraft. Much to my surprise, using the suction cup mount provided in the kit, it attached firmly to the right sidewall of the aircraft. I was planning to install a RAM mount but the suction cup seemed to work okay. I just wonder if the suction cup will still hold firm with temperature change and cold soaking of the fuselage? I guess I will find out.

I'm still testing the external battery life while powering the 720. Right now, I have about 3 hours of operating time without a discharge.

I prefer to fly with nomex military gloves. The touch screen response feature of the screen with a gloved hand is good.

The -8 was rolled out of the hangar and the 720 was turned on. The GPS locked with no problem with the unit located as depicted in the photo below.

Today's sky cover was scattered to broken. I tried to maneuver the aircraft to place bright sunlight on the screen. The first photo was taken from appoximately my normal head height.

The second photo was just a close up of the screen with bright sunlight on it.



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[rv9aviator]

I upgraded to the new 720 a couple of weeks ago and Sunday flew for 2-1/2 hours in bright sunlight. I had no problem with visibility whatsoever. For the money it is a great unit.