Looking for input from folks flying the GRT Safe Fly and uAvionix Echo ADSB package.
I am wondering if anyone is actually flying with it, and how is is working for you?
I have seen a thread or two about issues with the Echo-----would like to hear some good reports also.
Thanks in Advance.
Mike, I've been flying with one for about 8 months/150 hours in my RV-7; it replaced my perfectly functional but FAA banned Navworx 600EXP. Both units feeding my GRT Sport SX.
Bad business practices aside, Navworx set a high bar with the EXP. My Echo suffers from disappearing targets as mentioned in other threads here. It also doesn't seem to pick up as many towers as the EXP did, though that's mostly an issue for my daily low level flying (below 2500' betwixt DWA and O88). Both my EXP and the couple of revised Dynon ADSB-472 units I've flown with seemed to perform better in that environment and they both did a better job of filtering and prioritizing traffic. My understanding is that the Echo is marginal on power which may have something to do with that. I tried moving the UAT antenna around and making the coax cable as short as possible, which made absolutely no difference. As for filtering, it is also my understanding that uAvionix is working to improve that and will be releasing a software update in the not so distant future that will help.
The EXP did a nicer job IMHO of depicting targets as well; within a certain distance (don't recall exactly, probably less than 5 miles) targets changed from a diamond shape on the PFD to a yellow dot that got progressively larger as the target got closer. Difficult to ignore. That's a minor quibble though.
I haven't flown near enough weather (there hasn't been much) with the Echo to get a sense of how well it paints Nexrad signals. The EXP worked well enough in that department, and while I haven't had a lot of need for weather depiction, it's been handy when I did. I wish GRT would get around to enabling winds aloft data but that has nothing to do with the Echo's capability.
Would I buy it again? Yeah, probably. If uAvionix improves filtering, then that would go to almost definitely. The integration with my GRT displays, not to mention the serial port combiner function, along with the low price makes the combo pretty attractive. The GPS is a WAAS/RAIM unit, another nice feature that will be nice to have if/when I upgrade my Sport SX to an HXr with the optional approach software. Someday...
Hope that helps.