pierre smith

pierre smith

Well Known Member
....made me look at just about all the choices at Sun 'n Fun yesterday.

I like the Anywheremap offering, although the $1700 was a big bite. I've searched the archives as well but no joy.

Who has some realtime IFR experience with a screen and no paper? What product gives the best bang for the buck? I don't need anything like sectionals but approach plates and low-altitude charts. After filing to Spruce Creek, the paper was just a pain...

Thanks,
 
I posted a similar request a couple of weeks ago. I would be really interested to hear about any experience with the Anywhere map Duo. It is relatively expensive but when you factor in GPS moving map, a second GPS source, geo referenced approaches and taxi moving maps, and relatively inexpensive approach and chart updates - it looks pretty good.

Any input out there??

I'm envious of those at SnF!!
 
I'm not IFR but...

I have a Garmin 696 with approach plates loaded. I spoke with Lucas at the Trutrak booth yesterday and he indicated that would be adequate. I hope real IFR types will weigh in here. Of course, the 696 is currently going for $2999

Bill Near
 
I guess the next question is how much to put the plates in the 696. I have the unit and love it, so the extra to load em is the question now.

Another thought I had was to buy the iPad and load them into that. I have heard people concerned with the sun washing out the ipad, well you are IFR arn't you, were is the sun on that one.
 
Pierre,

If you are already flying with a 496 in order to get Wx, then the 696 is essentially a $1000 upgrade to get full paperless approach plates, SID's, STAR's, etc. Of all the ways I've looked at to get electronic charts, the 696 is my current favorite (remember that things are changing all the time, and something better may be just down the road that we don't know about....). The screen is bright and readable, the data is easy to see - and in an -8, the is just no way to carry all the charts and manage the cockpit if you're doing long cross-countries and trying to keep paper.

Yup - it costs money to keep the charts up to date, but that's the price of admission to the IFR system. Paper will cost you $600/year (in round figures) for the whole country, no matter who you go with. Garmin subscriptions is a few hundred more - not that big of a delta. (Too many people see the price of electronic charts and decry the cost, but you have to look at the DELTA above paper charts, not the total - it's not unreasonable that way....)

Paul
 
Ironflight said:
Pierre,

If you are already flying with a 496 in order to get Wx, then the 696 is essentially a $1000 upgrade to get full paperless approach plates, SID's, STAR's, etc.

Paul
Click to expand...

Thanks Paul....I suppose the $1000 ref is if I sell my 496 and apply that to a 696?.

There's a six inch space between the seats in a -10 and it looks like it would fit there, inclined to view. I already have 2 GPS's so it looks like the Anywhere map would be considerably less expensive.

Thanks,
 
flyinlee said:
Doesn't the IFLY 700 do that? (Adventure Pilot) I thought that was offered now.
Click to expand...

Yes, it does. At $89.95/yr for upgrades (including sectionals.) Check it out while you are at S&F. Plates, etc are very readable in direct sunlight, sectionals marginal. $500 to purchase and is an easy-to-use GPS.

Bob Kelly
 
I know I got a little jumpy on the IFR thing with the sun. I guess a Kroger sun shield might be in order. Now if a guy has the 430w can he hold back on updating that unit and put everything in the 696 or is the updates for the 430 a complete different thing. Just getting stated on this electronic stuff for IFR.
 
Garmin 696 update costs

If you want just Flite Charts (plates, etc) it's $495 for the annual subscription. NavData (VFR) alone is $295 annual.

The new bundled offering basically adds annual subscriptions to Safe Taxi & Obstacles at a reduced cost.

The new bundles are $499 for annual Obstacle, Safe Taxi and Flite Charts, and a 1 time Terrain update. So you get Safe Taxi and Obstacles almost for free.

For $699 you get everything in the first bundle plus annual subs for NavData and AOPA.
 
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An addendum....

...that I forgot to mention, was that the very nice lady at Anywheremap mentioned a $250/yr update, OR a $750 /lifetime subscription, which to me, looks really good. If I fly ten more years, that's $75/year...pretty inexpensive.

Best,
 
Pocket Plates

Pierre,

Here's one guy's experience . . .

I have Control Vision's Pocket Plates application running on a Fujitsu p1610 tablet computer with a solid state hard drive and 1 GB memory, which I strap to my leg with velcro like a kneeboard. The GPS signal is via a Haicom Bluetooth GPS that sits on the instrument panel.

I was very surprised by the GPS performance - capturing a WAAS enabled location within seconds inside a metal hangar with the door closed, and displaying the position on georeferenced approach plates - I bought mine for under $50 brand new on Ebay. I bought the computer used on Ebay, too - I think I paid $350.

In direct sunlight, the display is readable, but not nearly as clear as paper charts. It works, but it would be nice to have better readability. Note that some of the Fujitsus are designed for outdoors viewing and others are not. Mine is the outdoors version.

There have been a few times where the Bluetooth connection dropped, causing the screen to freeze up until switching Bluetooth off (there is a physical switch for this on the side of the computer), at which point it unfreezes, but then you have no GPS . . . I'm not sure if this can be corrected with a setting or a software update . . . Of course, you don't really need GPS to read an approach plate . . .

Some of the nice things about using a tablet computer (touchscreen) are:
- It is portable and easy to take home or into the hotel room with you
- You can surf the internet at the terminal building while waiting for the weather to clear
- You can do all your flight planning on it (I use Golden Eagle FlightPrep) and: Best of all: Download your flight plans from the computer to a GRT EFIS using a USB memory stick (this works with Golden Eagle and the GRT HX; I can't vouch for other combinations)

I found the Pocket Plates software to be quite easy to use; you can use the touchscreen to enter the identifier of the destination airport and then select from a display of all applicable approaches/STARS/SIDS. Note that the STARS and SIDS are not geo-referenced, however.

My original computer had a "regular" hard drive and 0.5 Gig of memory. Upgrading to the SSD drive and 1 GB memory made a big difference in responsiveness and much faster boot-up times.

Hope this helps . . .
 
A friend of mine just bought the amazon Kindle and loaded it with all the approach plates for the eastern half of the USA. I flew safety pilot for him while he was practicing IFR approaches using the Kindle. Even in the Cozy MKIV with its full glass canopy and a bright cloudless sky, the display was easy to see and read even at an angle.
 
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