Peter wrote:
One could make the same “WTF is it doing now” comment about VFR people flying with a GNS430 but that device was not intended for a VFR-only market (a job which it does very badly).
The worst thing about the GNS series is that you can’t transfer flight plans to it as well as that the DB does not have the VFR points. We had to program the mostly used ones ourselfs as user wp’s in order to be able to fly the VFR routes GPSS. Quite a bit of work.
I think there is a post earlier in this thread which says GP can load “random” plans to a GNS but it doesn’t appear to be well implemented.
FWIW, the issue is the same as with my KLN94. That has no (known) FP upload at all, so VFR flights tend to be done via IFR waypoints, which I have been using all around the UK (and around Europe all the way to Crete in the past) with great success. The only user waypoints I ever had to enter were the location of LEAX (that was fixed by King about 10 years ago) and then some DIY approaches… The problem UK trained PPLs have doing this is that when they are asked to enter say ORTAC they think “I have a PPL, I cannot fly airways” 
The attraction of GP in the “GPS loading” context appears to be loading of long Eurocontrol routes, but nobody has described the workflow they actually use.
I imagine they copy/paste the validated route from a browser into the GP app and then transfer that into the GPS? Or is it done via a file? GP has to be running on an Ipad so transferring a file (which is not a photograph) into it is a hassle unless you have an internet connection, which may not always be the case when out and about (and implies having an Ipad with a working SIM data card). But you need that anyway if you are to generate a validated route on it. WIFI is usually out of the question, especially out on the tarmac.
If you have to enter the route manually into GP, there is no point, and there is even less point if your GPS supports airway entry.
If that’s the worst thing, it isn’t too bad is it! 
One possible workflow is indeed copying from a browser into the flightplan:
For transferring it to the GPS you need the flightstream box which uses a wireless connection to the GNS or GTN.
You could also use the export feature of autorouter to store it on a data card (SD for the GTN) and import the flightplan directly from there. In this case you obviously don’t need GP :-)
In flight you can use GP to modify your flightplan and resync it.
It uses a Bluetooth connection and automatcally resyncs
Peter wrote:
and implies having an Ipad with a working SIM data card
Except where, on roaming, the local network has decided to block tethering, even though my own one allows it. For example Austria, Axams (nr Innsbruck), Dec 2015.
One can probably get around that by having a VPN on the phone… but there are other issues with that. A VPN enforces the use of a screen lock which is a hassle. There is a hack for that too (possible on a rooted phone only) but it is slightly complicated. I have a VPN on my tablet but not on the phone.
So one cannot base one’s ability to load one’s GPS on having an internet connection. Manual loading would have to be the backup.
You could also run GP on your phone :-)
Except
You people will think I am just picking holes in this stuff, but we all have reasons for choosing a certain way of working.
… and the nice thing is that we have choices
