Yes Peter, I would agree that Tim Dawson’s R&D technique hooked the UK GA ‘bimbler’ quite nicely. Being benevolent, SD attacked the issue from the VFR perspective whilst GP has come from the IFR end.
I’m surprised that no one (except Peter briefly) has mentioned EasyVFR, especially Colm (perhaps due to a conflict of interest?).
Thanks Vince for the mention of EasyVFR. I come to EuroGA as GA pilot, not to advertise EasyVFR, so I’m a little conscious about being seen to “spam the forum with advertising”. My purpose here is to engage with the forum, not to advertise EasyVFR. Advertising is not my intention, and as the topic didn’t mention EasyVFR, nor invite alternative suggestions, I didn’t mention it for fear of crossing that line. Maybe I’m too consious of that 
But it’s refreshing to see EasyVFR users being happy to pop up and mention it themselves. It makes me proud of of the users that we have, that they are prepared to stand up and be counted. 
or the users are very quiet.
There certainly is an element of that. When I first came to EuroGA (when it was first set up) I thought that I was the only EasyVFR user here. But over the years, I’ve come to realise that there are actually quite a lot of EasyVFR users here. They seem, like yourself, to be very happy with the system, the support, but see no need to shove it down someone else’s throat! Perhaps that’s because in the past, particularly on some UK forums, posters would get shot down for saying a bad word about SD, or even mentioning that they used one of the alternative systems. It often surprises me how SD come out with a new feature and it’s users are “blown away with the rapid development”. Yet EasyVFR had the features for years. I see someone here mention how that it’s great that SD allows you to use it on two mobile devices! EasyVFR places no such restriction on the user. You can use it on all of your devices, so long as they are yours. I have EV on at least 5 mobile devices, and at least 4 PCs, without every having to log out or back into any of them.
But I’ve very happy to see that more and more, EasyVFR users are happy to stand up and be counted. Most seem to be long term users, who know the system, have looked at the alternatives, and decided that EasyVFR best suits their needs. Indeed, it’s also very nice to see users who have tried the alternatives, returning!
You are correct that PocketFMS started in 2003. I believe it was the original flight planning, moving map system for portable consumer devices (as distinct from dedicated hardware such as the Garmin handhelds). It certainly was in existance for years before all the current major compeditors.
Regarding Garmin Pilot and Jepp, I don’t have a lot of experience with either. I’ve tried 30 trials of both to see what they had. Regarding Jepp, I really liked the presentation of their maps at the time. They looked just like their paper chart, with the advantage of beig vectorised. The downside seemed to be both the price, geographic coverage and the fact that they missed a huge number of features that are really just taken for granted these days. For Garmin Pilot, I liked the user interface layout, but really didn’t like the map graphics. It really reminded me of their handhelds, and look just seemed a decade out of date. But I can well imagine that that’s of no concern to IFR pilots, who are much more concerned with approach charts, airways etc. So it doesn’t surprise me that a lot of pilots here (a lot of IFR pilots here) really like it.
Anyway, I suppose it’s good for the consumer to have choice! My advice to the original poster, would be that whichever system you choose, take the time to learn it, and all that it offers. Someday you may need a feature that you don’t normally use, and that’s not the time to figure out how to use it! Spending a little time on the tutorials and learning how to use the system, can pay big dividends!
Colm
Except for some weather apps there is nothing else I need for flying all around Europe. In the USA I use Foreflight. I wonder why people want to print from their iPads. That’s exactly what I have the iPad for (and it’s backup sister iPad in the bag): to avoid printing.
For the moment I use SkyDemon and I am happy with it. I miss a couple of features in the realm of basic instrument flying, the one I use the most is intercepting VOR radials without actually flying above the VOR, but there are workarounds. And I would love a padlock to freeze the line and be able to pan the map without fear. Both these requests were turned down on the forum though. Map coverage is quite good, I used it in South Africa. AUS is not there yet but NZ is so there is hope.
I started flying only 2 years ago, so I don’t know that this or that feature was in EasyVFR 4 years before, nor do I care, it’s there now, it’s not a d*ck contest who’s had the longest.
Eventually I will catch up with @Johan_M on the CB IR, so the question is relevant to me too. I should take time to try GP this spring, especially if it can be used for both VFR and IFR. Maybe I should try EasyVFR too. I’ve said it before but was lazy and just took a SD subscription, as noted above at 12£ a month it’s difficult to beat. Jepp VFR has a few nice feature but coverage and price are killing it.
I always have a paper Cartabossy http://www.cartabossy.com/ chart in my plane.
It’s an all in one VFR chart for France (and a part of Germany, Belgium etc.). Almost everything you need is on it: RH or LH circuit, description of the various zones, fuel availability, VFR transits and reporting points etc.
For readability E airspace is not shown.
It comes with a free very basic moving map app.
It’s probably the cheaper solution you can find.
I use it as a VFR in flight replanning aid. It can be also of assistance to find a VFR way through a complicated piece of airspace.
For VFR I much prefer the way EasyVFR depicts airspace, notams and weather, but GP’s bi-directional flight plan exchange and other integration with the GTN650 is practically indispensable. Effectvely, GP can be used as a panel mounted MFD. So I often end up running both.
Edit: GP is still missing some obviously useful features – for instance it can’t allocate different altitudes to individual legs of a flight plan. But I guess that will come.
At the time being, I do use Garmin Pilot with the Jeppesen IR plates on the iPad and activated the same configuration with a second Jeppesen key on the iPhone as a backup. Its working well on both devices. Within the next weeks I will also install the Flight Stream 510 to enable wireless connection between GP and the GTN.
For VFR flights I have also a copy of Jeppesen MFD installed, because I like the style of the maps for VFR flights.
For VFR I would clearly recommend Skydemon. I have tried AirnavPro, Jepp FD VFR, easyVFR and I would clearly recommend SD.
For IFR / CB-IR though, you’ll need the SIDs and STARs, and there’s nothing better then Jeppesen as they have the same and logical format for every country. Skydemon doesn’t offer any of that, and the JeppFD app is not very compulsive.
As I will be updating my GNS530 to WAAS, I will switch to the Garmin Pilot app which apart from the Jepp charts will allow me to sync my FP with the 530 via bluetooth. I will also keep my Jeppview desktop software to have proper access to paper charts.
EuroFlyer wrote:
you’ll need the SIDs and STARs, and there’s nothing better then Jeppesen as they have the same and logical format for every country. Skydemon doesn’t offer any of that
SD seems to offer some IFR charts.
@lenthamen wrote:
Also, Skydemon can display the IFR approach / SID / STARs for an airport. This is the instruction to enable it:
- Plan a route
- Go to Airfields
- Click on an Airfield
- Click Tools
- Click Filtering
- Enable “Instrument Approach Charts” , “Arrival Charts” and “Departure Charts”.
The skydemon IR plates are taken directly from the AIP.
Also the airway data is taken from each AIRAC cycle so it comes from an official source.
The issue of SIDs and STARs is remarkably badly managed by all of them except Foreflight.
In Jepp, you get Ownship georeferencing enroute and on the approach, but not in SIDs and STARs.
In FD you only get it for enroute, not for any procedures.
When I last looked at GP (some time ago) it didn’t support it standalone, but I assume that if you have Flightstream it presumably “inherits” the SIDs and STARs from the GTN, provided they are loaded there.
The best end to end solution appears to be Foreflight, where you enter the route, transitions and approaches and “it just works”.
I do think, though, that the biggest hurdle for all of them except Jepp is that in Europe they present very inconsistent plates, because they are AIP. The only solutions for this would be:
In the long run, solution 4 must be the way to go.
