Apple iPad as EFB
- Thread starter Patrick
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Rosstafari
Hello, this is Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer
It'll need WAAS, which isn't on the current iPhone. As it is, the iPhone's GPS can sometimes be pretty slow and/or inaccurate.
I've played around with nearly every iPhone aviation app under the sun, mostly cause I'm a tech geek. Some are great, some aren't. Foreflight is okay, but for the price, ehhh... glad I was trying out a hacked version.
Moving up to the big screen, though, would make a big difference. Trying to fool around with most any app in the air on a tiny little iPhone screen is entirely impractical. Shoot, I didn't even like it on BendixKing's well-made AV8OR, which had bigger buttons and better design.
Anyway. If anybody gets one and is itching to try it out, PDFPlates.com with a good iPhone PDF reader would be a nice option. Anxious to hear how it goes.
kiloalpha
Well-Known Member
Jumping into this thread a little late... but:
I used to have the same Fujitsu tablet... It was heavy, had a short battery life. The Jeppesen software was a little quirky and it was Windows based... Need I say more?
I don't see what the big deal about multi-tasking or having a GPS built in is. First if you place the thing off to the side, where it should be (not in the window) then you'll need an external antenna anyways. Not being able to multitask adds to the stability to the software... nothing to slow it down, nothing to get in its way to process. If someone can develop an app that does everything you need, then whats the point?
It should have the same screen as the iPhone, iPod touch. Daylight readable and dimmable at night.
Kindle has no way to overlay approaches, use GPS fixing and it can't even be read at night? What use is it?
I'm with you here on this one... though with apps, you get what you pay for really... No one really wants to see what plates looks like on a 3" screen so no one has developed anything for it yet. I'm sure with a Bluetooth GPS/XM receiver, the Apple iPad could be the next big thing with EFBs.
:bandit:
I used to have the same Fujitsu tablet... It was heavy, had a short battery life. The Jeppesen software was a little quirky and it was Windows based... Need I say more?
I don't see what the big deal about multi-tasking or having a GPS built in is. First if you place the thing off to the side, where it should be (not in the window) then you'll need an external antenna anyways. Not being able to multitask adds to the stability to the software... nothing to slow it down, nothing to get in its way to process. If someone can develop an app that does everything you need, then whats the point?
It should have the same screen as the iPhone, iPod touch. Daylight readable and dimmable at night.
Kindle has no way to overlay approaches, use GPS fixing and it can't even be read at night? What use is it?
I'm with you here on this one... though with apps, you get what you pay for really... No one really wants to see what plates looks like on a 3" screen so no one has developed anything for it yet. I'm sure with a Bluetooth GPS/XM receiver, the Apple iPad could be the next big thing with EFBs.
:bandit:
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mmmmmm wine
I use my iPhone as an EFB right now I get all charts and plates through programs like WingX and ForeFlight. Not to mention direct DUATS access to file, get briefings and all NOAA charts etc etc. I will get an iPad the day it comes out because the only thing that sucks about accessing that stuff on the iphone is the screen size. I would love to have a nice big full size approach plate without having to scroll to see information.
bLizZuE
Calling for engine starts en français
All I need is it to have all the paper charts, so I don't have to carry them. Overlays and GPS fixing is done with avionics.
It's funny that you say you can't read it at night. Get the iPad in the bright sunlight, and guess what? You can't read it. God forbid you have to use a flashlight or some cockpit lighting to read a chart...never had to do that before I'm sure.
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...if I turn off the GPS and the wireless on the tablet, I get 7-ish hours of battery. With the GPS/wireless, I get around 4.5 (it's actually closer to 5.5, but I turn it on when we preflight, so it sits idle for an hour just sucking battery power away). Still waaaaaaay longer than bladder capacity. Available now.
-mini
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Oh and the 3G versions of the iPad have aGPS so you will have GPS functionality. And for those who have tried Foreflight, I hope you have tried v3 because it is far superior than the earlier versions. And my WingX terrain aware moving map works great. Having that on the iPad would be amazing. I am not saying the iPad is gods gift to the netbook industry at all, but on a purely EFB standpoint it can be very very effective. Especially having cellular coverage it makes it really easy to file without calling as well as look at any piece of info you need visually.
kiloalpha
Well-Known Member
Kinda went over this in the last thread about the iPad...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-GPS
AGPS is not GPS... it is land based... ever try to get a signal at 15,000 ft? It's a little hard if not impossible to do!
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It is hard, but aGPS is land based cellular tower assistance of acquiring the GPS signal, it still has GPS, its just assisted by the GPS signal in the cellular tower. So I have many times used it in the flight levels just for the heck of it, its very hard to get a signal and lets face it what the hell need do I have for an iPhone GPS at 25,000 feet when I have an Avidyne in front of me lol.
Including a year of Jepp charts, I want to say it was just under 2. That included the screen protectors, bump case, extra battery, yadda yadda. That could be wrong, it's been a few years.
-mini
usphsfnp
Well-Known Member
I've been using a Motion Tablet LS800 for about 4 years now with Seattle Avionics Voyager as an EFB. Flight Planning, filing, moving maps/charts all the plates. I like to run Adobe Acrobat at the same time for my checklists. I have MY checklists for all the planes I fly with me all the time. When you throw in NEXRAD the iPad doesn't compare as an EFB. The only thing I'd change is to put in a solid state drive in my LS800 to take it over 10,000ft. I have the extended battery which will run between 4-5 hrs.
I was looking at upgrading to the P1630 and getting the SSD option, but have heard mixed reviews of the SSDs on the market. What have you been hearing?
-mini
usphsfnp
Well-Known Member
I haven't heard anything bad about the SSD upgrade. I just don't want to drop $300 bucks or so up upgrade a 5 year old computer. The LS800 only supports 1gb of RAM, so I'd rather put that $300 toward a newer tablet. I haven't investigated any of the new tablets that were introduced prior to the iPad announcement, so I'm not sure about their specs.
Agreed. The wife wanted me to just upgrade this unit to the SSD, but if I was going to get a new battery, memory upgrade and SSD, why not just buy the new unit, get the warranty and all of that shebang to go with it?
-mini
ralphbrynard
New Member
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...if I turn off the GPS and the wireless on the tablet, I get 7-ish hours of battery. With the GPS/wireless, I get around 4.5 (it's actually closer to 5.5, but I turn it on when we preflight, so it sits idle for an hour just sucking battery power away). Still waaaaaaay longer than bladder capacity. Available now.
-mini
Mini,
I'm new to the whole EFB thing as it is, could you elaborate (possibly PM?) on the capabilities of your set-up? What about it's functionality as compared to a garmin GPS map?
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Thats a sweet powerful setup thats for sure.
What kind of questions do you have? I'm headed out for an early dinner right now, but I'll be happy to answer any questions you have.
-mini