Logbooks... electronic, paper or both

I just researched this a lot too. I didn't like logbook pro because with all of the icons and no tutorial I can't invest the time to learn the program and its nuances. I liked safe pro because of the ease of use. But like people said when you have hours there is a point of diminishing returns. I'm still waffling on how many days I want to invest in something which is already in one format
 
First of all, I cannot recommend going electronic as soon as you can enough. You won't regret it.

First of all. Avoid web based logbooks at all cost. Nothing against them, some of them have great features, but all it takes is for the server to have a bad day, or the company to close up shop, and you are left with nothing.

Next, if you are well versed in excel or want to create your own, great! I however am a little bit more lazy (its my inner line pilot) and I went with one of the commercial solutions, and couldn't be happier. I can do 8710s in all of 5 minutes, and since I use my phone, all I do is drop the out/in times into my phone and it figures it out.

Now as far as to when to stop or if you should stop logging on paper, I waited until I had my initial ATP out of they way, and then stopped copying the entries over. Printed my logbook for the first time a few weeks ago using a $10 pack of paper and a $30 binder off amazon, and the beauty is over something spiral bound is I can print and add to it at home. From what I have heard the printed out reports satisfy recruiters and interviewers just fine, and if you are worried about signatures, LogTen Pro will do signatures too.
 
I wish there were a company in Bangalore or somewhere that I could send scans/copies of my paper logbook, and they send me a digital file of my choosing back....
 
Lefty said:
I used a paper logs for awhile and then switched to Logbook Pro. The truth of that matter is you will kind of have to keep both. I don't know what your experience is, but you need sigs for endorsements, CFI sigs etc.

PS - Check out all the electronic options. I really liked logbook pro until I got a Mac. Safelog is pretty awesome. Can be used on multiple devices with multiple operating systems.
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Completely false! If you want your endorsements in your electronic logbook, when printed, simply scan endorsement pages to .pdf file and have them printed and bound in the back of your new, very sweet, electronic logbook in printed format.

I highly recommend going with the electronic logbook, I use LTP and love it. It was a nightmare making the conversion with thousands of hours, but the pain was well worth the final product.
 
moxiepilot said:
Why was it worth it? I'm asking because of the amount of hours and the lack of a tutorial program.
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I now have an instantly searchable (almost any parameter desired), very neatly printed (if you need a paper version), various formats for filling out applications/ 8710's, etc.., easy to use, 100% accurate logbook.

Well worth it!
 
feeling regret already, ok, logten will not show multi time in reports... the system entered the correct class...
 
Monk said:
feeling regret already, ok, logten will not show multi time in reports... the system entered the correct class...
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You may not have selected the appropriate areas in the checkboxes? LTP has excellent support in my experience.....if it's not doing something you want it to do, search the Coradine forums and/ or email the support staff. One of those methods should have you chugging along, they way you want, in no time.
 
Monk said:
feeling regret already, ok, logten will not show multi time in reports... the system entered the correct class...
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Due to differences in database design, no import routine is perfect. There's almost always some tweaking that needs to be done. I'm not a LogTen user but just about every e-log developer I have been in touch with provides import/export assistance.
 
Huge fan of electronic and more specifically LogTen Pro. As others have said, go electronic as soon as you can, backup your data file in multiple places and you'll be good to go.

I'm just about done entering about 3800 hours from my old paper logbooks. Whew! Gonna be worth it though as the application process starts for the next step.

In fact, I've got 7 hours of airport reserve on tap for tomorrow. Might just finish up!
 
moxiepilot said:
I just researched this a lot too. I didn't like logbook pro because with all of the icons and no tutorial I can't invest the time to learn the program and its nuances. I liked safe pro because of the ease of use. But like people said when you have hours there is a point of diminishing returns. I'm still waffling on how many days I want to invest in something which is already in one format
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online video tutorials are here for Logbook Pro

online help docs are here

Monk said:
I have 14 years in excel, what's the easiest program to transfer from excel?
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Logbook Pro's staff will convert most users data for free with purchase of the program. They will let you know prior to your purchase if your data can be converted without charge into their program.

Logbook Pro and LogTen are probably the two biggest players right now and a lot does come down to personal preference for either system. I'm partial to Logbook Pro
 
So I have noticed that I have a million screw ups in my old paper log books now that I started converting... And I would bet others have found screw ups too what did you all do about the screw ups? Should I just leave it alone?
 
Johnny150 said:
So I have noticed that I have a million screw ups in my old paper log books now that I started converting... And I would bet others have found screw ups too what did you all do about the screw ups? Should I just leave it alone?
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What type of screw-ups? Are you finding them as you go along, like you didn't log some flight as PIC time for some reason? Or are they totals you come across? If a line item entry is simply wrong, there's no harm correcting it. And if it;s wrong in the sense you logged something you shouldn't have, it's definitely not wise to carry the error over to the e-log.

Totaling errors I wouldn't bother with except perhaps to make an adjustment entry at the very end like "8/25/13 Totals updated per electronic calculaton."

Most of my screw-ups involved totals. Fortunately, I stopped entering totals in my paper log (except on request from some FBO that I wanted to rent an airplane from) a few years after a started using a e-Log, so it's no longer an issue.
 
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