Skydemon and cheapo GPS.

[cirrusdancer]

I was impressed by SkyDemon light for flight planning but I really wanted a cockpit GPS that confirmed where I was and warned me about where I shouldn't be so I bought a no-name GPS from a Chinaman and installed the trial version of SkyDemon on both my MacBook (via Parallels Desktop/XP) and the cheap 'n cheerful GPS. GPS cost me £75 including DHL and VAT.

The flight planning side of it just knocks me out, it's really easy as you'd expect but absolutely complete. It tells me the weather, gives me TAFs and NOTAMs in a very readable way - very impressive. TAFs still throw up the odd error but having written Perl scripts to parse log files with no fixed format I can sympathise.

The cockpit GPS also does everything I want, which is to show where I am and warn me about infringements and hazards. A warm comfort blanket in the cockpit but it doesn't replace the map which is nice and big and you can write on it.

So for about £250 I can get great flight planning software together with a cockpit GPS. As a (small) bonus I also get a Satnav for the car - helps sell it to 'er indoors.

PM me if you'd like the URL of the Chinaman's shop and details of the unit or how to set things up.

[Humaround]

Yes, it's very good, but we're all still waiting for a BIG bright GPS running WinCE...

[Oldpilot55]

Sunlight readable tablets are on the way. A company called Pixel Qi has very cheap screens available. It just takes time for manufacturers to include them in their tablets.

[jkveenstra]

I use the Navigon 8450. Good piece of equipment. Also with sunlight. I Paid around 300 euro (approx. 275 pounds). It also includes a good car navigation.

Don't know whether it helps.

[SunnyDayInWiltshire]

I've also had a similar positive experience with SkyDemon and noname Chinese GPS. Only minor issues are short (1 hour) battery life (but it runs from the 12v cigarette lighter socket onboard) and I broke the suction mount.

Makes flight planning very straightforward and I personally prefer the dislay format to the Aware.

SD

[Abbeville]

I thought I read somewhere that Skydemon are changing their hardware.

Anyone seen what they are changing too?

[mikehallam]

And NATs/AWARE comes as a ready made package approx. £150 up with free for life airspace updates off the web.
Even the basic model shows 1/2 mill UK, where you are, height and position.

No messing about cobbling up look alikes. At the hourly cost of fuel alone I can't understand the perpetual urge folk display to save a few pence on an almost essential nav aid - I agree plus paper chart, of course !

mike hallam.

[rans6andrew]

I would suggest caution when considering "cheap" GPS devices. Bendix King seemed to have screwed up, badly, with the units they use for the AV8OR model. In under 2 years I have had mine replaced twice and I have just returned the third example for a refund after it failed last week. The first two units failed to initialize correctly whenever the battery was less than fully charged, the third unit has a faulty touch screen. I flew around for 2 hours with the unit stuck on the first boot screen unable to select what I wanted to do. The following day it was working as normal. You need to be able to rely on a GPS and not place bets on whether it will work till you get where you are going!

I also have an Aware which has a faulty mains adapter. A quick look inside shows that the soldering seems to be using "the bigger the blob, the better the job" methodology. Not to worry, I needed a cable with the right connector at the end for the aircraft installation so I cut the one from the faulty mains adapter and used that.

The good old (1995!) vintage Skymap II can't be thought of as a cheap GPS, it was over £900 when new, but it is still working as it was meant to.

Rans6...

[stevelup]

And NATs/AWARE comes as a ready made package approx. £150 up with free for life airspace updates off the web.
Even the basic model shows 1/2 mill UK, where you are, height and position.

No messing about cobbling up look alikes. At the hourly cost of fuel alone I can't understand the perpetual urge folk display to save a few pence on an almost essential nav aid - I agree plus paper chart, of course !

The NATS Aware offering is nothing like SkyDemon - it's not reasonable to compare them.

[Miroku]

I did exactly the same as cirrusdancer and am mightily impressed. Admittedly, I did have some help to get SD on the Chinese unit but then I'm not that computer savvy. If anyone's contemplating putting SD on a device then I strongly recommend a 5" unit.

Completely agree with stevelup's comment. They are nowhere near the same.

[peter36]

There is another post about cheapo GPS devices which is relavent to this thread.

There an app on the android market call aircub that does basic vector airspace mapping. Its free, just down load it and it works. Seems to work well with a good screen. It shows airspace along current heading and other basic stuff. You can set the airspace warnigns etc. Try it if you don't like it uninstall it!

[Storkeye]

My two pennies worth...

I too tried the skydemon light package and was mightely impressed.

So I purchased a 6" chinese cheapo SATNAV which arrived promptly 10 days later. This is the unit I purchased: G602Y 6.0" HD GPS Navigation 128M WIN CE6.0 8GB NEW MAP on eBay (end time 06-Aug-11 12:24:57 BST) (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310302608498&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT)

I downloaded the SkyDemon SD trial and installed it on my PC. Connected up the GPS and pressed 'sync' in the SkyDemon program. Three other little tweaks:

1. I changed the settings in the GPS to load SD:\skydemon.exe instead of the car satnav.
2. I had to create a device.xml file at skydemon.aero so that I could read the buttons on the screen.
3. I set the brightness to MAX in the GPS settings.

All-in-all it took about 15 minutes from unboxing to running the SkyDemon Mobile on my GPS.

Off to the car I went to test the screens visibility...

In bright sunlight it is quite difficult to read, but possible. In overcast light, the screen is perfectly readable.

I ran it in the car (in air mode) for a few days to get familiar with it. It is amazing, warning of buildings, warning of airspace and providing freq etc.

Battery life lasted 2.2 hours after the first ever charge and, in any case, works perfectly from the cigarette lighter cable that comes with the unit.

Next on to the plane. My wife and I flew to Peterborough Conington from Turweston. I had planned everything as per normal on my half mil charts and plogs. I also used SkyDemon to plan the route to check the accuracy.

Visibility was again good. Not excellent, but good enough. It was a real comfort blanket having it there as I knew I was well clear of ATZ, MATZ, Class D, C and A airspaces. Ooh and NOTAMs are all visible on the GPS.

One down side is that the GPS doesn't correct for wind, so you MUST still fly a wind corrected course. When you do that the GPS however, shows that you are pointing the plane off-track. Naturaly your instinct is to correct your course to point the plane on-track only to find that you drift.. off course, of course!!! It sounds obvious, but I'm just being honest!

My review... It's like having a mentor with you. Very comforting and most definitely worth the money. It's not a replacement for flight planning, but boy does it reassure you in all stages of GA.

[stevelup]

Unless I'm fundamentally misunderstanding you, I can't see how you were having the problem with wind that you describe.

Just keep the purple bug in the middle of the compass rose at the bottom and you'll get directly to where you need to go - the wind can't possibly affect this?

[Storkeye]

Well, there you go... I hadn't even noticed the purple bug. Stevelup, you're right it's there and does what I need.

Let's say the bug reads 320 and the wind is, say, 050/30kt, that would mean a rough WCA course of about 337. If I fly 320 as per the GPS instead of 337 (my plog), won't I be drifting left 17 degrees and repeatedly turning right to regain track?

But wait, the GPS will always show the true course of the aircraft and NOT the heading of the aircraft won't it?

So, the DI might show 337, but the GPS will show a steady 320, because that's the course that the GPS is taking over the ground! I see!

:O

[stevelup]

Exactly. If you were using your DI, you were fighting with the GPS.

Another tip is that if you swipe up on the screen, you get a 'pseudo HSI' instrument which gives a full screen view which shows you your heading, and also how far left or right of track you are.

http://www.skydemon.aero/images/news/20110307-instrumentview.jpg

[Storkeye]

Wow! that's brilliant, I found it in the menu but swipe up is very useful. And swipe down for the map.

Goes to show that I should really RTFM!!! :rolleyes:

Is there an easy way to DCT TO? I do it by accident sometimes, but I can never replicate it. The nearby airfield list is excellent, but getting the screen while flying/driving is tricky.

[stevelup]

The shortcut for Direct To is to double tap the SkyDemon button.

[Tim Dawson]

Or swipe your finger to the right along the virtual radar window.

[Storkeye]

both work perfectly, though I found the swipe method easier during a high workload, ie in a cockpit.

Thank you both.

[Miroku]

Storkeye, sent you a PM.