Airbox Clarity

[Dora-9]

I'm contemplating upgrading my current pathetic GPS set-up to one of these.

It seems to me to come down to the Garmin Aera 500, an iPad or the Airbox. For a variety of reasons I think the Airbox would suit me best. Basically there's a space problem for the iPad, while the Garmin has the expense of the updates plus using a pure Garmin (i.e. a non-WAC) map. Incidentally, there's an excellent article in the latest "Rag & Tube" (the Antique Aircraft Association's magazine) which arrived at much the same conclusion.

While I've seen, admired and fondled both the Aera 500 and an iPad, my exposure to the Airbox is limited to their website and a couple of You Tube sequences.

Thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated.

[Jabawocky]

I have access to the little garmins and and my ipad, and a few different a/c ay YCAB so we could do some real world testing if you want?

I do not know of anyone with an airbox.

Is this for the Chippy?

Give me a call if you want to try some things in situ.

[Ex FSO GRIFFO]

You two be careful..........no gettin' lost now.......:p

[Jabawocky]

Good point Griffo....we are only talking about 2 x GPS here, you really need a third one for confirmation. But we are fearless warriors of the skies of SEQ up here! :ok:

[firethelaser]

I've covered a large portion of NZ airspace using the airbox aware plus and though it does have some nice features it is not quite as user friendly as the videos make it out to be.
The on screen map is great, and as far as NZ is concerned it is presented exactly the same as our VNC's. The problem is the size of the screen, the only way to read the information on the map is to zoom right in, but this means you can only see roughly 10nm ahead of the aircraft, when you zoom out to see where you are going the map detail suffers greatly. The main reason this is an issue is because the touch screen software seems to be a bit slow, making zooming and moving around the map a little more difficult than I feel it should be.
Also, I have not had good experience with user support so far, the NZ and Aus reps have been unable to help and i've found myself having to call the U.K several times now for assistance..... not so easy with the time difference from here!

Do they use a WAC map format in Australia for the airbox? I don't remember seeing airspace on any of the WAC's I used over there.....

[Wally Mk2]

Hey 'jaba' they do make planes with windows in them ya know buddy! They are not an extra in fact they are free really!!:E:E
The amount of people I see on the roads now with GPS's in their cars makes me think that plenty of accidents are caused by yet another distraction.
Remember buddy yr SE IFR (crazy!!!) & the only time you'll know when yr actually visual is when ATC say are you visual & you look up from within the cockpit to outside & see the ground thinking OMG I am visual, how about that!:ok:

Wmk2

[Jabawocky]

Nahhh that is when they wake me up!

Get track DCT for 3 hrs and say " will report at 1 min TOD, wake me up if you really need to" :ok:

[Dora-9]

firethelaser - I have been wondering about support issues too, given that the Airbox seems rare here, currently at least, plus the very unhelpful answers I've had from one Australian distributor ("err - dunno"). My understanding is that it comes with Australian WAC's and VNC's (which of course do have airspace boundaries).

Jaba - thanks for your input (PM's), very much appreciated. The Aera 500 is looking better!
However, at the risk of going hugely OT, I can beat your "track DCT for 3 hours". When Ansett got their Omega-equipped B737-200's (which had to have been the best equipped -200's anywhere, they had EVERYTHING), once airborne out of Afelaide bound for Darwin you'd get a clearance like: "Track now direct to a 4 mile final Rwy 29 at Darwin" - all too good to last of course.

Cheers gents.

[baswell]

Always keeping an eye on the competition, I made some enquiries:

Free airspace for life
This is ONLY the airspace data, not the maps. Maps will have to be purchased as updates, though I have not yet heard back how and how much.

We don't display out of date data; legally, contractually, we are not allowed to. Plus we wouldn't want to anyway, it would be a bad thing to do. Seeing as they have the same data provider as we do, I would expect the next map cycle should give you a black screen if you don't buy new ones. (If it doesn't, we need to 'ave a word with our data provider.)

Geo-referenced approach plates (where available)
Even though this is listed as a feature on the AUSTRALIAN website, these are not actually available, in, you know, Australia.

We try not to mislead our customers and are honest and accurate about what we offer. Sometimes people expect more, customers always do, but we don't advertise features we don't have...