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Old 25th Sep 2011, 12:17
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fullyestablished
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: London
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I am using the 3D view about 50% of the time, swapping on the hotkey to the full screen map display. In fact the biggest draw for me on the 3D page is the tape displays that are not available on any other page. Low level work really shows the 3D view in its best light, especially in VMC below MSA. I know some people have difficulty spotting your landing airfield and I guess the 3D view will help you see the correct runway.

There are no leg attachments in the UK yet but I discovered that the new cradle in Landscape mode lines up with the mounting holes on the old 695 kneeboard. They supply a pack of nuts and bolts and I bolted the two pieces together and I have been using the 795 in landscape orientation in the cockpit. It still feels a bit unnatural to me but I do see much of the publicity shots of the unit thus configured.

There has been a breakdown of communication between Garmin and Jeppesen so my IFR "Echarts for Garmin Portable GPS" have not been developed. Thus even though I now have my Chartkey on the 795 I have no plates. I am sure that the pinch zooming and panning will make the Jepp plates a better implementation. In particular, I hope that the existing zoom behaviour is fixed for the Chartview whereby all zooms are from the centre of the screen and not around ones fingers. On a plate if you wanted to zoom in on the frequencies I do not want to be taken to the glideslope depiction in the centre.

I was mistaken earlier when I said that I could not add the scratch pad to the hot page items, it can be done and that is how I use it. I am not a neat writer but with a little application the scratch pad is usable in the air.

One final effect, and one I believe will inform future interface design, is that the touchscreen makes me use more functions and engage more with the unit. By making menu navigation more natural I seem to be getting more out of functions that had always been on my 695 but I never bothered to use. Of course it may be the novelty of the new unit, but I suspect not. I did not explore in this way when my 695 was new.
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