Skydemon versus Garmin gpsmap 696
 

Hi all,
I am using Skydemon on my ipad mini and becoming more frustrated with the vibration effect during flight making some features difficult to control,thinking of ditching the Skydemon and touch screen and going over to the Garmin gpsmap 696,any thoughts on the old style push button Garmin!would be most helpful,thanks,
Al.

Al ... Skydemon is a magnificent tool for VFR and a 696 won't do better, BUT I advice the following on your iPad:

GOTO Settings
GOTO General
GOTO Accessibility
CHECK section VISION
MAKE SURE Reduce Motion is ON

Your iPad will feel much calmer in flight ;).
Did I mention that the default artificial alive action settings are annoying?

Seems to me you're getting mixed up with the problems of the iPad and blaming Skydemon.

BB

I'd investigate why your aeroplane is vibrating so much as to make reading your iPad difficult....

Perhaps your prop needs balancing or you have an engine mounting bush fault.

Our PA28 group looked at various iPad based solutions including SkyDemon but ended up with a 695 that we are very happy with.


The overall functionality of SkyDemon is better but what swung it was:

• knobs better than touchscreen in an aircraft
• screen clarity in all conditions (695 less pretty but more functional)
• 'proper' panel mount (officially it is portable)
• external GPS antenna option (we had one fitted already)
• 695 was cheaper overall

Some caveats to the above - This is our only GPS - it is not a back-up for a panel mount. Not all the group were exiswting iPad owners. I have read that SkyDemon now have better shared ownership pricing options that when we were looking.

I love SD as an aid to flight planning and for reviewing the flight.

I use the Nexus 7 (2012) and a Garmin Glo taped to the dashboard.

I still prefer the Skymap IIIC in flight, though, because of the physical buttons, though the cost of replacing a battery and database is eye-watering.

I have a panel mounted Garmin 496 with the antenna out on the wing, and an ipad mini running skydemon on a Ram mount up on the roof crossbar like a car sun visor bluetoothed to a Garmin Glo, both really good pieces of kit, if one had to take a dump, i would prefer it to be the Ipad/SD

The 496 (permanently mounted with a properly mounted external antenna) is a rock solid device

I was looking at the 795 originally, but went for the 695 in the end for exactly that reason. I've not had a lot of chance to play with it yet (just a few local flights), but I have found the physical push buttons and "joystick" are a lot easier to use in flight than touch screen. Stepping up from an old 296 I'm really impressed so far. But beware battery life (3hrs on max brighness according to the manual).