denverpilot
Tied Down
I like him some days and other days he’s a cantankerous bastard with a penchant for cussing at computers all day for a living.
ForeFlight 10.2
- Thread starter GeorgeC
- Start date
I like him some days and other days he’s a cantankerous bastard with a penchant for cussing at computers all day for a living.
flyingcheesehead
Taxi to Parking
I don't either... Or at least, I didn't. It takes up a lot of screen real estate, and it's not really what I have ForeFlight for.
But, as a tester, I often will start using a feature again that I haven't used in a while, to test the enhanced version. They're finally making SV worth its screen space, and not just the gimmick of the year as it was when everyone was first adding it.
The main new-ish things - and I say it that way simply because I'm not sure they're all 10.2 features, all the versions run together for me - are not just traffic, but the airport pins appearing on the "ground" that are tappable to bring up airport info, and now the "glance mode" where you can put your finger on the SV and look side to side, up and down, etc almost as if it's "VR SV". Let go for a few seconds and it goes back to straight ahead automatically.
It hasn't earned a permanent spot on my screen yet, but it's a lot closer than it was a couple months ago.
Incorrect. You can Direct To in either version. Tap a waypoint, and hit direct to - Or, if you are editing your flight plan via typing text, just put a "D" in it and it'll grab your current lat/long and put it in the flight plan automatically.
That latter trick is handy if you want to keep your entire flight plan and not just the last chunk of it since your route changed - Just insert a "D" in the flight plan whenever you get direct to something (put the D right before it).
It was $75, one time. The iOS App Store opened up just a hair over 10 years ago with a whopping 500 apps in it, and ForeFlight was one of them. It was the most expensive app in the app store until the "I Am Rich" app appeared shortly thereafter, which cost $999 and didn't do anything but show a big gem on the screen. Who knows how it first got past the review, but it was pulled after a few days and refunds given to the buyers (yes, there were some - wow).
Anyway, there were a ton of complaints - I was one of the complainers - That it was awfully expensive for an app that you couldn't get a free version of. (Tyson once handed me his iPhone and said "Here's the demo version."
) So, once in-app purchases became allowed, they changed it to a free app with a subscription for the charts. Around that same time is when the iPad came out, and charts actually became part of the app. (2010, version 2.0 I think.)And yeah, I remember a trip shortly before that when I bought the paper and the one trip cost me $225 and the paper took up two grocery bags. There's a reason I've never looked back...
I use Pilot mainly for updating charts on the GTN. It's very cool, and that feature works great, but I'm not really a fan of the rest of the app. IMO, ForeFlight is easier to use.
Yep, it was still there a couple weeks ago the last time we had this argument. It doesn't show up in the web version at plan.foreflight.com, but if you go to the main web site, click subscriptions, and then there's a "roll your own" type option all of that is still available.
flyingcheesehead
Taxi to Parking
I like him some days and other days he’s a cantankerous bastard with a penchant for cussing at computers all day for a living.
Those are the OTHER days?
I guess the "some" days are the ones where it just looks like you're cussing at computers, but you're really cussing at people on the other side of computers. LOL
denverpilot
Tied Down
Easier or just that you’re much more familiar with it?
I’ve found nothing particularly difficult to do in Garmin Pilot.
I can tell ya something very difficult to do in FF that isn’t in GP. Start an approach timer.
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denverpilot
Tied Down
Those are the OTHER days?
I guess the "some" days are the ones where it just looks like you're cussing at computers, but you're really cussing at people on the other side of computers. LOL
I rarely cuss at users. Not ones that pay me, anyway. That’d be dumb.
Other computer users, usually aren’t worth the effort of cussing about whatever they’re doing.
ahypnoz
Pre-takeoff checklist
I really like Foreflight, each upgrade is making it better and better i my opinion. It is very polished. A good deal for what you get.
In 5 years ForeFlight will still be around, I do not think I can say the same for the others except maybe the Garmin pilot flight bag. I do not want to waste my time learning an electronic flight bag and have them go out of business in a year or two.
I like the new synthetic vision upgrade with live traffic where u can see traffic in synthetic vision.
I like being able to file a flight plan in my car at a red stop light ( it takes less than a minute) with my iPhone and have it pop up on my iPad with an expected route and all and when I carry an extra iPad everything is synced seamlessly. Fligtnplan, weather etc.
The built it check list for my plane is nice as an emergency backup
I have scanned and downloaded my whole poh into the documents section of Foreflight flight for easy in flight use.
I use the weight and balance all the time, easy plug and play.
I am slowly using the electronic log book to make a back up of my flights, it just pops in more or less
The upto date FBO information , fuel prices and pilot comments are invaluable during a cross country flight as well as the Gps taxiway airport diagrams
The weather is good and is improving with each update, especially with icing.
Adsb weather and traffic and current wind conditions at each runways with with headwind and cross wind components is pretty handy during the flights when you are 30 nm out.
$199 does not seem so much compared to what I get, Moreover I spend more on my garmin 430 WAAS data base each year and It just has 1/10 of the features to keep it current.
I have thought about getting Garmin flight stream 510 installed so that I could just push my flight plan fromForeflight straight to my Garmin 430 wirelessly, no knob turning. That would extend the useful life of the 430 another 10-20 years. (the Avidyne does look really cool however).
ForeFlight is complex and not for everyone, but for me it works out quite well.
In 5 years ForeFlight will still be around, I do not think I can say the same for the others except maybe the Garmin pilot flight bag. I do not want to waste my time learning an electronic flight bag and have them go out of business in a year or two.
I like the new synthetic vision upgrade with live traffic where u can see traffic in synthetic vision.
I like being able to file a flight plan in my car at a red stop light ( it takes less than a minute) with my iPhone and have it pop up on my iPad with an expected route and all and when I carry an extra iPad everything is synced seamlessly. Fligtnplan, weather etc.
The built it check list for my plane is nice as an emergency backup
I have scanned and downloaded my whole poh into the documents section of Foreflight flight for easy in flight use.
I use the weight and balance all the time, easy plug and play.
I am slowly using the electronic log book to make a back up of my flights, it just pops in more or less
The upto date FBO information , fuel prices and pilot comments are invaluable during a cross country flight as well as the Gps taxiway airport diagrams
The weather is good and is improving with each update, especially with icing.
Adsb weather and traffic and current wind conditions at each runways with with headwind and cross wind components is pretty handy during the flights when you are 30 nm out.
$199 does not seem so much compared to what I get, Moreover I spend more on my garmin 430 WAAS data base each year and It just has 1/10 of the features to keep it current.
I have thought about getting Garmin flight stream 510 installed so that I could just push my flight plan fromForeflight straight to my Garmin 430 wirelessly, no knob turning. That would extend the useful life of the 430 another 10-20 years. (the Avidyne does look really cool however).
ForeFlight is complex and not for everyone, but for me it works out quite well.
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flyingcheesehead
Taxi to Parking
Pilot unfortunately suffers from the new-age Garmin interface design, wherein one must hit "Home" before starting to do anything useful. Makes almost everything into a multi-press series of actions. And Pilot doesn't listen to voice commands through my audio panel the way the GTN does, which makes it even more annoying to me.
To each their own, I guess.
denverpilot
Tied Down
I found very little in flight that couldn’t be handled by flipping on the split screen, with the handy split button right there on the edge. Most of the reason to go “home” is to get to stuff usually used on the ground.
The long tap on airports will get you almost all the places the same feature on FF will get you.
Not rumor. Details on the website.
denverpilot
Tied Down
Ah. Never looked there. Marketing runs most software company websites so they’re usually pointless.
Hm...will have to look into that when renwal time comes around.
Scrabo
Pattern Altitude
I love wing X. Simple to use and has all the features I really like
Also “legacy” apps don’t need the latest and greatest version of iOS and run on wide variety of iPads AND Android devices, unlike some.
Eye candy carries a processing price.
I'm not worried about that one. My personal take is, except for a few bells and whistles, most of what the EFB apps do are the same. The real difference is how they do it. That tends to remain relatively constant along a product line.
My (a) problem is about selecting a small group of preflight and inflight tasks to highlight those differences My (b) problem is that the audience who would find it relevant is pretty much limited to folks who have not made a choice or are thinking of a change and are not simply following the crowd ("everyone I know uses..."). That's a very small group, and getting smaller every day.
If I can overcome those two, your (c) isn't a downside for me. I hope the folks who did the ForeFlight/WingX comparison which drove my decision 7 years ago don't think it was worthless. And obsolete is about the product itself going away. Hopefully it's not next month
denverpilot
Tied Down
I really really don’t need vector graphics in any significant way, it’s just graphics for graphics sake, and adds little real value that anyone seems to be able to quantify properly.
The charts contain more information, better presented, and much more dense while still being readable, than the filtered zoom in/zoom out, maybe it’s there at one zoom level, maybe it isn’t garbage of vector graphics displays of the same information.
But boy does it slow down the apps that have it. Just crushes the hardware, for no particular real world gain. I can’t think of a thing that vector graphics will show as well as the charts themselves.
I know how to do it. I’ve been a ForeFlight user for years. My problem is, since this last update, my 7 Plus just wont do it. Once I put my flight plan in, I can’t change it or go direct to a fix.
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GeorgeC
I just renewed Pro last month, but it looks like they retired it. I guess I'll be downgrading.
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jsstevens
Too bad the computers haves nerves of silicon. Cursing at them doesn't seem to make them work, though it does make me feel better sometimes...I like him some days and other days he’s a cantankerous bastard with a penchant for cussing at computers all day for a living.
I was always fond of saying "Plug it into 220 again. And leave it on the network. I want the others to hear it scream..."
Scrabo
Pattern Altitude
..” and now the "glance mode" where you can put your finger on the SV and look side to side, up and down, etc“
Wow , what an innovative idea I’d if hadn’t already been implemented in a different app years ago...
Wow , what an innovative idea I’d if hadn’t already been implemented in a different app years ago...
timwinters
Ejection Handle Pulled
That reminds me of when, a few years ago, the Apple fan boys here were all a gaga when Apple magically capitalized all the letters in the keyboard when you hit the "shift" button. It was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
"Hmmmm", I said at the time, "my 'droid phone has been doing this for at least a couple of years now."
GLMS_NC
Line Up and Wait
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Rick
If you have not had an opportunity to listen to this, it’s worthwhile. They make a few statements that confirm what people have posted in this thread. Jump 15 or so minutes into the recording to pick up the discussion.
http://aopahangartalk.libsyn.com/ep...son-miller?utm_source=eBrief&utm_medium=email
1. They have been making a lot of product advancements for the upper level user. Translated...features for higher subscription plans. As a result, the old plans are gone and you have plus plans, which cost more. They talk about military, business, helicopter, etc. sectors of their business and top customers (WalMar and the Coast Guard). That is where the money is.
2. They talked about a team of 5 or 6 they have to help them as they add new features to make sure everything is working. Translated...a team dedicated to find defects.
3. Adding new features has gotten more complex. Translated...the easy work is done and new features take much more effort, and this is where the bugs come from. JM talks about coding challenges.
I’m not saying it’s a bad product. Their focus is changing, their business is evolving, and as a result they have to make decisions. Some of those decisions no longer sit well with some of their customers, and as a result, they respond with their wallets. It’s business.
http://aopahangartalk.libsyn.com/ep...son-miller?utm_source=eBrief&utm_medium=email
1. They have been making a lot of product advancements for the upper level user. Translated...features for higher subscription plans. As a result, the old plans are gone and you have plus plans, which cost more. They talk about military, business, helicopter, etc. sectors of their business and top customers (WalMar and the Coast Guard). That is where the money is.
2. They talked about a team of 5 or 6 they have to help them as they add new features to make sure everything is working. Translated...a team dedicated to find defects.
3. Adding new features has gotten more complex. Translated...the easy work is done and new features take much more effort, and this is where the bugs come from. JM talks about coding challenges.
I’m not saying it’s a bad product. Their focus is changing, their business is evolving, and as a result they have to make decisions. Some of those decisions no longer sit well with some of their customers, and as a result, they respond with their wallets. It’s business.
flyingcheesehead
Taxi to Parking
But man, before FF had it, everyone kept saying that was its biggest disadvantage.
FWIW, I don't get it either. I do enable the "Aeronautical" layer in ForeFlight these days, but mainly it helps to "pop" out the most important stuff, and add always-visible airspace altitude labels and such. I would never use it on its own without the chart. But, I guess those who used to always use their Garmin portables as if they were EFBs like the vector representation.
That ain't right... If you haven't already, report that to team@foreflight.com and tell them your ForeFlight and iOS versions.
Interesting... It really is gone now, not where I saw it last month. However, I also noticed that they have now reduced the price of Performance Plus from $399 to $299.
I restarted my phone, works now.
denverpilot
Tied Down
Yeah I don’t think I ever said that. I could really get along fine without the vector stuff “forever” as long as pro chart makers keep making official charts. The last thing I want is an airspace bust because of 20 years of knowing how a real chart looks and missing something placed somewhere weird and arbitrary by a software guy.
That they removed Pro really sucks. It was definitely there when we talked about it a couple weeks ago. I’ll definitely hold off until doing a renewal now until I have some dire need to run FF again. It may never happen. A tiny bit sad, but really it’s a value thing.
No point in renting two pieces of top notch software other than for teaching, and their teaching discounts are not great. They don’t even cover the membership fees for the places you have to join as a CFI to get them.
Some of their competition simply has you send a scan of your certificate and it’s done in a couple of days. WingX in particular just makes it completely free, knowing CFIs have a big influence on what their students choose for an EFB app.
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