Garmin Pilot for Android -- Tech Support, Tips, Tricks

I'm one of those people with a 16GB Nexus 7 running Garmin Pilot. I've been able for several years to keep all the charts I need for flying mostly the southern half of the country, but I'm down to 1/2 GB of space left. Does anyone know how space is recycled when charts are updated? i.e. are expired charts deleted, and if not, where are they stored so I can delete them manually?

Dave Morris
Mooney M20A N1960 at KTRL
 
Dave Morris said:
I'm one of those people with a 16GB Nexus 7 running Garmin Pilot. I've been able for several years to keep all the charts I need for flying mostly the southern half of the country, but I'm down to 1/2 GB of space left. Does anyone know how space is recycled when charts are updated? i.e. are expired charts deleted, and if not, where are they stored so I can delete them manually?
Dave Morris
Mooney M20A N1960 at KTRL
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I have and use two Nexus 7 (2013) tablets, both running latest version Android and Garmin Pilot. One is 32GB and the other 16GB. On the 16GB, which I actually use as my primary since it's a bit newer (the other is a live backup mounted on the other yoke), I try to be more frugal installing stuff (aviation only), to conserve space. At the moment, it is showing (per the GP "Downloads" screen) 2.00GB available. I think once the new cycle date arrives, it will automatically delete the old revision, which should create around 1GB free (speaking from memory), so I expect to have around 3GB available. Looking at the coverage map, I have around half the country covered.
BTW, for reference, my 32GB tablet is currently showing 11.72GB available (same coverage, but more junk installed).
In direct answer to your question, the map storage maintenance between update cycles is automatic -- all you need to do is decide on coverage (and change it as needed).
 
RotorDude said:
I have and use two Nexus 7 (2013) tablets, both running latest version Android and Garmin Pilot. One is 32GB and the other 16GB. On the 16GB, which I actually use as my primary since it's a bit newer (the other is a live backup mounted on the other yoke), I try to be more frugal installing stuff (aviation only), to conserve space. At the moment, it is showing (per the GP "Downloads" screen) 2.00GB available. I think once the new cycle date arrives, it will automatically delete the old revision, which should create around 1GB free (speaking from memory), so I expect to have around 3GB available. Looking at the coverage map, I have around half the country covered.
BTW, for reference, my 32GB tablet is currently showing 11.72GB available (same coverage, but more junk installed).
In direct answer to your question, the map storage maintenance between update cycles is automatic -- all you need to do is decide on coverage (and change it as needed).
Click to expand...
I agree with RotorDude, although I believe the previous cycle's files are kept until they expire. So if you load a new cycle before the old cycle expires, you'll have the files for both cycles on the system for a period of time.

Having said that, I have occasionally noticed some old files that are not automatically deleted and can't be manually deleted. For example, I still have some A/FD files from editions 1603 and 1606. Pressing the "Delete" button for one of those files in GP gives me the "Are you sure you want to do that?" prompt, but does not delete the file after clicking "OK". So it looks like the cleanup process does not always work. I have seen this only on the A/FD files, though I'm not sure I would ever know if there were any old files in the Procedures and Charts directories since the interface in GP has no way of showing them (it only shows the maps and status for the current and next cycles). It obviously works 99% of the time or my device would have filled up with old files ages ago! I've thought about removing GP and reinstalling it to see how much space I get back on the device, but haven't actually tried that yet.

Lee
 
Latest GP update is out, with a couple of nice new features. The high-def terminal area chart will be nice!

04837108c1cebc8a342481513d584519.jpg
 
Miss the map for instrument procedures, though. Or do I need to do something to turn it on instead of the list?
 
Ghery said:
About a month ago I found a Samsung Galaxy Tab A for $189.99 at Costco. A Nexus 7 with an 8 inch display in terms of features. One problem, it only has 16 GBytes of storage. If you run Garmin Pilot with a full load of charts, etc., that isn't enough. No problem, however. They also had 64 GByte uSD cards for $19.99. And the Tab A has a uSD card slot. So, for just under $210 I've got an 8 inch table with tons of storage. Works like gangbusters. Off to the races again. :D
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I saw this same tablet at Costco for $139.99 yesterday. I may go back and buy another for my wife. Getting really cheap.
 
As far as new tablets that have come along, what's considered now the latest and greatest Android tablet to run Garmin Pilot?

Also, does the wifi only version have a GPS unlike the iPad wifi only's which don't?
 
I just bought a 8" Galaxy Tab S2. Works great with Garmin Pilot. No Apple BS about GPS either - every version includes a receiver.

I wish Garmin would make it easier to go from map view to procedures for a certain field. Now it's too many taps IMO. Procedures should be one selection in the "round menu" you get when you tap a field.
 
I need to pick up one of these cheap tablets and do a head to head with Garmin on IOS and Android. There's a significant version number gap, are there also a significant number of missing features?
 
denverpilot said:
I need to pick up one of these cheap tablets and do a head to head with Garmin on IOS and Android. There's a significant version number gap, are there also a significant number of missing features?
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Nate, the thread that got me here, someone made this comment about what you're asking about the features:

My experience, exactly. All the 'new' GP features that seem to debut on iOS fall into a category someone else cleverly labeled as NIBU.....'Nice Idea, But Useless'. SV, logbook, glide rings, etc all fall into this category, in my opinion. I have run GP on a Nexus 7, 2nd Gen for 3 years with zero problems and just upgraded to a Samsung Tab 2S 8.0. Speed improvement was impressive and the larger OLED screen screen is great. The more useless crap features these programs get loaded with the slower they run and the more likely they are to have bugs that will hang them up. This is not my primary navigation tool, so don't give me stuff I don't want or need. Bug-free weather, traffic and approach plates are my real need.... everything else is fluff.

https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/garmin-pilot-issues-6-0-2.102769/#post-2274410
 
BrianNC said:
Nate, the thread that got me here, someone made this comment about what you're asking about the features:

My experience, exactly. All the 'new' GP features that seem to debut on iOS fall into a category someone else cleverly labeled as NIBU.....'Nice Idea, But Useless'. SV, logbook, glide rings, etc all fall into this category, in my opinion. I have run GP on a Nexus 7, 2nd Gen for 3 years with zero problems and just upgraded to a Samsung Tab 2S 8.0. Speed improvement was impressive and the larger OLED screen screen is great. The more useless crap features these programs get loaded with the slower they run and the more likely they are to have bugs that will hang them up. This is not my primary navigation tool, so don't give me stuff I don't want or need. Bug-free weather, traffic and approach plates are my real need.... everything else is fluff.

https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/garmin-pilot-issues-6-0-2.102769/#post-2274410
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Yeah, eventually I saw that in the backlog of stuff I'm reading here. But it still isn't a feature list comparison.

Does Garmin publish one? I suspect not.

It's somewhat embarrassing that they essentially make/support two different versions.

Currently a month into an "all features on" eval of it for free that lasts six months, so figured I should see it on Android too. (The, "Just try a small hit of this crack pipe... offer... LOL... no Jepp charts in that trial deal, though.)
 
Version 6.1 is out. We finally have synthetic vision.

First impression -- it's pretty cool. Not as good as in my GRT EFIS, but for a cheap tablet app you sure can't complain. Having SV in both holes of the RV-8 is awfully nice.

Hard to believe how we've come with this app in just 4 years. It is my go-to, do-everything flying app.

Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk
 
Jay Honeck said:
Version 6.1 is out. We finally have synthetic vision.

First impression -- it's pretty cool. Not as good as in my GRT EFIS, but for a cheap tablet app you sure can't complain. Having SV in both holes of the RV-8 is awfully nice.

Hard to believe how we've come with this app in just 4 years. It is my go-to, do-everything flying app.

Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk
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Can you post a screenshot of the synthetic vision? My GP subscription expired recently and I haven't flown enough lately to renew it, probably next month, so I haven't seen the new features yet.
 
Matthew said:
Can you post a screenshot of the synthetic vision? My GP subscription expired recently and I haven't flown enough lately to renew it, probably next month, so I haven't seen the new features yet.
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I would if I could, but the internal GPS on my Samsung tablet seems to have failed. I haven't been able to get it to work in a couple of weeks.

This is no big deal for flying, since we use the GDL-39 remote GPS/ADS-B receiver, but makes doing a screen shot from home impossible. Without GPS lock, there is no synthetic vision.

Can anyone else accomodate Matthew?

Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk
 
I would, but I don't know how to get the synthetic vision to come up. I feel old. I must be missing something obvious, but just assumed you need an external AHRS or something. I have a GDL39 3D but it's in the plane and I'm not.
 
eman1200 said:
A SIX month free trial?
Click to expand...

Man I just saw your question... ha. Not bad I caught it four months late.

Guess it's not "free". It came with another spendy Garmin product that I kinda didn't buy, but kinda did.
 
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Mistake Not... said:
I would, but I don't know how to get the synthetic vision to come up. I feel old. I must be missing something obvious, but just assumed you need an external AHRS or something. I have a GDL39 3D but it's in the plane and I'm not.
Click to expand...
It's in one of the menus called Synth Vis, or something like that.

What's cool is you can run it split screen, with SV above and the moving map below.

Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk
 
Ah. Yes. I thought I had a version that should have it. I didn't. Latest update and there's the option.

Screenshot_20170819-131746.png
 
Matthew said:
Thanks. That's pretty cool. Does it show towers?
Click to expand...

I believe I does but don't trust me on that. I know it had a hissy fit on iOS when I was purposefully pointed at the wind turbines near an airport, and think they showed up on it... but it was a while ago, and I'm on the iOS version.
 
Here are a couple of screenshots on my Android tablet with AHRS from the GTN 345. This first one is (almost) straight and level, though it was pretty bumpy today. You can see a couple of towers to the right, and an airport (8T8) behind the ground speed ribbon. The dark blue smudge on the ground just to the right of center is Canyon Lake, I think:

Screenshot_20170819-125309.png

This next one is descending while heading back to 5C1:

Screenshot_20170819-125518.png

The airport markers and such are kind of hard to see when they're behind the main display. Honestly, I think I'd prefer to leave those out and not clutter the display. It will warn me of any close obstacles anyway.

Lee
 
It'd be better (imho), if the various instruments would snap to the screen edge. That would make the central area a lot less busy, leaving room to show things like obstacles, air space, way points, airways. etc.

Also, while I'm bitching, lose the skeuomorphic design... the "wheels" the digits appear to be on for the speed and altitude. Looks... toy-like.
 
...and from recent IFR frustrations, notice how there doesn't appear to be even a central dot on the pitch ladder. Maybe that's on purpose, but huge opportunity lost to improve the pitch information display. My personal gripe about analog AIs is the scale the information is displayed on. In my airplane, 1/4 ball up or down is 125 ft min, more or less. There's not even a ball to reference.
 
So far, our only complaint is the muddy display color contrast.

My Samsung tablet's display is the crispest and brightest available -- but the SV looks like mud, with contrast between water and land hard to discern.

We have lots of water here, so it's an issue. lol

Hopefully they address that nit down the road. Otherwise, it seems to work as advertised, and is a great addition to our back seat cockpit display.

Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk
 
Garmin Pilot Android version 6.2.0 is out, sporting lots of cool sounding features. Problem is, I can't tell what they are exactly and how to use them.
E.g.: "Logbook traces", "Show plates on main map", "Database download automatic in background", "Icing potential layer on map", "Glide range ring option", plus others.
So question is, does anyone know anything about these features? (A web link to their explanation and use would be great...)
 
RotorDude said:
Garmin Pilot Android version 6.2.0 is out, sporting lots of cool sounding features. Problem is, I can't tell what they are exactly and how to use them.
E.g.: "Logbook traces", "Show plates on main map", "Database download automatic in background", "Icing potential layer on map", "Glide range ring option", plus others.
So question is, does anyone know anything about these features? (A web link to their explanation and use would be great...)
Click to expand...

Answering my own question, I have pretty much figured out all of the new features by trial-and-error. But still haven't found a pilot guide supplement documenting the changes in detail.
 
RotorDude said:
Garmin Pilot Android version 6.2.0 is out, sporting lots of cool sounding features. Problem is, I can't tell what they are exactly and how to use them.
E.g.: "Logbook traces", "Show plates on main map", "Database download automatic in background", "Icing potential layer on map", "Glide range ring option", plus others.
So question is, does anyone know anything about these features? (A web link to their explanation and use would be great...)
Click to expand...

RotorDude said:
Answering my own question, I have pretty much figured out all of the new features by trial-and-error. But still haven't found a pilot guide supplement documenting the changes in detail.
Click to expand...

Those are...

Uhhh. Never mind. :)

You want written documentation for software in the modern era? Companies don’t do that anymore. Haha. :)
 
installed 9.1 on my iphone. it has OpenStreetMap option now, interesting, gonna have to play with it a bit. seems to get a lot of detail zoomed in but zoom out past 10miles and it basically goes blank except for airports/airspace.
 
How do you show the approach plates on the main map on Android? I can see the plates in the airport detail view, but get a georeferenced plates not available when I open the procedures tab on the airport quick view.
 
When flying the photo-op for Carlson, I stuffed my Nexus 7 under my butt and cracked the screen, killing the touch sensor. I replaced it with Huawei M3 and having a serious trouble with Garmin Pilot: it refuses to load the weather. Current version is 6.3.1. I still have a backup device with 6.2.2, which works, but I am not comfortable with losing the redundancy.

I contacted with Garmin support and Mr. Russ K. said he opened a bug report with the developers. I suspect some kind of incompatibility with Android libraries hacked up by the Chinese for Huawei.
 
I finally gave up on my Samsung tablet running Garmin Pilot. I had it yoke mounted but it was very unstable, Garmin pilot would crash when I tried to load approach plates constantly, and I lost bluetooth connection with my GTX345 and couldn't get it back. Garmin just isn't putting the resources into the android version, the IOS version seems a lot more "polished". I gave up/gave in and bought a Ipad mini 4. It's been stable, has a better user interface and all the features are available right away when they come out.

Plus I went with the slide in replacement of my Garmin 430w to and Avidyne IFD440, so I can also run the IFD100 app on it....nice setup.
 
9.1.4 on the iPhone. Coupl’a handy features. I wish you could configure which options to auto-switch from internet to fis-b.



bc7642e70631aeeb0c0462f0e7d0d0b9.jpg
 
I have an issue where I can now only view the VFR sectional map while connected to wifi. turn off wifi, no sectional charts. anyone else? is that a setting somewhere?

EDIT: this is on 2 different devices.
 
eman1200 said:
I have an issue where I can now only view the VFR sectional map while connected to wifi. turn off wifi, no sectional charts. anyone else? is that a setting somewhere?

EDIT: this is on 2 different devices.
Click to expand...

I don't use GP so this is a totally ignorant speculation based on a total lack of knowledge but it would seem that the VFR sectional is not downloaded to the device. Feel free to totally ignore this. :D
 
BrianNC said:
I don't use GP so this is a totally ignorant speculation based on a total lack of knowledge but it would seem that the VFR sectional is not downloaded to the device. Feel free to totally ignore this. :D
Click to expand...

No it’s a valid response but I have deleted and re-downloaded anything I can think of that might be causing this.
 
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