Is Stratus 2 really worth it for my needs !

[jetdriven]

Nope. I like fore flight better but the stratus is a piece of crap. It overheats in the sun, so u have to buy a fan that snaps on it. Then it doesn't recieve stations unless on one side or the other of the glareshield.

[Deb]

So you cannot use the same GPS receiver with fore flight as you do with the Garmin Pilot?

Foreflight only works with Stratus receivers; Garmin pilot only works with Garmin receivers: GDL 39 series receivers and Flight Stream equipped receivers.

Edit: Referring to ADS-B and AHRS capabilities.

[midlifeflyer]

Stratus II provides three things an iPad GPS does not. ADS-B weather, ADS-B traffic, and an AHRS to feed pitch and bank information to ForeFlight's synthetic vision page (which works in "flat" mode without it). ADS-B weather and some traffic are also available with the Stratus I.

For each of those things you don't care about or diesnt give you something you value, the value of the product is lessened. Only you can decide whether what is left has value to you.

[midlifeflyer]

So you cannot use the same GPS receiver with fore flight as you do with the Garmin Pilot?

You can. What you can't do us use the same ADS-B receiver. All of the stand-alone gos receivers that work with an iPad will work with every app using location services. It's when you get to ADS-B units that you start to see of exclusive unit-app relationships.

[midlifeflyer]

Nope. I like fore flight better but the stratus is a piece of crap. It overheats in the sun, so u have to buy a fan that snaps on it. Then it doesn't recieve stations unless on one side or the other of the glareshield.

Interesting. I haven't had those issues with either the Stratus I or II. Well, actually, once. I left my Stratus on the glare shield when I went to lunch and it reacted as it should have due to my mistake in leaving it in a closed cockpit on a warm day with the sun beating down on it on the ramp.

[aviatoreb]

Weathermeister sounds interesting. You think it's worth the money?

 

Yeah - its fantastic.  It presents all taf and metar info in a tabular form, and with colors highlighting threats, along a route that is dramatically easier and faster to build a route picture.  Plus a lot more briefing info in a very intelligent format.  I use it daily, even when I'm not flying. I am weather briefing my BBQ this afternoon right now.  Give it a try - I think its like 4.95 for one month.

[rbridges]

Stratus II provides three things an iPad GPS does not. ADS-B weather, ADS-B traffic, and an AHRS to feed pitch and bank information to ForeFlight's synthetic vision page (which works in "flat" mode without it). ADS-B weather and some traffic are also available with the Stratus I.

For each of those things you don't care about or diesnt give you something you value, the value of the product is lessened. Only you can decide whether what is left has value to you.

I still haven't purchased synthetic vision but I've heard it's awesome.

[PaulB]

I still haven't purchased synthetic vision but I've heard it's awesome.

It's pretty cool but I never fly in the mountains so I haven't found much of a use for it yet. It is comforting to see the runway when you're on an instrument approach.

[Ragsf15e]

Nobody really mentioned the syn vis option you have with stratus 2 and foreflight. $25/year extra and you get syn vis along with all the adsb weather, tfrs, notams, and a solid backup adi?! Definitely worth it for any type of flying.

[Piloto]

Nobody really mentioned the syn vis option you have with stratus 2 and foreflight. $25/year extra and you get syn vis along with all the adsb weather, tfrs, notams, and a solid backup adi?! Definitely worth it for any type of flying.image.jpg

A nice profile view of the terrain ahead but of little value here in Florida and the Bahamas. The tallest in Florida are the garbage hills. My concern is more with the height of the nasty build ups ahead with no rain, which synthetic vision, or XM\WX or ADS-B\WX will not show. Only a clean windshield a good pair of sunglasses and a level scope will help you to cope with these. Over 30 years of flying here I learned that the tall white roundhead clouds are really nasty while the gray ones are less nasty. My wife view them as if they were people with bad attitude.

José

[Rik]

For further understanding, does the stratus provide he ADS-B or does the application on the iPad?

[Houman]

Ok - don't keep laughing but - I also use weathermeister.com which is a for-pay weatherbriefing product.

 

Really - on an annual basis - $75/year for foreflight, $150/year for the garmin pilot (I get the IFR version since I do like the charts with georeferencing - its very useful), and $50/year for weathermeister - total $275/year for good briefing and in flight products is all the price of being a well informed pilot - and tiny compared to the total cost of operating a well maintained airplane for 175hrs/year.

 

....throwing in Jeppesin data bases for the certified GPS (what is it again?  I forget - $500?), and aviation magazines, aopa membership, eaa membership - I figure Im in for almost $1k/year just to nourish my mind - the human-brain-machine interface information needed to operate safely.  $1k/year and the rest of the cost of operating N10933 is all infrastructure (hangar), insurance, hardware, maintenance, and fluids (fuel, oil, and so forth). 

 

I seriously feel I am optimally informed and quickly by keeping all three of those data sources - foreflight for charts and plates and filing for ground use, garmin pilot for charts and plates for in flight, and weathermeister for weather info (if you haven't seen it - check it out - the tabular presentation of metars and tafs is fantastic).  And a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the cost of flying.  And good data makes me enjoy it more too.  Hey - I even weather brief my daily bicycle ride (for fitness) on weathermeister - to choose routes with favorable winds.

 

....we all used to spend more than $275/year on paper plates and charts, until recently.

Erik, on my flight today, I used Garmin pilot eval mode that I had downloaded since your post, and have to say for restricted zones and ability to decluter the map on screen, I was impressed. I will look into getting a subscription, I think it is worth it...

Thanks for the suggestion

[bradp]

Was it just the first generation of the stratus that suffered from overheating issues during flight or does the second generation also have this issue? How does that compare with the GDL-393D.? I think I convinced the accountant (Mrs) that one of these AHRS ADSB receivers would be useful and have used fore flight for a few years now, but am willing to go with Garmin if it's truly a better product. Also trying to conceive how the in side might integrate with the 2020 transponder b.s. that I am forcing myself to think about now. For that the 1090es Appareo xpdr is certainly an interesting concept. I'd be more interested if the unit had some sort of out capability to display on panel mount avionics, which would put it above Trig or KT74s Imo.

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[N601RX]

The Stratus 2 has a built in fan and is white where the original stratus did not have a fan and was black. I've never had my Stratus 2 overheat. It also records your flight path in its internal memory and can be downloaded.

[aviatoreb]

Erik, on my flight today, I used Garmin pilot eval mode that I had downloaded since your post, and have to say for restricted zones and ability to decluter the map on screen, I was impressed. I will look into getting a subscription, I think it is worth it...

Thanks for the suggestion

 

One very nice feature is the little dials that show up if you touch an airport or some other object of interest - that allows to pull up more information quickly about what you see.

 

Also the way you enter flght plans is more aviation like.

 

Overall I just like it more - for inflight.  Pretty much you pick the software you like, then you shop the ADSB receiver that matches the software.

[aviatoreb]

It's pretty cool but I never fly in the mountains so I haven't found much of a use for it yet. It is comforting to see the runway when you're on an instrument approach.

 

Garmin pilot also has synth vis - looks the same as the g1000. Only annoying part - it won't split screen - so you need to choose approach plates and maps (split screen) or synth vis.  In this light synth vis is just a toy in real ifr approaches where you must have the plates.

 

But I have an iphone (dedicated old iphone 4 for the purpose) showing synth vis - with atttude from gdl393d.

[carusoam]

Additional data point:

WingX and old Sky Radar. Synthic Vision and plates at the same time with the split screen...

SV cost 1$.

Having a blue dot on the plate is another $100 per year or so...

No reason not to have both, or all three if you are going IFR.

Best regards,

-a-

[Rik]

The Stratus receives the ADS-B and sends it to the iPad via wireless connection. (Also sends GPS and AHRS to the iPad.)

 

ADS-B in, but what about the out?

 

Obviously this does not satisfy the 2020 mandate?

[Rik]

Maybe this is out in left field but never hurts to ask.

 

My iPad does not have a modem and therefore does not have an internal GPS. However, when I am connected to a wireless connection Foreflight shows the little blue dot for my position.

 

Being that one can use their phone as a hot spot, is it possible for the user's phone to be the GPS signal for the Ipad and therefore Foreflight (provided there is cell service for the GPS to work) or am I way off base with this?

 

Sounds to simple to be good

[carusoam]

Rik,

Sounds like you're looking for too much, but...

If your phone has GPS in it, load Foreflight on it as well.

Battery life will be horrible.

Best regards,

-a-

[Houman]

Well I have decided to go for ADS-B, but now what technology ?

 

During my flight planning, I use ForeFlight for most things, route planning, weather, winds and all, but once in the aircraft, my primary navigation is on my GTN 650.

 

I use the ForeFlight during flight to look for radio frequencies and airport data confirmation and all.

 

I called Garmin just for fun and they told me I need a bunch of stuff to be ADSB-In and Out for 2020 and get weather and traffic on my GTN 650.

 

I would need a Flight Stream 210, GLD88 for weather and traffic, plus new transponder with Extender squitter since I can fly higher than FL180, or upgrade my current GPS.

 

I think all of that will have to wait to somewhat near 2020, and just go with Stratus 2 for now and get use to looking at my Ipad for traffic and weather during flight !

 

I'm sure cheaper or better solution will come up as we get near 2020 and the heap of aircraft will need to update to meet the ADS-B 2020 requirements.

[midlifeflyer]

Maybe this is out in left field but never hurts to ask.

 

My iPad does not have a modem and therefore does not have an internal GPS. However, when I am connected to a wireless connection Foreflight shows the little blue dot for my position.

 

Being that one can use their phone as a hot spot, is it possible for the user's phone to be the GPS signal for the Ipad and therefore Foreflight (provided there is cell service for the GPS to work) or am I way off base with this?

 

Sounds to simple to be good

 

Off base. Your phone's GPS is not going to transfer location information to your iPad.

 

On the blue dot when you are connected to WiFi - WiFi can provide some location information without a GPS but it's not reliable. For me, even when connected to reliable WiFi, the blue dot in ForeFlight disappears pretty quickly.

 

GPS is GPS. Mobile data is mobile data. WiFi is Wifi. 

[gsxrpilot]

 It also records your flight path in its internal memory and can be downloaded.

 

I had no idea about this. Thanks for the info! 

 

I put off getting a Stratus for almost a year. I wouldn't fly without it now. The best feature for me is definitely weather, and real time METAR's from anywhere in the country.  We've had a very wet Spring/Summer this year. Flying 500nm with weather popping up all over, it's nice to be able to monitor the METAR's along the route to evaluate options.

[bradp]

New announcement for stratus 2s from Appareo. Apparently this one has pressure altitude sensing. No word on whether this will be TSOd as a blind encoder for their new transponder. If so would be a decent idea.

Brad

http://www.appareo.com/meet-the-new-stratus-portable-receivers/

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[N33GG]

My Stratus2 has never overheated. I place it on the floor of whatever plane I am flying and it receives well. On older Mooneys, I put it on the floor against the Johnson Bar. Never a problem at all.

I do have synthetic vision, and it is ok. I don't know if there would ever be a time that I would be looking at the synthetic vision instead of my instruments or the artificial panel provided with the Stratus and iPad in the event of an emergency. Maybe, but I don't know. Any way you look at it, pretty impressive technology for not much money. The ForeFlight guys are incredible, IMHO. We have come a long way in a very short period of time. (Showing my age now, so I will quit.)