HUD epicoptix

[Oscar Avalle]

As some of you may have noticed, I like being an early technology adopter. I was always wondering why is it that we can't have a reasonably priced HUD for our airplanes? I saw several announced or showcased, including at Oshkosh and Sun and Fun, but they were to basic or to expensive. But the other day I was browsing AOPA's www side and I saw that a new company epicoptix from Annapolis was advertising this HUD. 

https://epicoptix.com/epic-eagle/

I looked at their ad and I decided to take a chance and I ordered it. I received the unit and my first impression was: wow. Nicely packaged and build. But then I tried out the unit and to my dismay the unit did not work well. Somehow the display was showing some noise. So I emailed the company at 9 PM and to my surprise I got an email from the CEO of the company at 915 PM apologizing and asking what the problem was. I called him and he offered to meet me in Washington DC, but I decided that it would be more interesting to visit them in Annapolis. So I went there and met this start up established by some former Navy and Boeing guys. They are great guys and committed to creating a great product.  They exchanged my HUD and we tried it out. What it basically does is project the image of your Ipad or phone (Android or Iphone) on the HUD. 

I tried several options, Garmin Flight, Foreflight SV, etc. but the best option is the combination of Stratus Horizon with the HUD. This week I flew with the HUD for about 6 hours on a long cross country from Washington DC to St Louis. How does it work? I was really impressed it works very well, however unfortunately the projection options are not ideal. All apps (Foreflight, Garmin and Stratus Horizon) only project GPS and AHRS data. As far as I know you only get GPS grounds speed and altitude, but not IAS, TAS or Pressure altitude. The images are not ideal, it is very difficult to film a HUD image.

The unit has a huge potential if Aspen or Garmin would allow us to project their data on our Iphones and then on the HUD it would be simply fabulous. In the meantime I am satisfied with it, but it usability is limited by the information I get through our apps.

Oscar

[Piloto]

I think I will still keep my windshield. Unlike the HUD it is very reliable and low maintenance cost. I Velcro my cell phone with Garmin Pilot to the visor to get moving map and weather right on approach. Velcro is $3.95 at Walmart.

José

Edited May 18, 2018 by Piloto

[carusoam]

Nice Pirep, Oscar!

Consummate MSer, getting on the phone to talk directly to the supplier!

And sharing on MS.

Clearly, having the right data to be made available would really help... airspeed and AOAi would be sweet

I went to their website... their first picture of a Cessna in flight is a bit quirky, with the full tail down deflection....

 

Would it help if foreflight or WingX were to have an option for that display...  WingX, has day and night... they could add a heads-up option....  send an email to Hilton @ WingX  they are always accepting ideas...

Best regards,

-a-

 

[bradp]

It would also be nice if the app developers could display air data via a flight stream 210/510 on the iPad app.  

[thinwing]

2 hours ago, Piloto said:

I think I will still keep my windshield. Unlike the HUD it is very reliable and low maintenance cost. I Velcro my cell phone with Garmin Pilot to the visor to get moving map and weather right on approach. Velcro is $3.95 at Walmart.

José

Why don't you just tape it to outside of windshield

[Oscar Avalle]

It would also be nice if the app developers could display air data via a flight stream 210/510 on the iPad app.  

Yes, that would be great. Any idea why they don’t ?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[hais]

@Oscar Avalle still happy with the system? 

[Oscar Avalle]

On 1/3/2023 at 8:45 PM, hais said:

@Oscar Avalle still happy with the system? 

Not really. I topped using it. It was too bulky.

[carusoam]

I don’T see a refresh on their website either…

-a-