Foreflight Alternatives? Which EFB should I switch to?

[PT20J]

10 hours ago, PeteMc said:

Because the IFD's are not ADS-B devices.  They can pass the info along like the GTNs, but they don't directly receive the ADS-B info.  So he's using the little remote device to act as the primary ADS-B IN and then the IDF will pass on that info.

Well, that was my point. As I understand it, the objective was to display traffic on both the IFD and FF using the Stratus as the ADS-B In receiver. The problem seems to be that FF and the IFD use different protocols to communicate with the Stratus. But, if the Stratus will pass data to the IFD, and the IFD will pass it on to FF, it would seem that you’d get traffic on both devices. It would also be possible to pass flight plans between the IFD and FF. You’d lose the Stratus AHRS though.

What am I missing?

[0TreeLemur]

13 hours ago, PT20J said:

So, I still don’t understand why you cannot just connect FF to the IFD instead of the Stratus.

 

If I connect FF (client) to IFD (server) it prevents the IFD from connecting to the Stratus as a client for traffic info, because Stratus is only configured as a server.  This setup will give FF position info only because I don't have a $$certified ADS-B in source wired into the IFD.   Make sense?

What I want was working from late August-Nov. of last year- I know how to do it.   A FF update broke it.  Others on the Avidyne Facebook group confirm.  

Edited January 26 by 0TreeLemur
detail

[PT20J]

3 minutes ago, 0TreeLemur said:

If I connect FF (client) to IFD (server) it prevents the IFD from connecting to the Stratus as a client for traffic info, because Stratus is only configured as a server.  This setup will give FF position info only because I don't have a $$certified ADS-B in source wired into the IFD.   Make sense?

What I want was working from late August-Nov. of last year- I know how to do it.   A FF update broke it.  Others on the Avidyne Facebook group confirm.  

OK, that makes sense. 

[PeteMc]

6 hours ago, PT20J said:

What am I missing?

You and me both...  I'm not seeing a total uproar in any other groups about this not working.   As for the Stratus, either here or in a different group I've read that it can be set to different protocols.  And I believe it has worked in the past.  

My key takeaways are:  IDF has been updated to the lates FW.  So...  does the Stratus need an update too?  What does Avidyne Support have to say?  As (forgetting now who) said, he had to change the way everything was configured after an update.  Has that been done?

  

Edited January 26 by PeteMc

[PeteMc]

2 hours ago, 0TreeLemur said:

Stratus is only configured as a server.

I had asked this before, but don't remember seeing an answer.  What version of the Stratus do you have and have you confirmed with Avidyne that it is a compatible unit with the latest Software upgrade?  I only know there are differences, but know very little about the different units.  And have they confirmed a minimum level of SW to work with their latest SW?  

Since there does not appear to be a massive uproar across all Avidyne groups, it seems local to your setup.  Maybe the Stratus has an issue or the SW upgrade you got a while ago didn't load correctly and is corrupt in regard to connecting to your Status?  Can you borrow a Stratus from anyone else at the Airport?  

 

[Will.iam]

On 1/24/2024 at 1:32 AM, PeteMc said:

I believe it is still only Garmin Pilot and ForeFlight that will connect with any of the Garmin products. 

And it's is a Garmin restriction, not an issue with any of the other EFBs. 

 

Fltplan will connect to garmin products too now that garmin acquired them. 

[toto]

57 minutes ago, Will.iam said:

Fltplan will connect to garmin products too now that garmin acquired them. 

Yep, FltPlanGO will connect to panel-mount Connext devices just like GP, but FltPlanGO is free..

 

[PeteMc]

4 hours ago, Will.iam said:

Fltplan will connect to garmin products too now that garmin acquired them. 

Good to know!

[Will.iam]

Yea FltPlan is clunky compared to foreflight and Garmin pilot but I didn’t pay for it either. Also I can’t remember if FltPlan ever auto connected but normally I have to go into Bluetooth setup and tell it to connect to my garmin345. Then usually force close the FltPlan app and reopen it for FltPlan to start showing me traffic and wx through Bluetooth connection. Clunky but free. 

[PeteMc]

1 hour ago, Will.iam said:

Yea FltPlan is clunky compared to foreflight and Garmin pilot but I didn’t pay for it either.

Kind of wish FF had bought them.  Then they'd have a FF Lite Android version, which people have been asking about for years.

And you just reminded me I hadn't update my FltPlan Go in a while...

 

[0TreeLemur]

I updated FF to the most recent version (16.1, January 2024) and it seems that they have fixed the "bug" that got me started on this rant.  With the iPad connected to the Stratus using the open-ADS standard, it now displays traffic.  Guess I'll keep my FF subscription alive.   I'm sure the frat boyeez* at Boeing will sleep well tonight (Whew!  We kept one user!)

Strangely- after the upgrade, it showed traffic, elevation, and tail # info.   After a while it stopped showing that info, just the cyan triangles moving across the screen.

<edit>  That was a zoom issue.  If  you zoom out far it stops showing the details.  All good so far.

Edited February 7 by 0TreeLemur
detail

[takair]

1 hour ago, 0TreeLemur said:

I updated FF to the most recent version (16.1, January 2024) and it seems that they have fixed the "bug" that got me started on this rant.  With the iPad connected to the Stratus using the open-ADS standard, it now displays traffic.  Guess I'll keep my FF subscription alive.   I'm sure the frat boyeez* at Boeing will sleep well tonight (Whew!  We kept one user!)

Strangely- after the upgrade, it showed traffic, elevation, and tail # info.   After a while it stopped showing that info, just the cyan triangles moving across the screen.

<edit>  That was a zoom issue.  If  you zoom out far it stops showing the details.  All good so far.

I’ve had this experience a couple of times…..I find a bug…report it….don’t get a satisfactory answer via email….but they fix it shortly after…. I don’t know if it’s coincidence or what….

Today I had a new bug. Entered a simple flight plan.  The plan page showed a headwind and the winds aloft page showed an equivalent tailwind.  Each showed an appropriate time enroute, but conflicting with each other.  Sent a note to them…

[EricJ]

That's better than Avare where you are generally mocked for reporting bugs.    Plus their efficiency at generating new bugs is improving.  I may have to switch back to FltPlan Go, which is currently my backup.

 

[PeteMc]

2 hours ago, 0TreeLemur said:

I'm sure the frat boyeez* at Boeing will sleep well tonight (Whew!  We kept one user!)

You may have said that in jest...  But with their other issues and the Stock not really rebounding.  I bet they ARE happy they kept you!

 

[0TreeLemur]

Just now, PeteMc said:

I'm sure the frat boyeez*

@PeteMc I did kind of say that in jest.    Not completely innocent because I was a member of AHP while an undergraduate at Embry-Riddle in PRC where we had female members too.   I was think more of the party four-days-a-week kind of frat boyeez. 

[dzeleski]

1 hour ago, takair said:

I’ve had this experience a couple of times…..I find a bug…report it….don’t get a satisfactory answer via email….but they fix it shortly after…. I don’t know if it’s coincidence or what….

Today I had a new bug. Entered a simple flight plan.  The plan page showed a headwind and the winds aloft page showed an equivalent tailwind.  Each showed an appropriate time enroute, but conflicting with each other.  Sent a note to them…

I’ve had serious issues with flight planning winds with FF. Sometimes it is wildly incorrect and it seems to be something to do with interpolating between measurements points. I also believe it uses a combination of measured winds and forecasted winds.

[exM20K]

9 minutes ago, dzeleski said:

I’ve had serious issues with flight planning winds with FF. Sometimes it is wildly incorrect and it seems to be something to do with interpolating between measurements points. I also believe it uses a combination of measured winds and forecasted winds.

I’ve even escalated this to the founder/former owner. Response last week? “We have an engineering ticket open.”  Going on six months now.  Boeing, in its current iteration, appears to wreck everything it touches.

-dan

[exM20K]

38 minutes ago, dzeleski said:

I’ve had serious issues with flight planning winds with FF. Sometimes it is wildly incorrect and it seems to be something to do with interpolating between measurements points. I also believe it uses a combination of measured winds and forecasted winds.

If you do an origin direct to destination flight plan, the winds aloft are correct and reported in 100 NM intervals  

This is not a perfect solution, but for long, relatively direct flights, you will at least know what the segment *should* be.

-Dan

[dzeleski]

Just now, exM20K said:

If you do an origin direct to destination flight plan, the winds aloft are correct and reported in 100 NM intervals  

This is not a perfect solution, but for long, relatively direct flights, you will at least know what the segment *should* be.

-Dan

I’ll try that next time thanks! I only recently realized this last year when I flew across the US and realized the numbers were not making any sense what so ever. 

[takair]

55 minutes ago, exM20K said:

If you do an origin direct to destination flight plan, the winds aloft are correct and reported in 100 NM intervals  

This is not a perfect solution, but for long, relatively direct flights, you will at least know what the segment *should* be.

-Dan

The one I found a problem with today was point to point.

[exM20K]

17 minutes ago, takair said:

The one I found a problem with today was point to point.

That’s not awesome.  Can you elaborate and/or post screenshots?

-dan

[takair]

43 minutes ago, exM20K said:

That’s not awesome.  Can you elaborate and/or post screenshots?

-dan

Yes.  This is what I sent them today.  This was not the Mooney so the speeds are slow, but you can see that the winds and the plan winds are essentially opposite of each other.  Really odd….

[takair]

One thing I just noticed…I had planned that for this morning.  I just noticed it set the time as pm.  I just tried to plan again and notice that the departure time is defaulting to some random time…..  I thought it used to default to the current time.  That may cause some issues too.

[PT20J]

5 hours ago, takair said:

I’ve had this experience a couple of times…..I find a bug…report it….don’t get a satisfactory answer via email….but they fix it shortly after…. I don’t know if it’s coincidence or what….

Today I had a new bug. Entered a simple flight plan.  The plan page showed a headwind and the winds aloft page showed an equivalent tailwind.  Each showed an appropriate time enroute, but conflicting with each other.  Sent a note to them…

Same with Garmin. It took a year for Garmin to fix the ADS-B bug I reported where TFRs that last more than a day are dropped after the first day, and they never did notify me.

Actually, in my experience in commercial software development, this is common. Once a bug gets logged, engineering has the ball for determining the severity, and when it will get resolved and what release it goes in to. It may be months and it’s just not feasible to keep the user that reported the bug updated.

[PT20J]

3 hours ago, dzeleski said:

I’ve had serious issues with flight planning winds with FF. Sometimes it is wildly incorrect and it seems to be something to do with interpolating between measurements points. I also believe it uses a combination of measured winds and forecasted winds.

What are measured winds?