Nexus 7 and Garmin Pilot

[Mcstealth]

Someone on this board has this combination I believe.Looking for a report. 

 

I was given the chance to buy a current Nexus 7 with all the pilot friendly goodies, cheap. I am/was about to give it to my boys but before I do, I want to compare the Garmin Pilot Droid app to WingX and Foreflight/ Ipad. Lots to read about concerning Foreflight and WingX, but not Garmin Pilot. I know that is partly indicative of I Pad popularity, and not necessarily lack of functionality of Garmin Pilot or Droid.

 

Can not find, yet, a Consumer Aviation comparison of the two or three apps back to back. It is a pay sight so my search is limited.

 

Any help please.

David

 

 

[Marauder]

Someone on this board has this combination I believe.Looking for a report. I was given the chance to buy a current Nexus 7 with all the pilot friendly goodies, cheap. I am/was about to give it to my boys but before I do, I want to compare the Garmin Pilot Droid app to WingX and Foreflight/ Ipad. Lots to read about concerning Foreflight and WingX, but not Garmin Pilot. I know that is partly indicative of I Pad popularity, and not necessarily lack of functionality of Garmin Pilot or Droid. Can not find, yet, a Consumer Aviation comparison of the two or three apps back to back. It is a pay sight so my search is limited. Any help please. David

I have both the ForeFlight (on my iPad and iPhone 5) and Garmin Pilot (on my iPad and a Nexus 7). What would you like to know? For me, the ForeFlight has begun taking a backseat to the Garmin Pilot because I have started using Pilot on the Nexus 7 because of its smaller size. I still like the ForeFlight routing, but the split screen stuff on the Garmin is much more of interest to me. What you will find, is that everyone values things differently. What is an irritant to one person, is an asset to another. Let me know your concerns and I will answer what I can from my perspective.

[Mcstealth]

As a first time user for any aviation app, is Garmin Pilot intuitive enough for novices?

 

Is there any features that Pilot is missing and should have, that Foreflight has?

 

Does the Nexus 7 GPS have at least the same reliability/accuracy as the I-Pad?

 

All things being equal, is the I-Pad that much better in the plane, or no?

 

Dollar for dollar value. Are the two apps comparable with iniation price and added services?

 

These are off the top of my head to start. Feel free to adlib.

[Marauder]

As a first time user for any aviation app, is Garmin Pilot intuitive enough for novices?

 

Is there any features that Pilot is missing and should have, that Foreflight has?

 

Does the Nexus 7 GPS have at least the same reliability/accuracy as the I-Pad?

 

All things being equal, is the I-Pad that much better in the plane, or no?

 

Dollar for dollar value. Are the two apps comparable with iniation price and added services?

 

These are off the top of my head to start. Feel free to adlib.

I have spent a lot of time with both. The biggest difference is in the user interface. The ForeFlight uses a series of buttons on the bottom of the screen to get to where you want. The Garmin uses a "Home" key that pulls up the sub menu. If you are familiar with the Garmin panel mounted GTN series navigator, it looks and feels like that. It is a matter of preference. A lot of pilots like the buttons being on the bottom, for me it really didn't matter.

 

Function wise there are differences between the two. One feature I really like on the ForeFlight is an IFR routing feature that shows you both preferred routes (someone actually filed it) or a recommended route. If you have a long flight being planned, it saves you some time. That said, the Garmin routing is simple enough. Enter your departure and destination, pull the rubber line to the points you want or pick an airway and select the entry or exit points. Garmin is constantly improving their product and I would not be surprised this is added.

 

One feature on the Garmin I like is the split screen. It will allow you to see widgets which contain weather or other items along your route. You can drag a slider and see the changes in weather along the route. Or if you are going to enter controlled airspace, it will show you that. The split screen can also has a panel display for airspeed, heading, VSI, etc.

 

The ForeFlight can show you multiple items on the map (like TFRs and weather radar). Garmin is currently limited to one item.

 

My suggestion is to download the free 30 days trial they both offer and try them out. That is what I did. I bought the full ForeFlight earlier last year and then picked up the Garmin in the summer. The price for both is still cheaper than my old paper charts from Jepp and I get more features than the paper ever gave me.

 

As a long time iPad user, it has taken me a little bit to get comfortable with the Nexus 7. It is different than the iPad, but as far as accuracy, they both are fine. I will be converting over to the Nexus as a yoke mount chart tool because the full size iPad is just too big in my Mooney. I looked at the iPad Mini, but just couldn't justify dropping that kind of money on an iPad that got me no more in terms of function that the larger iPad 2 I own.