FlyQ and iPad Mini

[Pistol Pete]

I bit the bullet and got a mini iPad-cellular-32GB storage, also got the FlyQ EFB through AOPA.
Tying to decide which ADS-B to go with... we're basically down to Clarity and iLevil since we want the AHRS six-pack. There's about $300 difference with the Clarity being higher.

I'm not a huge fan of the "free" weather since the resolution seems to be mediocre at much distance, but then again, we'll not be trying to shoot any gaps in a squall line or front.

I'm certainly impressed with the flight planning portion of the FlyQ EFB. The functions it performs is unbelievable... I'm sure they all do that.

[gotyacovered]

I bit the bullet and got a mini iPad-cellular-32GB storage, also got the FlyQ EFB through AOPA.
Tying to decide which ADS-B to go with... we're basically down to Clarity and iLevil since we want the AHRS six-pack. There's about $300 difference with the Clarity being higher.

I'm not a huge fan of the "free" weather since the resolution seems to be mediocre at much distance, but then again, we'll not be trying to shoot any gaps in a squall line or front.

I'm certainly impressed with the flight planning portion of the FlyQ EFB. The functions it performs is unbelievable... I'm sure they all do that.

its quite interesting that you like the AOPA flight planner. people on red board are throwing fits about how terrible it is... mainly since the upgrade. i have not played with it myself.

i am not familiar with either of those units, but i would get the one that integrates with the most 'things'. i hear most people talk about the stratus2 or GDL-39... the only weaknesses i see from those units is they are not interchangeable stratus=foreflight GDL=garmin app. wingx, fore flight and garmin are here to stay--no doubt. flyq seems to be a sore spot with many AOPA members.

i am paying $50/month+$150/year for XMWX+$250 for data updates and FF. cant quite get over the hump of ditching the WX on the 696 b/c i dont want to cross check NAV/WX on 2 different units. the problem with that is it takes 7 months (or less) of those subscriptions to pay for the stratus2--much cheaper. 

BTW--i read an article and i think i am going to have to upgrade my antenna on my 696 at a cost of $3-400's!!! NFN

BTW2.0--you get a free 30 day trail with foreflight, give it a shot, you can buy a subscription for as low as $75/year and it is worth every penny. Garmin and WingX have free trials also, you could try all three and see which one you like the best. i have grown partial to FF, especially for IFR ops.

OH--no matter what you use, you are going to LOVE the ipad.

[Pistol Pete]

I've been using foreflight and I guess I have the cheaper version, because it doesn't do what the FlyQ does.
The nonproprietary nature of FlyQ is what turns me on most about it. I also like the bar graph of the winds aloft along your planned route. I've never seen on FF where I can input the climb rate and descent rates and it will place a pin on the magenta line to begin descent... It will also plan a route with fuel stops at the cheapest price and also the altitudes for best economy.... Maybe I'm looking at it wrong, but I've only been playing with it a few hours.

As far as the resolution on the ads-b free weather, that's only at a distance where it's pixelated.
Garmin has wonderful stuff, but it chaffs my butt to pay a monthly weather subscription and only be able to use with other Garmin stuff with it.

We'll see. I'll give a pirep as I get used to it.

[GusMcRae]

I have FF pro, I think it's roughly $120/year.  I got that package so that I could get the approach plates for IFR training, otherwise I would have gotten the cheaper package. 
I don't have a data plan on my iPad, and I don't have Stratus or anything similar, so I can't get weather on the iPad through FF, only on the ground where I have wifi. 

I have XM weather for my Garmin aera 560, but it is the package that is ~ $35/month. 
So, it doesn't offer winds aloft info. 

Unless I'm missing something, I don't know of any way that I can get winds aloft  while flying, without upgrading to a more expensive package.  And I'm already considering cancelling XM because I think $35/month is too much for no more than I get out of it.  Seldom fly when it there are active T-storms around, and even when I have, I can shoot a gap better by just looking for the weak spots as opposed to relying on the XM wx which lags several minutes behind from reality. 
There are still gaps in the coverage for Stratus and equivalents for my area. 
There's not a simple/affordable/cure all solution yet for me. 

[Pistol Pete]

We understand we'll have some gaps in ads-b coverage, but I think altitude has a lot to do with that as well. And, they are expanding coverage all the time.

The number one reason for getting this entire package is the AHRS. We wanted a backup attitude indicator, plus synthetic vision. I realize this isn't an " IFR legal" way to have a backup attitude indicator, but we'll darn sure take it in a pinch if needed.
Hopefully FlyQ will work better than what Gotya has mentioned other pilots have reported. Jason Schappert with MzeroA uses FlyQ (non-sponsored) and I didn't see where he was having any issues... he specifically said he had no preference on the EFB's available and talked highly of them all. He did like the bar graph on the winds aloft that FlyQ has.
It's going to be very interesting trying this out. The EFB, ADS-B, AHRS, iPad combination will give me tons of inflight data.

[gotyacovered]

I've been using foreflight and I guess I have the cheaper version, because it doesn't do what the FlyQ does.
The nonproprietary nature of FlyQ is what turns me on most about it. I also like the bar graph of the winds aloft along your planned route. I've never seen on FF where I can input the climb rate and descent rates and it will place a pin on the magenta line to begin descent... It will also plan a route with fuel stops at the cheapest price and also the altitudes for best economy.... Maybe I'm looking at it wrong, but I've only been playing with it a few hours.

As far as the resolution on the ads-b free weather, that's only at a distance where it's pixelated.
Garmin has wonderful stuff, but it chaffs my butt to pay a monthly weather subscription and only be able to use with other Garmin stuff with it.

We'll see. I'll give a pirep as I get used to it.

Foreflight doesn't have a graph for winds aloft, it just give you the info from DUATS and calculates according to altitude. I look for favorable winds via winds aloft and pick that altitude in the flight plan. Doesn't matter what version you have, as long as you have a DUATS account (free). honestly, i usually dont pay much attention to it and plan the altitude i want, at some point in the climb i will start looking at wids aloft to get an idea of how accurate the forecasts are and go from there.

I have FF pro, I think it's roughly $120/year.  I got that package so that I could get the approach plates for IFR training, otherwise I would have gotten the cheaper package. 
I don't have a data plan on my iPad, and I don't have Stratus or anything similar, so I can't get weather on the iPad through FF, only on the ground where I have wifi. 
I have XM weather for my Garmin aera 560, but it is the package that is ~ $35/month. 
So, it doesn't offer winds aloft info. 
Unless I'm missing something, I don't know of any way that I can get winds aloft  while flying, without upgrading to a more expensive package.  And I'm already considering cancelling XM because I think $35/month is too much for no more than I get out of it.  Seldom fly when it there are active T-storms around, and even when I have, I can shoot a gap better by just looking for the weak spots as opposed to relying on the XM wx which lags several minutes behind from reality. 
There are still gaps in the coverage for Stratus and equivalents for my area. 
There's not a simple/affordable/cure all solution yet for me. 

Gus pointed out the difference for both he and I, and pistol pete, we both have and use as primary for nav/wx the garmin products. Sounds like he may be finding a different route also. I plan and file and using foreflight. Including reference of my POH, bose user manual, and taking notes in cockpit. For the most part, After I shut the door, ipad is folded up and in the center console and EVERYTHING else is done with the garmin 696. I suspect that when I am instrument rated it will be used more as the plates in my 696 are expensive, big time, and not geo-ref'd. I also use iPad for ground ops, saved my butt at Atlanta and Dallas Love for taxi instructions. But, the 696 has everything weather wise (aviator pro package) as well as attitude, VSI and turn coordinator. My favorite, though is the VNAV function. It give you a graphical for visual use of your decent profile along with the fpm required to achieve it. It doesn't place a marker on the purple line, but it does have its graphics inconspicuously placed on the upper right in the nav screen. Which is also fully customizable. Right now I have it set for 500fpm and 1000ft AGL 1nm from destination. For the most part, the only time the ipad is used is to verify information, look at POH, .pdf carb icing charts, etc. I do have a dual gps bluetooth antenna that I turn on and confirm connectivity for every flight as backup in case 696 fails. I would recommend them.

We understand we'll have some gaps in ads-b coverage, but I think altitude has a lot to do with that as well. And, they are expanding coverage all the time.

The number one reason for getting this entire package is the AHRS. We wanted a backup attitude indicator, plus synthetic vision. I realize this isn't an " IFR legal" way to have a backup attitude indicator, but we'll darn sure take it in a pinch if needed.
Hopefully FlyQ will work better than what Gotya has mentioned other pilots have reported. Jason Schappert with MzeroA uses FlyQ (non-sponsored) and I didn't see where he was having any issues... he specifically said he had no preference on the EFB's available and talked highly of them all. He did like the bar graph on the winds aloft that FlyQ has.
It's going to be very interesting trying this out. The EFB, ADS-B, AHRS, iPad combination will give me tons of inflight data.

All of my info is second hand... cant wait to hear your PIREP. just cause you have mentioned it several times, you should check out fltplan.com, they have a great winds aloft flight planning tool... give fuel burn, speed, wind speed, wind direction and ETE all on one screen. Basically the same thing as FF, but in FF you only get that info for one alt at a time.

[Pistol Pete]

I've already found one issue with FlyQ, if you flight plan a trip across the Rockies, it will have you climbing to 10,500 feet when you leave Bryant AR...
It doesn't step the altitudes based on the winds aloft.
I can flight plan each leg and it will give me the favorable winds/altitudes.

[GusMcRae]

I've already found one issue with FlyQ, if you flight plan a trip across the Rockies, it will have you climbing to 10,500 feet when you leave Bryant AR...
It doesn't step the altitudes based on the winds aloft.
I can flight plan each leg and it will give me the favorable winds/altitudes.

Where are you going Pete?
Across the Rockies sounds like a trip you need to fill us in on!

[gotyacovered]

I've already found one issue with FlyQ, if you flight plan a trip across the Rockies, it will have you climbing to 10,500 feet when you leave Bryant AR...
It doesn't step the altitudes based on the winds aloft.
I can flight plan each leg and it will give me the favorable winds/altitudes.

i am not aware of an app that will give you planned altitudes for forecasted winds based on altitude. now i believe there are a couple out there that you can have different altitudes for diff legs, but if you are non-stop/direct you cant change without a way point of some kind.

this is one thing the garmin products do well... you can put the winds aloft on the map and cycle thru the altitudes to see the direction/speed of the wind. but you cant plan for it...

PP--check out fltplan.com... its free. would like to see how it compares to flyq... attached are a couple screen shots from it... both of the professional pilots who regularly file IFR use this website, both have FF Pro for free.... they dont like filing from FF, mainly b/c 'this is always what they have done' (before ipads).

i use it post FF flight planning to double check my altitude selection. frankly, dont know why, though. rarely are the forecasts right, guess it makes me feel better 

page two is the nav log, i like it, will usually drop one in my foreflight document library, but rarely refer back to it.

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[Pistol Pete]

i am not aware of an app that will give you planned altitudes for forecasted winds based on altitude. now i believe there are a couple out there that you can have different altitudes for diff legs, but if you are non-stop/direct you cant change without a way point of some kind.

this is one thing the garmin products do well... you can put the winds aloft on the map and cycle thru the altitudes to see the direction/speed of the wind. but you cant plan for it...

PP--check out fltplan.com... its free. would like to see how it compares to flyq... attached are a couple screen shots from it... both of the professional pilots who regularly file IFR use this website, both have FF Pro for free.... they dont like filing from FF, mainly b/c 'this is always what they have done' (before ipads).

i use it post FF flight planning to double check my altitude selection. frankly, dont know why, though. rarely are the forecasts right, guess it makes me feel better 

page two is the nav log, i like it, will usually drop one in my foreflight document library, but rarely refer back to it.

Thank you the input. I like that fltplan stuff, looks neat,
As far as FF goes, it doesn't offer synthetic vision yet.

The FlyQ has the ability to look at winds aloft as you fly along, so its fairly simple... Plus it will do the calculations and give a bar graph showing the best altitude for where you are at that time, nothing to figure out.

Gonna look at the Wingxpro.

[gotyacovered]

With stratus2/Foreflight you get pitch and bank... AHRS is what they call it...

http://sportyspress.com/2014/04/stratus-ads-b-receiver-adds-new-weather-attitude-features/

[Pistol Pete]

With stratus2/Foreflight you get pitch and bank... AHRS is what they call it...

http://sportyspress.com/2014/04/stratus-ads-b-receiver-adds-new-weather-attitude-features/

They do have AHRS, but others have "synthetic vision"... I'll read their email again and tell you the specifics.
I have FF on my iPhone, had it a couple years. I like it "ok".

[gotyacovered]

They do have AHRS, but others have "synthetic vision"... I'll read their email again and tell you the specifics.
I have FF on my iPhone, had it a couple years. I like it "ok".

you dont even have to read the email again, they have great youtube videos... its cool. but it aint certified... and i cant see using it over the 696 b/c i would give up more than i would ever gain. ipad is a nav backup for me... it sits on my lap or in my center console so synth vision wouldnt be a determining factor. but i still pay for XMWX so i am diff than a lotta folks  

the ipad version of FF is different than the phone version... i dont like it near as well... but it works in a pinch and to check WX. you can have several devices (up to 4 i think) so you can install it on your ipad--sure you knew that, just checking.

its the same ole convo people have all the time, if you want to use your ipad for VFR NAV, then i think garmin app with the GDL-39 is the way to go: traffic, weather and integrates with other garmin products for redundancy, think wingX is the next best option for ipad nav... foreflight for planning, backup nav, in cockpit info procurement, document management and clearance note taking and taxi diagrams and app plates.

if you have in cockpit nav (gamin - certified or not) then FF is the way to go. IMHO.

another note worth pointing out... foreflight out sells all other products 3 to 1, that speaks volumes for the product.

i still vote for--try all three, they have 30 day free trails. i didnt get along with wingx very well, loved garmins product but they just were quite as advanced (at the time) and foreflight had the most agreeable user interface--for me.

dont think you can go wrong with any of them...

[Pistol Pete]

you dont even have to read the email again, they have great youtube videos... its cool. but it aint certified... and i cant see using it over the 696 b/c i would give up more than i would ever gain. ipad is a nav backup for me... it sits on my lap or in my center console so synth vision wouldnt be a determining factor. but i still pay for XMWX so i am diff than a lotta folks  

the ipad version of FF is different than the phone version... i dont like it near as well... but it works in a pinch and to check WX. you can have several devices (up to 4 i think) so you can install it on your ipad--sure you knew that, just checking.

its the same ole convo people have all the time, if you want to use your ipad for VFR NAV, then i think garmin app with the GDL-39 is the way to go: traffic, weather and integrates with other garmin products for redundancy, think wingX is the next best option for ipad nav... foreflight for planning, backup nav, in cockpit info procurement, document management and clearance note taking and taxi diagrams and app plates.

if you have in cockpit nav (gamin - certified or not) then FF is the way to go. IMHO.

another note worth pointing out... foreflight out sells all other products 3 to 1, that speaks volumes for the product.

i still vote for--try all three, they have 30 day free trails. i didnt get along with wingx very well, loved garmins product but they just were quite as advanced (at the time) and foreflight had the most agreeable user interface--for me.

dont think you can go wrong with any of them...

I don't have any other Garmin equipment in the airplane besides an "old" in dash 55 or something like that... And it works very well, love it. Has tons of features we never use.

Synthetic vision is just another feature... that's all. Not certified, but I'd rather have it than nothing, if I was in a bind. FF will have it before much longer. I'll do a 30 day trial on them all.

[gotyacovered]

I don't have any other Garmin equipment in the airplane besides an "old" in dash 55 or something like that... And it works very well, love it. Has tons of features we never use.

Synthetic vision is just another feature... that's all. Not certified, but I'd rather have it than nothing, if I was in a bind. FF will have it before much longer. I'll do a 30 day trial on them all.

yep, just glad we have a discussion going on here... been kinda dead lately.

[Pistol Pete]

yep, just glad we have a discussion going on here... been kinda dead lately.

That's exactly why I posted it.

The picture is getting clearer with these apps. FF seems like they're here to stay, most certainly Garmin is.

[gotyacovered]

That's exactly why I posted it.

The picture is getting clearer with these apps. FF seems like they're here to stay, most certainly Garmin is.

both of those you mentioned... one of the strongest factors i like is that they don't release any new updates without significant testing and confirm all potential issues are solved, cant say that for wingX... case in point: see the users thread on AOPA. the last update messed up screen brightness, so if you were in one view and switched to another... it went to full brightness. still not fixed to my knowledge. just think FF and Garmin are a lot more stable. wingX has something else neither of the two latter, though: the cool factor....

i get real tempted by Garmin b/c the GDL-39 would work with my 696. the problem with that is they came out with a new antennae i am eventually gonna have to buy for my 696 and i'm not sure where the GDL-39 fits into that picture...