The 182 does have a much smaller MFD, but I’m not so sure it doesn’t have its own microprocessor. The King MFD does have its own data much the same as the Avidyne - also requiring expensive updates.
I believe the Honeywell King folks have the experience to make a more reliable product at this stage, and frankly, they probably regret losing the business to Garmin for the Cessna upgraded cockpit.
The King Nav–Com and GPS are separate units, but personally I didn’t find them difficult to learn - nor were the Garmins - just different. The moving map on KLN 94 is smaller than the Garmin 430, but the King MFD is more than sufficient – not as nice as the big Avidyne, but works fine, and has a lot more VFR data in its system for now.
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The moving map on KLN 94 is smaller than the Garmin 430, but the King MFD is more than sufficient – not as nice as the big Avidyne, but works fine, and has a lot more VFR data in its system for now.
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As I have used the Skyforce Skymap (on wich the KM150-550 etc, own microchip, are based) for some time with a lot of pleasure. The VFR info is great, the IFR less so. Lacking dual batteries / dual alternanotors this leaves the 182T more as a VFR mission airplane. The 430’s are better for IFR IMHO.
I would loved to have the deice, but I could not afford more than a SR20 (though at that time the 22 was a lot cheaper), so not everybody buys a SR20 for a different mission.
Very true! Now if only a new company (maybe named Stratus) could knock Jeppesen out of it’s monopoly on the navigational data market…<<
Others may have more direct experience on this topic, but the approach chart marking does seem to be evolving. For several years, fairly decent scanned copies of NOAA aproaches have been downloadable for free (AOPA site))…so you could always grab a few current charts in an emergency . Now I understand that ControlVision (who makes Anywhere map) has pocket plates that are veiwable on a cockpit screen…I think these are based on scanned versions of NOAA, and the website indicates a GPS moving airplane icon can be overlaid on the chart. It appears this is accomplished by manually choosing waypoints on the chart and then “calibrating” those to the GPS. Sounds rather gerry-rigged to me (hardly comparable to a full electrionic database), and I don’t know if it is practical in the cockpit in IMC. Anyone else had experience with these? (Compared to Jepp, the pocket plates seem dirt cheap…even a fraction of the cost of NOAA paper plates.)
For several years, fairly decent scanned copies of NOAA aproaches have been downloadable for free (AOPA site))…so you could always grab a few current charts in an emergency .
Now they’re all digital (vector graphics) and they print perfectly! The charts are available free on the AOPA site as well as Airnav and other sites. Sporty’s sells a DVD with these digital NACO charts for the entire USA for $10/month.
Dave,
I agree. Now it’s just a matter of alternative companies evolving to the point where they offer tangible competition to Jeppesen.
Or perhaps getting companies to use the alternatives in their products.
A few years ago all the flight planning software used Jepp-derived databases (if I
recall correctly with RMS and Dest Direct), now they use freely-available data. I
was hoping that Avidyne was going to use the really nice cheap NOAA plates as
their on-screen plate approach but … nope … they used Jepp. There’s another
1000 bucks a year to the Jepp machine, and of course you only get to see the
plates … in the plane.
Sporty’s sells a DVD with these digital NACO charts for the entire USA for $10/month.
Gordon,
I’m always looking for a reason to spend another $120 per year… but in this case, I need help to understand why they have a market? Assuming I’m not going to be using the DVD in the cockpit, is there reason not to just download what I need from one of the sites you mentioned?
The only reason I can see to buy the Sporty’s DVD is to have the ability to print any chart no matter where I end up, whether it’s an airport without any facilities or just on the road.
However, the frequency of this happening seems to be rather low, that’s for sure.
Gordon,
I’m always looking for a reason to spend another $120 per year… but in this case, I need help to understand why they have a market? Assuming I’m not going to be using the DVD in the cockpit, is there reason not to just download what I need from one of the sites you mentioned?
Mike.
You can load it all up on a tablet PC and have 'em in the cockpit. The Sporty’s install has an interface to lookup what you want.
You can load it all up on a tablet PC and have 'em in the cockpit. The Sporty’s install has an interface to lookup what you want.
Bruce,
OK, that makes sense. It’s not for me, because I carry the iPAQ loaded with them all anyway (Pocket Plates). In the ~ 18 months I’ve been carrying them, I have actually used them once in a situation where I genuinely needed to divert to some place I hadn’t anticipated before takeoff. Whether one carries Pocket Plates, the Sporty’s DVD or a complete set on actual paper, the utility is the same - something rarely needed, but nice to have.