ForeFlight getting cute?

bugsiegel

Pre-Flight
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Jan 8, 2015
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Bugsiegel
I was able to send an approach plate to the map but no more. Although I didn't land this way it as a good way to quickly visualize my direction and entry point into an approach. No more!
I was also able to see where I was on the airport. No more!
Take features away in order to convince users to upgrade or am I doing something wrong?
Is foreflight leaving the door of opportunity open for one of the competitors?
 
As Nate points out, the "plates on maps" version is part of the Pro Plus subscription.

@bugsiegel ... which one do you have?

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I have it on the pro subscription. They keep pushing for more upgrades.
 
I dumped ForeFlight last year when they raised their rates. And I did not like the propitiatory Stratus connection. FltPlanGo is FREE. WingX VFR is FREE. WingX Pro is free for CFIs. Check the other topic threads on POA for more.
 
Have had foreflight since it’s release,compared it to wing x. Still think it is well worth the money. Everything in aviation seems to go up over time.
 
I dumped ForeFlight last year when they raised their rates. And I did not like the propitiatory Stratus connection. FltPlanGo is FREE. WingX VFR is FREE. WingX Pro is free for CFIs. Check the other topic threads on POA for more.

Avare is free also. Works for the type of flying I do. Then again, usually I’m not using any EFB while flying.
 
I love how I got an email advising me that their website and the data downloading would be shut down for upgrades at midnight last night so... PLAN AHEAD, DO YOUR PACKING, YADA, YADA YADA.

Got the email at 10:30 last night.

Nice ample warning guys,
 
I love how I got an email advising me that their website and the data downloading would be shut down for upgrades at midnight last night so... PLAN AHEAD, DO YOUR PACKING, YADA, YADA YADA.

Got the email at 10:30 last night.

Nice ample warning guys,
Were you planning another one of those lights out midnight runs Tim? ;-)
 
Avare is free also. Works for the type of flying I do. Then again, usually I’m not using any EFB while flying.

Avare is great. I rarely use it for inflight navigation, but am starting to use it for Approach Plates. Georeferenced approach plates. Georeferenced airpprt diagrams that come up automatically.

Let me repeat: Avare is free. Georeferenced plates and airport diagrams. The $200 ForeFlight annual subscription will buy a fine android tablet to run it on, too.
 
Avare is great. I rarely use it for inflight navigation, but am starting to use it for Approach Plates. Georeferenced approach plates. Georeferenced airpprt diagrams that come up automatically.

Let me repeat: Avare is free. Georeferenced plates and airport diagrams. The $200 ForeFlight annual subscription will buy a fine android tablet to run it on, too.

I used the approach plate on Avare for my ME a couple months back. Worked great. Most of my flying is local VFR stuff so Avare doesn’t get much of a workout for my day to day flying.
 
My subscription is so basic it isn’t even shown on the web. I don’t even pay 0.1AMU/year. For the incredible features I get, including handling the ADSB in, I think it a total bargain. Anyone flying an airplane who can’t spend that kind of money for unparalleled situational awareness isn’t doing a very good job of risk assessment.
 
I love how I got an email advising me that their website and the data downloading would be shut down for upgrades at midnight last night so... PLAN AHEAD, DO YOUR PACKING, YADA, YADA YADA.

Got the email at 10:30 last night.

Nice ample warning guys,
Saw the notice on their social media channels a few days ago.
 
you can get geo reference IAP charts overlaying the enroute chart and inable a automatic function that will always put the closest approach on your enroute from Skycharts for $3.95 a month and this stuff is a premium subscription of FF.
 
No kiddin? Kinda like POA. Are ya listening FF? I know yer hangin out checkin out these sites. All the gimmicks are cool but when they start slowin things down they get annoying.

Especially at current Apple pricing. $2000 for a phone and iPad as primary and backup, every three years or so, to keep up with both iOS and Aviation app bloat, is going to get old real fast.

Coming from the iPad 1 and early FF, you think, “Okay, it’s just because it was First Generation and they’ve added a lot to both the OS and the apps” as you buy iPad 2... and new phone to go with it...

Later you see iPad Mini and think, “Great form factor for the cockpit, and this crap is getting slow again...” maybe even go iPhone 6 Plus so your “backup” is a useable size. Nice. But man that was expensive.

Now it’s, “Alright enough of this crap. Features we don’t need ever in a cockpit and devices that have now hit incredible price points and grew too large to fit in a reasonable space in any cockpit... and they keep getting slower and slower with no significant feature upgrades to the OS and only corporate pilot upgrades for the apps. Might be time to get off this expensive merry go round.”

And along the way the “tabbed” interface is really showing its age. Not in terms of looks, it looks great, but in terms of fast reliable use in a cockpit where two button presses max should get you what you need to see.

Garmin is leading in that regard.
Home->Whatever. You’re there. Simplicity. No more heads down time than necessary.

Turning “layers” on and off? Kinda dumb. Set your layers and forget them and if you need the info on a layer on the map, go straight to that Home function for that data. (Weather, Traffic, etc.) If you want to see those things you want to see them right now, with minimal fiddling.

The cockpit is no place for farting with layers like a Photoshop session in front of a 30” monitor at home. And the layer list has grown to the point where it takes up most of the vertical space available, in landscape mode. The interface is degenerating into what I call on websites “target practice”.

Garmin? Home. Then big fat button, Weather. Then big fat button, Radar.

The UI is becoming important now that all these apps can show twenty or more things on the map. I want my layers left alone on the map. If I go to “Map” I want my layers I use on there.

If I want a better look at weather or traffic or any of the layered items, I want them available standalone in two to three button presses. Big enough I can almost do it without even looking.

I think Garmin “gets it” better because they do panel mount touchscreens now. ForeFlight is still coding their UI like it’s a reference tool on top of the panel mount stuff, which is fine, but it’s getting obnoxious to get to a single piece of information/category about the flight.

If you are used to it, and came up before they added all the stuff to menus all over the place, it’s not too bad. If you step back and see it from someone picking it up today brand new, it’s not very intuitive anymore. It needs some UI/UX redesign.

Touchscreens need buttons bigger than a line of text in a cockpit. Garmin gets this. I’m not sure ForeFlight does yet. Their buttons are less than 1/4” in some cases on the mini. That’s too small for a touch interface. Buttons generally need to be the size of a fingertip.

And no, I’m not carrying around a stylus just so more crap can be crammed on a screen. Not unless the device has a place to hold it internally where it stays with the tablet.
 
Avare is great. I rarely use it for inflight navigation, but am starting to use it for Approach Plates. Georeferenced approach plates. Georeferenced airpprt diagrams that come up automatically.

Let me repeat: Avare is free. Georeferenced plates and airport diagrams. The $200 ForeFlight annual subscription will buy a fine android tablet to run it on, too.
And thats a new tablet EVERY year!!
 
I see now that I somehow reordered the lesser subscription. I think I did this because I didn't remember paying 199 last year. I looked back and paid 149 last year.
Just upgraded !?
 
Pro is still 149.
 
Yep, like I said, Pro is 149, Pro Plus is 199. Click "Build your own plan".
 
WingX for $75/year or 3 years for $200 ($199.99). I'm also starting to play around with FltPlan as I use their website to file flight plans. Their app is looking better now than when I looked at it previously.
 
I have it on the pro subscription. They keep pushing for more upgrades.
They've never pressured me to upgrade from Pro, and at least as of last fall, I was still able to send approaches plates to the map page. (In fact, I just checked and it still works for me.)
 
I got the notice in an e-mail around a week ago. Since I didn’t plan on filing or flying at midnight I just deleted the email
 
Pro is still 149.
It looks like the old plans are grandfathered; I was able to renew Pro at $149 instead of having to go Basic Plus or Pro Plus.
 
My trick is buying iTunes cards on discount. Load them to your account and when time comes, you save. I got almost 20% this year....
 
I noticed my ipad (not sure which ver.) was displaying a number today, couldn't tell if it was simply GPS altitude or what, as it was an unpressurized flight.
Will test on a P aircraft.
Might be handy, especially if it can trigger an alert when the cabin altitude climbs past a preset limit.
 
I dumped ForeFlight last year when they raised their rates. And I did not like the propitiatory Stratus connection. FltPlanGo is FREE. WingX VFR is FREE. WingX Pro is free for CFIs. Check the other topic threads on POA for more.

Now that Boeing owns FF, expect increases and some of the small free guys getting bought or litigated out of business.
 
yep, tried it in a 3000' cabin it reported GPS altitude. No baro sensor on my ipad. Don't think it'll kill me
 
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