Garmin Pilot for Android -- Tech Support, Tips, Tricks

Jay,

I got the latest update this week I believe it is 2.3.2 and it really cleaned up all of the complaints I had. Now, in split screen you can show the approach chart and move it around to see the profile section and when done press the airplane symbol to center the airplanes position in the center of the screen.

It really seems smooth and stable. I like it again. By the way I bought a 3Amp USB cig lighter adapter and used it to keep the N7 on charge while in fllight. I held the battery level during a one hour flight.
 
Atlcenter said:
Jay,

I got the latest update this week I believe it is 2.3.2 and it really cleaned up all of the complaints I had. Now, in split screen you can show the approach chart and move it around to see the profile section and when done press the airplane symbol to center the airplanes position in the center of the screen.

It really seems smooth and stable. I like it again. By the way I bought a 3Amp USB cig lighter adapter and used it to keep the N7 on charge while in fllight. I held the battery level during a one hour flight.
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Cool beans. It's evolved into a terrific app, IMHO. Kudos to Garmin!

I flew with ship's power to the N7 for the first time last week. It's nice to have the spaghetti factor reduced. No more coiled lighter cord stretched from one side of the plane to the other!
 
FYI: The Nexus 7 dock is finally available in the Play Store. It's listed for $29.95.
 
Jay Honeck said:
FYI: The Nexus 7 dock is finally available in the Play Store. It's listed for $29.95.
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Sold out... but costcaptain.com sold me a couple. Now we just need to see when they ship.

Edit: We're sorry to inform you that there's a delay in shipping your item.

Jay, if I don't have one by OSH, you'll need to bring yours along just as proof that they really DO exist.
 
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Here's a weird performance tip for y'all. In the last week, my Nexus 7's WiFi performance has degraded significantly. Where once I had a strong signal -- like, in my all-important Lazyboy recliner -- I now had a weak signal.

Concurrently, I also replaced my DSL modem/router, so my natural inclination was to assume something was going wrong with the new equipment. Therefore, I spent time tinkering with the modem, changing channels and physical position. With no improvement.

Finally, (using a great app called "WiFi Analyzer", which turns your device into a signal meter), I saw that the signal at my chair was dismal. No wonder I was having trouble connecting.

However, my laptop was having no such trouble. Hmmm.

So, using the same Wifi Analyzer app on my smartphone, side by side with the Nexus 7, I saw a remarkable difference. The WiFi being received on the N7 was fully 20% weaker than on my S3. WTF?

Something was obviously wrong with the N7, but what? I checked every setting. None was obviously wrong.

I tried changing orientation of the N7. Holding it upside down, the signal meter almost dropped to zero. WTF?

That's when I noticed that the upper left corner of the case was slightly separated. I squeezed the case back together, and it gave a satisfying snap.

I had the WiFi signal meter on the screen as I did this, and was amazed to see the signal strength pop up 20%! Somehow, having one corner of the case separated -- this is the impact point where the N7 hit the concrete two months ago, after falling out of Mary's purse -- had an enormous effect on WiFi performance.

So, strangely enough, if you're having WiFi issues on a Nexus 7, check to see that the seam around the unit is tight. Go figure.
 
New Version out this morning....

Version 2.3.3:
- Fixed issue where SafeTaxi in split-screen might show the wrong airport
- Fixed user reported crashes
- Other minor performance improvements



==
Michael
 
sonex293 said:
New Version out this morning....

Version 2.3.3:
- Fixed issue where SafeTaxi in split-screen might show the wrong airport
- Fixed user reported crashes
- Other minor performance improvements



==
Michael
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Cool. Flying with it later today.
 
I thought I read somewhere you can use two mobile devices on one subscription. How do I do that?

Got it! Garmin support is awesome!

Log onto the second device using the same email account and password you used to subscribe in the first place. Two for the price of one!
 
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I flew two hours with the new update today. (We picked up our 2013 vintage Amelia's Landing wine, with help from this group's own David White), and Garmin Pilot performed flawlessly.

They seem to have it on rails now,
:D
 
I knocked out a couple hours tonight, too. But then I've never had a problem with it in flight..
 
Jay Honeck said:
I flew two hours with the new update today. (We picked up our 2013 vintage Amelia's Landing wine, with help from this group's own David White), and Garmin Pilot performed flawlessly.

They seem to have it on rails now,
:D
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Same -- Flew up to Cedar Mills and had dinner with my daughter at Pelican Landing. First grass-strip landing for me!
 
roddie said:
Same -- Flew up to Cedar Mills and had dinner with my daughter at Pelican Landing. First grass-strip landing for me!
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I love grass strips. Haven't landed on one since moving to Texas in 2010. Everything here is paved!
 
Jay Honeck said:
I love grass strips. Haven't landed on one since moving to Texas in 2010. Everything here is paved!
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That's so funny -- around you, none; aound here (DFW), plenty. I actually flew by FIVE of them from KTKI to 3T0.

I would have expected the opposite. Maybe it's the proximity to the Gulf?
 
Jay Honeck said:
Thanks for the link. Our dog jumped up and managed to crack a corner of the screen on Mary's Nexus 7, so we may be in the market for a replacement soon. I love my Samsung phone, so maybe we will check out their tablet.
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My dog tried to eat Karen's Samsung tablet from her workplace. He succeeded in chewing the fake leather cover to the cardboard inside and shattering the screen.

My dog are my homework was a real statement that night for the Mrs. ;)
 
The more I use this app the more I like it. Pilot is rock solid, easier on the battery, pinch zoom works great. I have made up my mind to purchase a GDL-39 to go with Pilot. How many of you purchased the battery as well?

The planes I fly dont have cigarette sockets so I need to make a "female cigarette socket to male USB" adaptor so I can charge the GDL-39 from my small USB battery pack. Just in case it were to get low on battery I'd want a backup system. It's this model and it works great. I just need to get from male cigarette to male USB. Any ideas?

http://www.amazon.com/i-Sound-Porta...122&sr=8-2&keywords=16000mah+external+battery
 
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snoboy said:
The more I use this app the more I like it. Pilot is rock solid, easier on the battery, pinch zoom works great. I have made up my mind to purchase a GDL-39 to go with Pilot. How many of you purchased the battery as well?

The planes I fly dont have cigarette sockets so I need to make a "female cigarette socket to male USB" adaptor so I can charge the GDL-39 from my small USB battery pack. Just in case it were to get low on battery I'd want a backup system. It's this model and it works great. I just need to get from male cigarette to male USB. Any ideas?

http://www.amazon.com/i-Sound-Porta...122&sr=8-2&keywords=16000mah+external+battery
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I've got the battery pack for the GDL-39, and it doesn't seem to get much of a charge on the (usually less than 1 hour) flights we take. What little charge it gets seems to dissipate before the next flight, so I am unable to turn it on before start-up.

This is disappointing, as I would like to pair the Bluetooth before start-up. If you get one, plan on taking it home and actually charging it with the wall charger.
 
I think Garmin has done such a good job on Pilot I renewed for another year at $49.99 so I'm good through August of 2014. No regrets
 
snoboy said:
I think Garmin has done such a good job on Pilot I renewed for another year at $49.99 so I'm good through August of 2014. No regrets
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I'm planning to renew at OSH. I hope Garmin runs their usual "special price offer".
:D
 
Flew to Galveston on Monday, about 1.2 hours. Everything worked perfectly on the flight out.

On the return flight, I had a ***** of a time pairing the Nexis 7 with the GDL-39. Once again, I forgot to do a clean reboot before flight, so the N7 was in Mary's purse with Garmin Pilot churning away in the background for several hours. Pairing is never an issue after a clean reboot.

Discovered one cool thing when I zoomed out to a much larger geographic area than normal: It was displaying traffic hundreds of miles away, overlaid on the sectional. Never noticed that it did that before.
 
Jay Honeck said:
Flew to Galveston on Monday, about 1.2 hours. Everything worked perfectly on the flight out.

On the return flight, I had a ***** of a time pairing the Nexis 7 with the GDL-39. Once again, I forgot to do a clean reboot before flight, so the N7 was in Mary's purse with Garmin Pilot churning away in the background for several hours. Pairing is never an issue after a clean reboot.

Discovered one cool thing when I zoomed out to a much larger geographic area than normal: It was displaying traffic hundreds of miles away, overlaid on the sectional. Never noticed that it did that before.
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So if you're receiving traffic via your GDL-39 does that mean the traffic is broadcasting an ADS-B out signal. Your not able to see any ol' traffic right?
 
snoboy said:
So if you're receiving traffic via your GDL-39 does that mean the traffic is broadcasting an ADS-B out signal. Your not able to see any ol' traffic right?
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Yep. But here's the deal: There is a separate "traffic display" screen in Garmin Pilot that only has a 48 NM range. I don't know why, but that's the outer ring of the display -- 48 nautical miles.

For that reason, I presumed that 48 NM was the maximum range at which I could pick up traffic. Imagine my surprise when I zoomed out (on the sectional map display) and saw a bunch of little moving traffic blips over San Antonio, a hundred (or more) miles away! Very cool.

But I sure wish they could nail down the bluetooth issue. It ALWAYS works well after a clean reboot of the Nexus 7. It NEVER seems to work well if the unit has been running for hours. And I don't know why.
 
Regarding your comment below, I do wish Garmin & Asus/Nexus would have a meeting of the minds on their bluetooth compatibility.

I just did my first long cross country flights since receiving my Nexus 7 back from the Asus repair center (2.5 week turnaround repair for issue of not charging while turned on).

I averaged about one reboot and repairing per 75 minutes of flight for 9.3 hours of flight time.

I am still evaluating the traffic aspect, but so far have noticed that the unit does not pick up much traffic even amongst the busy east coast corridors. I do not leave the traffic screen up as a matter of course.

At this point, I look at the Nexus 7 & GDL39 system as unreliable for IFR flight, but sure do appreciate the weather updates when it's working!

John

Jay Honeck said:
But I sure wish they could nail down the bluetooth issue. It ALWAYS works well after a clean reboot of the Nexus 7. It NEVER seems to work well if the unit has been running for hours. And I don't know why.
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ChesapeakeJohnny said:
Regarding your comment below, I do wish Garmin & Asus/Nexus would have a meeting of the minds on their bluetooth compatibility.

I just did my first long cross country flights since receiving my Nexus 7 back from the Asus repair center (2.5 week turnaround repair for issue of not charging while turned on).

I averaged about one reboot and repairing per 75 minutes of flight for 9.3 hours of flight time.

I am still evaluating the traffic aspect, but so far have noticed that the unit does not pick up much traffic even amongst the busy east coast corridors. I do not leave the traffic screen up as a matter of course.

At this point, I look at the Nexus 7 & GDL39 system as unreliable for IFR flight, but sure do appreciate the weather updates when it's working!

John
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The Nexus 7 rebooted during flight, or you rebooted it?

The auto-reboot issue was licked two OS updates ago. Are you running the latest/greatest version of Jelly Bean?

Interesting that the unit would not charge while turned on. The only time I've seen that is when I tried to use a phone charger (500 milliamps) instead of a tablet charger (2 amps). They look identical, so it's easy to mix them up.

As far as traffic goes, it's evolving. Over time, as more people get the squitters installed, we will see more. For now it's more of a novelty, IMHO.
 
Jay Honeck said:
The Nexus 7 rebooted during flight, or you rebooted it?
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I rebooted in order to "clear" the system.

What most frequently happens is that I notice that the Nexus 7 is not providing updated data. I will then check in the Nexus 7 bluetooth settings and it will show that the GDL39 is paired, yet if I check Garmin Pilot settings, the GDL39 is not registering as linked.

Sometimes I can upair, turn off bluetooth, turn on bluetooth, and repair. Sometimes that will not work and I must do a complete reboot of the Nexus 7.

As far as I'm concerned, the Nexus 7 + GDL39 is a glitchy match that is not yet reliable. As I told my wife, however, getting those weather briefings from my destination 500 miles away is golden.

I have confidence that the Garmin folks will get the bluetooth connectivity right, given their responsiveness in the past, but they're simply not there at this point.

Cheers,
J
 
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What most frequently happens is that I notice that the Nexus 7 is not providing updated data.
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I noticed that Thursday when the N7 internal GPS was not getting a good view of the sky (in a 182). The little airplane stayed visible, the parameters across the top of the map stayed plausible, but the numbers at the lower left of the "Classic" instrument display were flickering in and out.

This is unacceptable. I sent a bug report via Garmin tech support and suggested that they indicate GPS unreliability by putting red-x-boxes over the little airplane and the affected parameters a la G1000 failure indicators.

I also made a feature request for a quick means to check the GPS signal/a bar graph like the Android app "GPS Test" provides or even a monochrome bar graph like the panel navigators provide.

Sounds like they need the same things for the GDL-39.
 
airdale said:
I noticed that Thursday when the N7 internal GPS was not getting a good view of the sky (in a 182). The little airplane stayed visible, the parameters across the top of the map stayed plausible, but the numbers at the lower left of the "Classic" instrument display were flickering in and out.

This is unacceptable. I sent a bug report via Garmin tech support and suggested that they indicate GPS unreliability by putting red-x-boxes over the little airplane and the affected parameters a la G1000 failure indicators.

I also made a feature request for a quick means to check the GPS signal/a bar graph like the Android app "GPS Test" provides or even a monochrome bar graph like the panel navigators provide.

Sounds like they need the same things for the GDL-39.
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Good ideas. A GPS status indicator would help us troubleshoot the problem for them, too -- since right now all we know is "it stopped working".

Interestingly, when my GDL-39 unpairs, the moving map and other features continue as normal. I presume this means it just automatically switches to using the N7's internal GPS. The only indication I have of an unpaired GDL-39 is traffic and weather non-displays.
 
Jay Honeck said:
Good ideas. A GPS status indicator would help us troubleshoot the problem for them, too -- since right now all we know is "it stopped working".

Interestingly, when my GDL-39 unpairs, the moving map and other features continue as normal. I presume this means it just automatically switches to using the N7's internal GPS. The only indication I have of an unpaired GDL-39 is traffic and weather non-displays.
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How often does this happen Jay?

As was stated above, the Nexus version is not as stable as I would like either. I found some errors with the altitude reporting that I have been able to link directly to the Nexus internal GPS. When I have it connected to an external XGPS150, the altitude reported matches what I see on my iPad both for the ForeFlight and Garmin Pilot I have loaded on it.

I think the Nexus version of Pilot is also not as refined as the iPad version. It is fine for the approach plate display, but am concerned about robustness.
 
I think the Nexus version of Pilot is also not as refined as the iPad version. It is fine for the approach plate display, but am concerned about robustness.
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Yes. The android market is clearly second priority. I am hoping this will change as the market develops. I am also hoping to see a high-quality WingX as Hilton recognizes the market growth. He is recruiting for Android developers, so maybe that is a hopeful sign. I would like to ditch Garmin and their proprietary interfaces (just as I ditched the iPad for the same reason).

Re error and unusual condition detection, that is thankless dog work compared to the fun of building, testing, and selling new features. So given the immaturity of these products it is not surprising that the dull stuff is not yet done well.

One thing I would like to see short term on Android GP is the plethora of weather maps/images available both on ForeFlight and on the iThings version of Pilot.
 
Marauder said:
How often does this happen Jay?

As was stated above, the Nexus version is not as stable as I would like either. I found some errors with the altitude reporting that I have been able to link directly to the Nexus internal GPS. When I have it connected to an external XGPS150, the altitude reported matches what I see on my iPad both for the ForeFlight and Garmin Pilot I have loaded on it.

I think the Nexus version of Pilot is also not as refined as the iPad version. It is fine for the approach plate display, but am concerned about robustness.
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It never unpairs (on a regular duration flight of 1.5 hours or less) if I've done a fresh N7 reboot before flight.

It occasionally unpairs if I forget to do a fresh reboot. There is no consistency to it that I've noticed. It could be something as simple as a conflict with another app.

I still have not noticed any consistent difference between what the N7 GPS reports versus what our 496 reports, but I must confess that I don't use it for altitude information.
 
Count me in as a N7 user with the Garmin App. Was playing with it last night (static) and can't wait to go out Wednesday and give it a try.
 
JasonCT said:
Count me in as a N7 user with the Garmin App. Was playing with it last night (static) and can't wait to go out Wednesday and give it a try.
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Report back with what you see on the altimeter and what the Nexus Pilot reports back. Doing an informal survey on the Nexus internal GPS antennae.
 
Jay Honeck said:
Did you get the GDL-39 ADS-B receiver?
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Not yet Jay, the tablet was actually an impulse buy and happened to be looking at apps and decided to try Garmin.

I will most probably get the GDL-39 a little later tho.
 
JasonCT said:
Not yet Jay, the tablet was actually an impulse buy and happened to be looking at apps and decided to try Garmin.

I will most probably get the GDL-39 a little later tho.
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You will love flying with this set up. It is SO much better than my old Lowrance Air map 2000c, or even my panel-docked 496.
 
Marauder said:
Report back with what you see on the altimeter and what the Nexus Pilot reports back. Doing an informal survey on the Nexus internal GPS antennae.
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I took the N7 flying yesterday evening. The (non-GPS) altimeter read 3500, the N7 read 3340.
 
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