Samsung? Ipad? GarminPilot? Foreflight?

Kodiak

Kodiak

Pre-Flight
Joined
Mar 4, 2020
Messages
47
Location
KSWW
Display Name
Display name:
Kodiak
This may have bee covered many times before, but I am just in the market for getting started with some kind of flight computer.

My desires are leaning toward Samsung/Garmin Pilot. Reading somewhere that Garmin Pilot was created for aviation, whereas Foreflight was created to sell IPads, I like the Garmin Pilot idea better. I understand that Garmin Pilot will run on IPads(?) and IPads are supposed to be faster. I am going to purchase a Garmin glass cockpit in the plane I wish to purchase and want something that can interchange with the flight computer. I don't know what kind of connections I will need. Do I need wifi, bluetooth, cell phone?

Thanks
 
Garmin Pilot was developed to sell Garmin avionics. ForeFlight was developed by pilots for pilots. I’ve been using Foreflight since it was brand new, and it is the most powerful option for the iPad in aviation, IMHO. I have tried and seen others use the other options. ForeFlight will work with Garmin avionics and others. Garmin Pilot will only work with Garmin.
 
A good setup is

iPad Mini with the Cell WiFi so you get the GPS chip. Turning on the cell WiFi service is optional

ForeFlight with the mid-tier subscription. The top tier has many useful things for the big airplanes, but not for the single engine props

Connection to a FF compatible ADSB-In device
 
One thing that FF has that others don’t do as well, is the preflight weather charts and information. Hence the name FOREFlight. The one thing that I wish FF would implement is temporal weather histograms. It would be nice to see weather along your route as a function of time into the future. The best feature I have seen is the one in WeatherSpork. The creator of that site was originally with FF as their main Meteorologist guy. WeatherSpork offers a trial subscription through the Apple store.
 
If you go with garmin in the panel, it makes sense to get garmin pilot, to specially if you want to get DB concierge. Also the GP interface will help you learn whatever garmin panel you will have. That’s the reason I stuck with GP. iOS version is way ahead of android version, whatever EFB you choose, the 3 largest in the market, works way better on iOS, in fact FlyQ don’t even have a android version, last time I checked.

They all mostly do the same thing.
Download trials and try it yourself and then decide.

Ok, I will let the FF VS GP battle continue now. While at it, make sure you panel is in a low wing plane
 
If you do Garmin Pilot, make sure you get an iPad. The android version is not as good. I happen to like GP a lot, but FF is very good too. GP can be a better deal if you have a Garmin Stack that requires a database subscription. It keeps the total GP cost to $79/year. If you are renting, I'd guess FF is a better choice as it works across more avionics.
 
Foreflight is great if your an apple person. Im an android user, and I didn't care for the ff user interface. Garmin will not work with stratux, which was a deal breaker for me. I wound up with an app called "ifly gps". It does everything I want it to, the ui makes sense to me, and it's a little cheaper. The downside is with a much smaller user base, updates and support are a lot less.

They all have free trials, so give them a shot. If you're an apple fan, you'll probably use ff, if you have a panel full of Garmin, you'll probably end up there.

I get along great with an 8" Lenovo tablet that cost about $100. Fits nicely in the middle of the yoke on the pipers I fly. My tablet is wifi only. Haven't been to an fbo yet that didn't have internet if needed, and I get adsb weather and notams from the stratux anyway. If I desperately need data i could always hotspot with my phone.

Edit: oops totally missed the Garmin panel upgrades bit. Pretty much disregard everything I said... I'm no help lol.
 
not too long ago I wrestled with teh same question.
As a renter for the time being, I'm not maried to any particular panel mounted avionics, although there is some garmin in the plane I'm working in currently.
Anyway, I used to be all-in with IOS but transitioned to android a few years back
I really did NOT want to get an IOS device
so I ended up going with Garmin Pilot.

Bought a lenovo yoga smart tab. It has built in gps chip and has so far been a solid tablet. Runs pilot well. I like it.

& I really have no specific complaints with pilot either....although I haven't had too much chance to really use it on any cross country flights yet.
I so far have not bought any ADSB solution. I think I might be able to get it out of the plane's garmin transponder.

that said, I kinda regret not going with an ipad and foreflight. Mainly becasue it's so popular. Seems like it probably has more traction regarding updates, support, etc...
Also, I'm not overly happy with the limited options for adsb boxes with garmin.
 
Suggestion? Grab a cheap Samsung tablet and put FltPlan Go on it (it's free). Use it for a while. It works fine. Once you're used to it, you'll have a better handle on what you like and what you dislike personally. From there, try iFlyGPS (they give you a full month working trial without a purchase or credit card). If you still find it lacking, then check out Garmin or the iPad world, Foreflight, or FlyQ. Rather than jump in and spend money out front, test the waters and then open your wallet. Your desire to interface w/ your Garmin panel may very well, as you've already indicated, ultimately determine your final selection of EFB, but then again you may find that the ability to interface w/ your panel isn't as important as you think it is, depending upon the kind of flying you do... VFR, or a lot of IFR?
 
Rcmutz said:
One thing that FF has that others don’t do as well, is the preflight weather charts and information. Hence the name FOREFlight. The one thing that I wish FF would implement is temporal weather histograms. It would be nice to see weather along your route as a function of time into the future. The best feature I have seen is the one in WeatherSpork. The creator of that site was originally with FF as their main Meteorologist guy. WeatherSpork offers a trial subscription through the Apple store.
Click to expand...

FlyQ just rolled this option out last month.
 
I am an Android user. I bought an iPad for GP, because the support for Android tablets is pretty poor and you can't get Jeppesen charts. It works great on my Samsung phone. I really dislike Apple products and only use the iPad for GP. I file 95% of the time from my phone - FF can't do that for me, which makes it a poor product.

Jesse Saint said:
Garmin Pilot was developed to sell Garmin avionics. ForeFlight was developed by pilots for pilots. I’ve been using Foreflight since it was brand new, and it is the most powerful option for the iPad in aviation, IMHO. I have tried and seen others use the other options. ForeFlight will work with Garmin avionics and others. Garmin Pilot will only work with Garmin.
Click to expand...

Lol. FF only works with Apple, which is an inferior platform. It also is less intuitive, slower and less comprehensive than GP.
 
N1120A said:
I file 95% of the time from my phone - FF can't do that for me, which makes it a poor product.
Click to expand...

that's a good point that i had forgotten in my regret for not doing the ipad and FF thing.... I wouldn't be able run it on my phone! That was probably one of my original considerations in going the way I did.....
 
MuseChaser said:
Suggestion? Grab a cheap Samsung tablet and put FltPlan Go on it (it's free). Use it for a while. It works fine. Once you're used to it, you'll have a better handle on what you like and what you dislike personally.
Click to expand...

Or Avare, which is also free. You may find it's all you need, it is for me, though I don't have any panel mounted avionics to interface with.

But it doesn't have to be a Samsung tablet, there are dozens of manufacturers out there. I'm using an older Nvidia tablet right now, had a Lenovo before that.

N1120A said:
I am an Android user. I bought an iPad for GP, because the support for Android tablets is pretty poor and you can't get Jeppesen charts. It works great on my Samsung phone. I really dislike Apple products and only use the iPad for GP. I file 95% of the time from my phone - FF can't do that for me, which makes it a poor product.
Click to expand...

This. I have Avare on both my phone and tablet. If I'm planning a XC I bring the tablet, but having it on my phone is great for a spur of the moment flight to an unfamiliar airport.
 
I have foreflight on my phone and I Pad with a Garmin 430/530 has worked well for me for years.
 
Several choices I wasn't aware of mentioned here. I think that I will go with a free app first, maybe Avare. I am just too anti-Apple, so may go with a Samsung product.
Thanks for the suggestions.
 
Kodiak said:
This may have bee covered many times before, but I am just in the market for getting started with some kind of flight computer.

My desires are leaning toward Samsung/Garmin Pilot. Reading somewhere that Garmin Pilot was created for aviation, whereas Foreflight was created to sell IPads, I like the Garmin Pilot idea better. I understand that Garmin Pilot will run on IPads(?) and IPads are supposed to be faster. I am going to purchase a Garmin glass cockpit in the plane I wish to purchase and want something that can interchange with the flight computer. I don't know what kind of connections I will need. Do I need wifi, bluetooth, cell phone?

Thanks
Click to expand...
I am an android person and not an IOS/apple guy. When I started my instrument training, I opted for a Nexus 9 and the android version of GP because it ran on an android platform. I successfully did all my training using that setup. The Nexus died and so I switched to an iPad Mini4 because there were no reasonable successors to the Nexus that suited my purpose. The android version of GP is not (but improves all the time) as feature rich as the iPad running on the IOS platform, but I still use it on my Galaxy s10. Foreflight is the darling of the GA community, but Garmin Pilot is as capable. The iPad with GP is the way to go in my opinion if your are contemplating a Garmin panel. I purchased a 182p that already had a Garmin GTN 750 w/flightstream 510 datacard and a GTX 345 transponder; it has been upgraded to dual G5's, and the GFC500 autopilot. I have to tell you that it all plays together seamlessly. Its designed to work as a system. You can talk to the GTN from GP on the iPad and viceversa as an example. The flightstream 510 card replaces the chart datacard and uses bluetooth to transfer flight plans, GPS and AHRS info, viewing ADS-B traffic and wx. It uses wifi to update charts and databases. Foreflight will also run on the system, but does not encompass all the features that the Garmin Pilot app would provide as part of the system. In my experience there is nothing more that you would or could want.
 
It seems that GP with IOS is the way to go. I am thinking that I will got with a Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 32GB Android P first and use Avare, at least during pilot training. My main concern, as a software engineer, is that I think that I can write programs for the android, but not IOS. It is just too much of a headache to learn another language.
 
I went with GP, since at the time, I only had android (Galaxy S9+). I ran it on a yoke mount in planes I'd rent. Since buying a 172, I put in a Garmin 2" GPS / transponder (GNX 375). I'm running with a 10.2" iPad7 mounted to the panel in front of the co pilot. The iPad gets ADS-B traffic and weather, AHRS, GPS position and can send and retrieve flight plans. Despite the iPad, I still run with my Galaxy on my yoke. That way if I need to look something up, I can do it with my phone and not disturb the information displayed on the ipad. I have it set to a split screen of the moving map on the left and the traffic page on the right. Garmin allows 3 devices per subscription, so it works out well.

I have another partner in the plane and he uses ForeFlight and it works well with the 375. I've never used FF. I'll likely get to know it over the next few months when I fly with the partner.

If I had an iPad back when I decided to start using an EFB, I probably would have started with FF. Garmin has a 30 day free trial, as does FF.
 
Jim K said:
I wound up with an app called "ifly gps". It does everything I want it to, the ui makes sense to me, and it's a little cheaper.
Click to expand...

I have an iFly 740b model and understand that the app version is just as good. In many cases it seems the app gets the software upgrade before the units do. It is extremely easy to use and is designed by pilots for pilots. They work to keep the functions simple and no more than two layers to any function. They also have a free trial so why not give them a try.

Edit: I use a Stratux unit via Wi-Fi to get traffic and weather on the 740b.
 
Rcmutz said:
Yes, I saw that. Even tried the free month, but FlyQ doesn’t work with the Stratus 2S I just bought second hand.
Click to expand...

Stratus 2 had specifically blocked FlyQ when they were married to FF. That was intentional. Then FF got a divorce and Stratus 3 again supports FlyQ
 
Don't see how you can go wrong with either Garmin Pilot or ForeFlight. Test drive both and see what you like. I have ForeFlight and haven't used Garmin; I can only speak to FF.

I went with Apple I Pad and ForeFlight because IMHO it is the standard - the most popular. I got it on the advice of my CFI and my cousin who is a test pilot with Cessna. I see it used much more than Garmin. It uses an I Pad which is now everywhere, well supported, updated continuously, etc. Every mount I see for is for an I Pad (I have a Ram mount). So many I Pads in the world I just bought a used one from Gazelle years ago for a great price. It's a 9.6 inch Pro with cell service capability to get the GPS - a few model year's old now, but has never had a hic up. Foreflight is updated all the time, seems easy to use, etc. Easy to tie it into either a Stratus (via WiFi) or a Garmin transponder (via bluetooth) for in flight traffic, moving map, weather, etc. I have a "back up" since it also runs on my I Phone.

I can't see myself flying without it.

Hope these thoughts help.
 
@WDD "with cell service capability to get the GPS"

Do you have to have cell service to get GPS? I noticed that when I switched to an older cell phone recently that my former GPS apps stopped working on the discontinued phone.
 
Apple only puts the gps rx in the iPad's with cell data because.... apple. You don't have to have cell service to use the gps. Many get around this by using an external gps source. Your Garmin avionics will probably feed position data to your tablet.

Most android tablets have internal gps regardless of whether or not they have a cellular radio.
 
You do not activate cell service to use the gps embedded in your device. If your device has cell service capability, it has a built in gps that will allow its use when using an EFB app like ForeFlight. If you purchase an ipad, for example, without cell capability, there is no embedded gps so you will have to acquire that data from another device like Bad Elf of Stratus. GPS apps utilize the gps chip on your device in order to work properly...if the app is not working, then the app is the issue...not the embedded gps.
 
Affirmative on going with the iPad (with cellular) plus ForeFlight and Garmin. And ForeFlight continues to update with new features.
 
As does GP. (Not that I take full advantage of any of them. I try to keep things simple. Maybe if I was still in my 20's, I'd be able to keep up. I use to be a technophile. Seems I'm sloooowly morphing into a *gasp* luddite. :eek:

In all seriousness, new features come out periodically with GP. Two of the latest are flight profile view (showing airspace and obstacles along your flight path in a profile view, and chart annotations.) Below is the latest blocks of release notes.

Screenshot_20200504-095128_Adobe Acrobat.jpg
Again, not married to GP. Though I do have a premium subscription ($150/year) and I believe the fuel price overlay pays for itself it fuel savings. I just downloaded a 30 day trial of Foreflight. I'll give them a gander and see how it stacks up against GP
 
As they say in politics "keep it simple...." I have FF on my ipad and iphone. The gps signal is supplied to the ipad from my Sentry ads-b. No problems:)
 
I believe by linking your ForeFlight to the transponder - which has WASS accuracy - your GPS mapping goes to WASS accuracy as well. Probably same with Garmin’s app.

Sentry is WASS as well I think.
 
Unless you have some sort of religious anti-Apple thing going on, you'll want to get the iPad. ForeFlight is by far the largest (fact) and best (opinion) EFB app and is only available on the iPad. Garmin Pilot is on both iOS and Android, but the iOS version is quite a bit better than the Android version. Tells ya where their competition is...

FWIW, I even know a guy who works for Google (ya know, the Android people) and has an iPad for flying with.

N1120A said:
I file 95% of the time from my phone - FF can't do that for me, which makes it a poor product.
Click to expand...

Clarification: ForeFlight can file from phones just fine. It can't file from YOUR phone because you've got an Android phone.

That doesn't make it a poor product, it makes it a product that does not support the platform you chose.
 
I have a G430W, and G330ES transponder. Can someone explain how you can get the gps signal to the iPad running FF. Neither have Bluetooth or WiFi capability, so probably not possible.
 
Rcmutz said:
I have a G430W, and G330ES transponder. Can someone explain how you can get the gps signal to the iPad running FF. Neither have Bluetooth or WiFi capability, so probably not possible.
Click to expand...
You have three options
- Native GPS in the iPad, this requires an iPad with cellular capability as the GPS chip is part of the cellular equipment. You don't need a cellular plan.
- An external GPS for the iPad. There are dedicated GPS units for not a not of $$. Bad elf is the one I know.
- A Garmin 210 bluetooth.

What you might also want to think about ADSB in, which then gets you to a Stratux (cheap, but requires a bit of tech capability), Stratus, more expensive, but also more user friendly or Garmin 210 which can use the 330ES as a source.

I'm sure there are other options, but that's what comes top of mind.
 
Rcmutz said:
I have a G430W, and G330ES transponder. Can someone explain how you can get the gps signal to the iPad running FF. Neither have Bluetooth or WiFi capability, so probably not possible.
Click to expand...

The big thing about linking to your transponder is to get real time traffic

Your transponder doesn’t have wi fi or Bluetooth. So you need another source.

Look in Sportys website at the Sentry or Sentry Jr. Either will give you ADSB traffic, WAAS GPS, weather, etc. AND it has AHRS to display on FF to boot. These units are the size of a I phone plus, and mounts on your back window.
 
Last edited:
Rcmutz said:
I have a G430W, and G330ES transponder. Can someone explain how you can get the gps signal to the iPad running FF. Neither have Bluetooth or WiFi capability, so probably not possible.
Click to expand...
I have a Freeflight ADS-B in receiver which is connected to my Garmin 430w. It transmits all the ADS-B information to multiple IPads as well as a GPS feed. Additionally, the 430w with a firmware update can display surrounding traffic. You can also get GPS to the IPads if any of your ADS-B receivers are equipped with a GPS chip. I made several of the Stratux receivers with GPS chips and they worked great.
 
I was a Foreflight/iPad user since the very first version of FF. Thought I would NEVER switch. Then a couple of things. First, FF started pushing all the new and useful features to their premium priced service which was too high a price for most GA hobby pilots. Second, I upgraded my panel earlier this year to a full Garmin suite (G3X, GTN 375, G5) and with the data subscription, pricing for Garmin Pilot for my tablet and phone was way more reasonable than even the mid-tier FF plan that I had been on. And in trying GP, I find it to be an adequate replacement for the most part to FF. The one or two things I might miss from FF are not worth the extra I'd pay to have them. So my plan is to stick with GP and let my FF subscription lapse.
 
I am debating about switching from FF to Garmin pilot. Just not sure I want to buy a different ADSB in portable and then sell my Stratus 2s.
 
Rcmutz said:
I am debating about switching from FF to Garmin pilot. Just not sure I want to buy a different ADSB in portable and then sell my Stratus 2s.
Click to expand...
What would motivate you to change ?
 
While Foreflight is the market leader, there are many viable Android options if you already operate in the ecosystem. Garmin Pilot is nice, but Garmin makes no effort to support non-Garmin avionics. I ran it for a while and abandoned it.

For a free option, FltPlanGo is excellent, and intergrates nicely with my NGT-9000 for weather and traffic via ADS-B. It has (for me) a somewhat strange user interface but is is a full function EFB. I've used DroidEFB since it was released (originally as Avilution) and it also supports a wide range of avionics hardware as well. It has a very simple interface, and some components like WX and W&B that can be used as standalone apps as well as integrated functions.

Most Android tablets will include an integrated GPS chip, even many cheap ones. I repurposed an old Samsung S3 for my EFB, but even an ancient Google Nexus 9 will run the Android EFBs just fine. If you are in the Google ecosystem for work, nonprofit, or personal reasons, the Android EFBs will work well. Put one copy on a tablet and one on your phone and you are covered with and without wifi access for planning.
 
As others have said. Start with a free tool to understand what some basic tools are available. Only after you have this basic knowledge will the trial subscription really be valuable for GP or FF.

Next, it has been at least a year since I did a feature comparison or read one between GP and FF. One aspect always stood out for me. And that is where does the app come from. FF as the name states was a preflight planning tool which has added in flight functions over time. GP started as an in flight app which has added flight planning over time.
The difference shows up in how the apps are organized and also how you as a pilot think. You do not want to be stumbling around, so get one that is organized closer to how YOU think.

I have tried and used both. Since I use it more in the air and use my PC for flight plans, and I want my phone as backup, GP made more sense to me.

Tim

Sent from my HD1907 using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top