Sunglare

[Dennis M Carleton]

For those of you with glass, any problem reading the displays in direct sunlight from the side or rear? Thinking about a G3X but I’m worried about visibility. I sometimes have a hard time seeing iPad screen in direct sunlight. Any thoughts?

 

[masloki]

Sunguard slap on sun visor.

I’ve got G5s which ain’t a G3x but have never had an issue with brightness. Then again, Mooney’s can be a bit submarine like.

 

[Hang 4]

What plane? I have a G500 in a PA-28, never had an issue.

 

[WDD]

Whether you can read a screen in daylight depends on how bright the screen is - the number of Nits. You need at least 1100 to be sunlight readable. I Pads aren't close, which is why I bought a specific tablet that has over 1100 Nits. G3's, G5's, and 275's are all sunlight readable / over 1100 Nits.

 

[asicer]

G5, GI275, G1000... never had an issue with any of those.

 

[Sierra_Hotel]

Whether you can read a screen in daylight depends on how bright the screen is - the number of Nits. You need at least 1100 to be sunlight readable. I Pads aren't close, which is why I bought a specific tablet that has over 1100 Nits. G3's, G5's, and 275's are all sunlight readable / over 1100 Nits.

What tablet did you get?

 

[donjohnston]

Grand Rapids HXr and I never had an issue with sunlight. The HXr's are about 10 year old technology so I'm assuming anything newer would be even better.

 

[Half Fast]

Never had a problem with G3Xs or G5s in Tecnams I rented. iPads just aren’t bright enough, though. I’m using an iFly 740 in my Beech and it’s fine.

@WDD nailed it. You need something with more than 1000 nits. I wish ForeFlight would create a version that would run on Android devices, but when I tried to explain the problem to a FF rep at SNF, he’d never heard of “nits,” didn’t think there was a problem, and told me in no uncertain terms that FF had zero interest in an Android version.

 

[Dennis M Carleton]

Plane is a PA24. Thx for all the replies. And I’ve never heard of nits either.

 

[Daleandee]

And I’ve never heard of nits either.

As a worker in the public school system we knew of nits as the things children with head lice had in their hair ... but for POA & pilot purposes:

The term nit comes from the Latin verb nitere, which means ‘to shine’. In the field of image, a nit – also known as candela per square meter (cd/m²) – is the unit of luminance adopted by the International System of Units (SI).

From the article: https://visualled.com/en/led-screen...n-why-they-are-so-important-for-led-displays/

 

[WDD]

What tablet did you get?

Triplek - It's an Android tablet, so like Half Fast I use I Fly when in the plane vs F Flight, as F Flight only runs on Apple. (I still use F Flight on the ground to plan, file, etc., although I Fly could do that as well).

 

[WDD]

Here is a nice thread on NITS and options. https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/sunlight-readable-i-pad-when.134579/

 

[Half Fast]

Plane is a PA24. Thx for all the replies. And I’ve never heard of nits either.

But you’re not in the business of selling an app for a tablet. I would expect FF to be very aware of iPad specs and resulting issues.

 

[Sierra_Hotel]

Triplek - It's an Android tablet, so like Half Fast I use I Fly when in the plane vs F Flight, as F Flight only runs on Apple. (I still use F Flight on the ground to plan, file, etc., although I Fly could do that as well).

I admittedly haven't had much issue with my ipad, but I've always preferred Garmin Pilot a little more over FF, but I wasn't paying $700 for a Garmin ADS-B receiver. Now that GP works with my stratux, I may look more into an Android tablet and fully switch over.

 

[Half Fast]

I admittedly haven't had much issue with my ipad, but I've always preferred Garmin Pilot a little more over FF, but I wasn't paying $700 for a Garmin ADS-B receiver. Now that GP works with my stratux, I may look more into an Android tablet and fully switch over.

At SNF, after speaking to the (unhelpful) ForeFlight folks, I took a walk over to the Garmin booth. I suggested to the Garmin rep, "In addition to the iPads, you should try displaying GP on a daylight-readable Android tablet and touting that as an advantage over ForeFlight." He asked me a couple of questions, jotted down some notes, and said, "Good idea. Thanks! I'll see about it."

 

[WDD]

The Triplex is stout - besides sunlight readable, I can’t get it to overheat, and the battery even on full bright lasts a long time / longer than I pad.

I fly is much more for in flight use / much easier to use in cockpit than FFlight IMHO.

 

[Sierra_Hotel]

Tripltek? I definitely like the construction of it. Looks like a great recommendation.

 

[jsstevens]

I just finished up 20+- hours in three different G1000 equipped Diamond aircraft. The displays were bright enough in sunlight but I couldn’t wear my sunglasses and read them. YMMV

 

[drummer4468]

I just finished up 20+- hours in three different G1000 equipped Diamond aircraft. The displays were bright enough in sunlight but I couldn’t wear my sunglasses and read them. YMMV

Are your sunglasses polarized? You need non-polarized sunglasses to read many avionics displays. They put out polarized light which, if not oriented in the same direction as the polarization in your sunglass lenses, will be blocked out by those lenses. I always carry a pair of non-polarized prescription shades in my flight bag for that reason.

 

[WDD]

Sunglasses - need to be non polarized and gradient tinted (clear on bottom). For me, all of that plus HD progressive bifocals.

 

[Half Fast]

Sunglasses - need to be non polarized and gradient tinted (clear on bottom). For me, all of that plus HD progressive bifocals.

Yep. I had my lenses custom tinted. It was the only way to get ones that were dark enough on top while being almost completely clear on the bottom. I then used Hydrotac stick-on reading lenses on the bottom. Works very well.

 

[Pugs]

Plane is a PA24. Thx for all the replies. And I’ve never heard of nits either.

The Dynon Skyview HDX we have in our Archer is 1200 nits and bright and sharp in all the lighting I've looked at it with even with non-gradiated (non-polarized) sunglasses.

 

[jsstevens]

Are your sunglasses polarized? You need non-polarized sunglasses to read many avionics displays. They put out polarized light which, if not oriented in the same direction as the polarization in your sunglass lenses, will be blocked out by those lenses. I always carry a pair of non-polarized prescription shades in my flight bag for that reason.

Mine are not polarized. Bought specifically for flying. And I tried tipping my head to check.

The graduated ones I’ll look into.

 

[Half Fast]

Mine are not polarized. Bought specifically for flying. And I tried tipping my head to check.

The graduated ones I’ll look into.

I found that if the tint were too dark, my pupils would dilate too much and my near-field vision would be out of focus. That's why my sunglasses are almost clear in the bottom third.

 

[Half Fast]

BTW, John - many optometrists have opticians on staff or can direct you to one. If you have a regular optometrist, give him a call. (If you don't, I can recommend Eye Associates of Winter Park.) My eye doc has his own in-house optician who did my lense tints because the OTC lenses were too dark. I also had him put on a UV block.

 

[WDD]

I called four places before I could find one that could do non polarized sunglasses. After describing what I need the optician said “ you must be a pilot”. Ended up with great glasses.