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

Guys, just remember, to get the most out of your GDL39 3D or any other ADS-B receiver, you also need to have an ADS-B Out solution... Otherwise you won't see all the traffic, only ADS-B Out equipped targets and occasional TIS-B traffic if another ADS-B Out equipped airplane happens to be nearby.
 
just had GP 4.0 installed. so far initial basic tests reveal a more glitchy version than all previous versions combined for me. I may restart my nexus7 just to make sure, but so far it's bad.


EDIT: ok, phew! restarting the nexus7 seems to have resolved all the glitchiness and GP crashes. I'll find out how it performs on my flight tomorrow eve.
 
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Just installed Version 4.0. Beware, it requires that you update the firmware on the GDL-39, which requires an Internet connection.

Didn't fly with it yet, but it looks nice. LOTS more ADS-B info.
 
Jay Honeck said:
Just installed Version 4.0. Beware, it requires that you update the firmware on the GDL-39, which requires an Internet connection.

Didn't fly with it yet, but it looks nice. LOTS more ADS-B info.
Click to expand...

Does it require power to be connected to GDL to update? I left my power cord at home but want to give it a try :)
 
Does it require power to be connected to GDL to update? I left my power cord at home but want to give it a try
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The installation instructions for v4.0 state:
Note: Your GDL 39 must be plugged in to external power to update the firmware.
 
RotorDude said:
The installation instructions for v4.0 state:
Note: Your GDL 39 must be plugged in to external power to update the firmware.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's why I'm asking - is it really required if GDL has a battery and fully charged? I guess the answer is yes...
 
EugeneR said:
Yes, that's why I'm asking - is it really required if GDL has a battery and fully charged? I guess the answer is yes...
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I updated my GDL-39 while powered with ship's power, so I dunno. It only took a few minutes.
 
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Update to 4.0 (Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0). The update itself downloaded quickly and ran clean, the update to the GDL39-3D was also clean and easy.

I tried the beta SD data location and it is Tango Uniform, all the Airport data and Download data now takes a painfully long time to load, as in 5-20 seconds or worse.

Not happy at all - this is from a Class 10 64GB MicroSD card that works great for all other apps.

I will give it some time to see if it gets better otherwise I'll revert to System Storage for Garmin and put everything else on the SD Card, this kind of delay just won't work for me.

The A/FD PDF access is a nice touch but you could get most of that data from GP already I thought.

What I would like is a PDF viewer integration that would allow access to AFM/POH and such from GP or better, split screen. I can already sort of do that given the Note 8.0's true split screen/multi-app capability but it taxes the CPU.

All this is nice but where is Synthetic Vision? Where is feature set parity to the iOS version?

'Gimp
 
AcroGimp said:
All this is nice but where is Synthetic Vision? Where is feature set parity to the iOS version?
Click to expand...

Exactly.

I don't understand what Garmin is doing with this app. I like it, and use it on every flight, short or long -- but I don't see why they haven't closed the gap between the Android and iOS versions. Yes, iOS had a head start, but they've had 18 months to work on this.

Still, compared to the "olden days" of my 496, Lowrance, and AvMap, having Garmin Pilot on my Nexus 7 is like science fiction -- so it's hard to get TOO worked up about it. :)
 
Well either I didn't notice the lag before or my base install is hosed, I moved everything back to System Storage and I am still seeing painfully slow loading times on the order 5 to 25 seconds when I touch for airport info, then another 5-20 second delay to pull up the airport info in the pop-up, or for SafeTaxi, etc.

I might uninstall and reinstall at home on the WiFi but not impressed with the update - I might even write-up a full bug report just to capture everything I am seeing but it is disappointing.

'Gimp
 
I have not tried GP 4.0 on the N7 yet, but it uploaded and is running good on my S5 Galaxy (at home not in the plane.)

No lags or load delays on the S5.

GP 4.0 added METAR color codes to airports. I turned it on, but looking at the flight map I can't tell where it did anything. The airports are still all the same color in all weather conditions. :dunno:
 
txflyer said:
I have not tried GP 4.0 on the N7 yet, but it uploaded and is running good on my S5 Galaxy (at home not in the plane.)

No lags or load delays on the S5.

GP 4.0 added METAR color codes to airports. I turned it on, but looking at the flight map I can't tell where it did anything. The airports are still all the same color in all weather conditions. :dunno:
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The changed METAR is in the General Settings tab - it is kind of nice although I sort of got used to the original colors.

'Gimp
 
This is bad. I just jumped into GP to see if I could measure load times for Metars when touching an airport.

It loaded lightning fast on two airports, then crashed AND WILL NOT RESTART, even after a Nexus 7 reboot.

Uh oh. Gonna try a fresh install.
 
Rather than a total reinstall I cleared all data and the cache, and force stopped GP.

Seems to be back to normal. Glitchy update, for sure.
 
Installed it on my N7, updated GDL39 - everything works fine. Finally, they allow you to choose more standard color coding for VFR/IFR/etc. AFD pages open in a separate PDF viewer - no big deal, but would be nicer to have it within the app.
 
I tried Jay's Cache and Data Clear and Force Stop then reinstalled all the chart data and it is back to stupid fast - will try the SD Card for Data again and see if it works this time now that I know it will only take about 45 minutes to rebuild it if I have to.

'Gimp
 
Seems like a bunch of new features I never asked for and won't use. Plus, I have to invest some labor in bringing the GDL-39 back from the airport and doing a firmware update. I wish they would just leave things alone.

Paul
 
Long flight Friday (1470nm), I tred to download the charts with today's updates but Garmin kept failing. Jay's stop and clear fixed it - thank you.
 
Unable to try and write to the SD Card, (No such file or directory). It worked earlier including the copy and delete notice on the Garmin splash page but won't try now. Will dig a little deeper but definitely running smoother so I might leave it alone. Will be flying possibly tomorrow afternoon and on Saturday so will play with it more then.

'Gimp
 
I updated yesterday, it was working fine, but then it displayed a notification that new downloads available and has been crashing since. I had to uninstall and reinstall it - it definitely had to do something with that notification, there is a bug when it tries to download its main database. When I turned the airplane mode on it worked well, but once I enabled radios and that notification popped up, it crashed immediately. Reinstalling helped.
 
Paul Hamilton said:
Seems like a bunch of new features I never asked for and won't use. Plus, I have to invest some labor in bringing the GDL-39 back from the airport and doing a firmware update. I wish they would just leave things alone.
Click to expand...

I wasn't aware Garmin was working solely for you? Apparently the needs of the rest of the aviating world are irrelevant if it isn't something you specifically demand? Here's a tip... If you don't need or want anything in the new version, you're welcome to not upgrade, or use something else.
 
UPDATE - After a recycle or two of the Note 8.0 and a Force Stop/Cache Clear I was able to move the map data to the SD Card and the annoying delay seems to be gone.

Nice to have some room on the built-in SD storage for apps and such and have the ~2GB of map data on the External SD. The glitchiest update so far, at least for me.

I am happy we are seeing continued development but am really anxious to have Synthetic Vision, Terrain and Obstacles. Come on Garmin!!

'Gimp
 
I must have been thinking of Avare. The free one that has terrain and obstructions :mad2:

That said, there are many things GP does that Avare doesn't, like the vector maps.
 
Garmin Pilot is updating as I'm typing. Let's hope they fixed some of these glitches!
 
4.0.1 is on board. Performance seems to be very snappy. :)

Let's hope they nailed down the stability issue.
 
The new update also brought a new version of firmware for GDL 39 (v.4.10)
 
At least they quickly updated after obvious issues.


<< Sent from my mobile device at 0agl >>
 
Jay Honeck said:
Oh, crap. Really?
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Yep, but it's not like the previous one when you HAD to update to make it work.
It certainly fixes something, I just haven't figured out what exactly yet.

BTW, I've noticed that GP on both iPad and Nexus is always showing red "X" over the tower icon, even if it's receiving TIS-B traffic. Weird. Anyone else noticed?
 
Garmin Pilot 4.01 and GDL-39 4.10 are both up and running and my full EFB functionality is restored. Fortunately, my Friday flight was cancelled, so no harm done other than the hassle of having to remove the GDL-39 and bring it home. After about two hours of flight today, it seems to work quite well. No stability issues whatsoever, and the firmware update itself was easy.

After a year and a half and hundreds of flight hours, I am highly satisfied with Garmin Pilot. The only problems have resulted from updates.
 
Version 4.0.1 (on Nexus 7 2013, ART runtime) seems more stable than 4.0.0, which was nearly DOA. But even 4.0.1 crashes, either after a while just sitting there or after some operation. E.g. trying to get the A/FD for airport 1TE4 (which has its own thread) crashes consistently.
Also, I have noticed that at least sometimes, when zooming in during a flight in track-up mode (aircraft icon at the bottom), the map scrolling motion stops and the aircraft icon starts crawling up. This doesn't seem to happen in zoom out. Easy (but distracting) workaround is to click the "course up" icon twice (clicking the circled aircraft icon at the bottom doesn't fix it).
Overall I like this app and use it a lot, but I've had some app crashes while on IFR approach in IMC (not with the latest version yet), and I can tell you that's not much fun.:eek:

RD
 
Is there any way to get the tablet mode to work on a phone? I would love for the split screen to work.
 
Pedals2Paddles said:
Is there any way to get the tablet mode to work on a phone? I would love for the split screen to work.
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It seems to depend on operating system version.

How I do it:
androidfact.com/samsung-galaxy-s3-multiview-splitscreen-tutorial/
 
Sorry, not that. That is android's native multi-view, which allows you to split the screen and see more than one app at once. I'm talking about the split screen mode in Garmin Pilot. It allows to to split the screen, showing both the map and the nav "instruments" and data.
 
Has anyone else had difficult connecting to their GDL39 after downloading 4.0.1? My GDL39 still pairs with my Samsung tablet (per the Android settings menu) but does not connect in the Garmin Pilot Connext screen? Have sent a support request to Garmin.
 
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