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

aviatingfool said:
Jay, I'm almost ready to do the same with my 396 and jump on a Nexus but.... I wonder how I'll check baro settings at local airports as I approach them, check winds aloft around me to pick the best altitude, look ahead for the METARS at airports to verify my "on top" will soon end.....and of course, listen to smooth jazz on Watercolors XM....:yikes:
I know ADS-B is required to get most weather and that adds $800 to the package -how 'bout these other issues? Would really like to make the move but am mentally glued to the old 396.....
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Airport info, barometric pressure, winds aloft, etc., are all available with the GDL-39 Bluetoothed to the Nexus 7.

Better yet, all that data is actually readable on that gloriously big (relatively) color screen,'as opposed to our dinky 396/496 screens.
:D

It really does do everything the 496 does, only better. Well, except for the XM radio.
 
Hi Guyz n Galz...n Jay too...:)
I do like everything that you all"banter" about! As active users we are the ones that are going to direct & influence Garmin. So in reality, IF they listen well, we can really help structure our app to what we want!
I really appreciate all the insight & follow ups. POA members are Great!
I learn alot thru you all.
I am off to the Bahamas for a day on the beach tomorrow. N7 in hand (or mount)...:) & to you all, I have hundreds of hrs going to the Bahamas, so IF you are planning a trip, don't hesitate to communicate with a question.

Capt Gary
 
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Jay Honeck said:
Airport info, barometric pressure, winds aloft, etc., are all available with the GDL-39 Bluetoothed to the Nexus 7.

Better yet, all that data is actually readable on that gloriously big (relatively) color screen,'as opposed to our dinky 396/496 screens.
:D

It really does do everything the 496 does, only better. Well, except for the XM radio.
Click to expand...

Well.....I tried flying with Garmin Pilot on my (granted - dinky screen) Galaxy S3 today and couldn't see the screen on a sunny day. Brightness was on full. So I didn't really get to try it out as I had hoped. Back to my trusty 396.....
I assume the Nexus 7, being larger, has more brightness or backlighting to make the screen more readable given the rave reviews? It was really a huge difference between them side by side.
 
Hi "Fool"... I guess we all are...
Go get a N7 & you will put your GIII away in tghe plane. I have the same. I tried Garmin Pilot on the GIII & had the same results. The N7 is super great in the plane.
Capt Gary
 
Imteresting, what's it rated for input volts?
 
Jay,

I've been using Garmin Pilot for a month now with N7 and really liked it until yesterday. I spent three hours with it in the air and was very frustrated at it in the end. They have a ways to go to get this thing reliable.

Problem1: Multiple crashes

Problem 2: I activated a route but later wanted to go direct. So I "click" direct and select the airport. The GP shows the direct dest for a second and then reverts back to the route. Over and over I went through this. Finally I had to delete the route so it would stay on the direct route. I would think that direct woud override a route like the 496 does.

Problem 3: I had the split screen up with an approach chart on the bottom. When I got close enouth that my location was on the chart it rendered it incapable of being brought to full size to better view the chart data. It seemed it was stuck in the "center the aircraft in the middle of the screen mode. This left most of the chart off the screen. The ICOn on the bottom left that is ment to take it out of this mode did not work at all. While at the airport you cannot see the entire chart if your location is not in the cener of the approach path!

Now I am wondering if I did the right thing by signing up for a year!
 
Hi Jay, with due respect, how many hrs. are you flying? I usually do 1-3 hrs with an occassional 4 hr leg. The N7 seems to keep to a 5 hr. battery time. Other side is Where did /will you connect the charger to?
 
Hi AltCntr... Did you do a full reboot of the N7? I had to do that 1x... Otherwise, I have been lucky.. Sounds like there are still many small but vital bugz they need to address. Send in a failure report to Garmin, as they are listening.
 
Jay, If I'm not mistaken, that unit is rated @ 1.5 Amp. I had to get a larger current charger for my 10" tablet. What does the N7 require for charging?

==
Michael
 
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The wall charger that comes with the N7 says it provides up to 2A. I've tried charging it from a standard USB port on a PC and about all that happens is the N7 battery charges at pretty much the same rate it discharges.
 
Atlcenter said:
Jay,

I've been using Garmin Pilot for a month now with N7 and really liked it until yesterday. I spent three hours with it in the air and was very frustrated at it in the end. They have a ways to go to get this thing reliable.

Problem1: Multiple crashes

Problem 2: I activated a route but later wanted to go direct. So I "click" direct and select the airport. The GP shows the direct dest for a second and then reverts back to the route. Over and over I went through this. Finally I had to delete the route so it would stay on the direct route. I would think that direct woud override a route like the 496 does.

Problem 3: I had the split screen up with an approach chart on the bottom. When I got close enouth that my location was on the chart it rendered it incapable of being brought to full size to better view the chart data. It seemed it was stuck in the "center the aircraft in the middle of the screen mode. This left most of the chart off the screen. The ICOn on the bottom left that is ment to take it out of this mode did not work at all. While at the airport you cannot see the entire chart if your location is not in the cener of the approach path!

Now I am wondering if I did the right thing by signing up for a year!
Click to expand...

1. What version of Pilot are you running? 2.3.2 is the latest, and it's very stable compared to early versions. Check for updates.

2. I have never had "Direct to" do that! Definitely report it to Garmin. Their email is hot linked in the "Settings" area of Pilot.

3. To deselect "center the aircraft in the chart" you must touch the little airplane in the lower left hand corner. When it shows a circle around it, it is centered. Press it till the circle disappears.
 
capg2000 said:
Hi Jay, with due respect, how many hrs. are you flying? I usually do 1-3 hrs with an occassional 4 hr leg. The N7 seems to keep to a 5 hr. battery time. Other side is Where did /will you connect the charger to?
Click to expand...

Years ago I had an avionics shop wire ship's power to the yoke for my old Lowrance Air map 2000c. I will simply connect this step down thingie to that, and have a fully charged tablet when I land.

True, the Nexus 7 can survive most flights without charging -- but then I arrive with a half-dead tablet. I use this thing for everything, not just flying.
 
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capg2000 said:
Hi AltCntr... Did you do a full reboot of the N7? I had to do that 1x... Otherwise, I have been lucky.. Sounds like there are still many small but vital bugz they need to address. Send in a failure report to Garmin, as they are listening.
Click to expand...

This has been very helpful for me. Rebooting before flight gives Pilot a clean slate to work with, which seems to help stability problems.

I often have dozens of apps "running in the background" (not really, with Android, but they still use resources), which a clean reboot fully kills.
 
sonex293 said:
Jay, If I'm not mistaken, that unit is rated @ 1.5 Amp. I had to get a larger current charger for my 10" tablet. What does the N7 require for charging?

==
Michael
Click to expand...

I've done a lot of experimenting with this. Any charger that outputs 850 milliamps or better will keep pace with the Nexus 7's discharge rate. Regular Android cellphone chargers put out just 500 milliamps (although this seems to be changing, with higher powered chargers becoming the norm) so they are not acceptable.

1.5 amps will be plenty. 2 would be better.
 
I am using the latest 2.2.3 update. I keep looking for the latest. Did a reboot before starting it up for the flight. While it was sitting in the yoke powered up while I was doing preflight it stopped.

The little airplane on the chart part of the split screen on mine does not react as the one on the map does. That is, when you touch it, it deselects. The one on the chart just blinks and then stays selected. I live close enough to an airport that my house is located on an approach chart so I can work with it as if I were flying with it. It simply stays selected no matter what. When you select the plus sign it gets larger but then it hides more of the chart because it wants to stay centered on my location which pushes part of the chart off the screen. I cannot manually move it around and have it stay in that position. It will move but it jumps back to the original position.

At one point tonight as I was working with it it showed BOTH the direct to and the route on the map.

The issue here is obviously what happens if you are in an emergency and select direct to and then nearest and it reverts back to some other route.

I cannot undestand why Garmin has put this thing out with this many flaws. This is not a toy! It is a tool used by serious pilots who must rely on it being correct and reliable. And besides we are paying for the service!
 
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I've had the Direct To glitch early on. Thought it was fixed, but obviously not.
 
Atlcenter said:
I cannot undestand why Garmin has put this thing out with this many flaws. This is not a toy! It is a tool used by serious pilots who must rely on it being correct and reliable. And besides we are paying for the service!
Click to expand...

You are right BUT.....

Garmin Pilot User’s Guide 190-01501-00 Rev. B
Warnings, Cautions & Notes
WARNING: Do not use basemap (land and water data) information for primary
navigation. Basemap data is intended only to supplement other approved
navigation data sources and should be considered as an aid to enhance
situational awareness.

190-01501-00 Rev. B Garmin Pilot User’s Guide
Warnings, Cautions & Notes
WARNING: Do not rely solely up the indicators shown on the Panel Display
Panel to maneuver the aircraft.

And best of all:
No Warranty. This Application is provided to you “as is,” and you agree to use it at your own risk.
Garmin makes no guarantees, representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, arising by
law or otherwise, including but not limited to, content, quality, accuracy, completeness, effectiveness,
reliability, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, usefulness, use or results to be obtained from the
Application, or that the Application will be uninterrupted or error-free. :eek:

On a happier note, I sure appreciate the input to this thread and thank Jay for starting it. Thanks to all for their experiences, advice and suggestions!!
 
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Atlcenter said:
I cannot undestand why Garmin has put this thing out with this many flaws. This is not a toy! It is a tool used by serious pilots who must rely on it being correct and reliable. And besides we are paying for the service!
Click to expand...

You have to realize that we are using something that literally did not exist last June. Garmin is obviously having some teething issues with stability, but they are also releasing updates and enhancements as fast as we report glitches.

In another few updates, all of this stuff will be history. My last several flights have been perfectly stable (I don't have the IFR chart subscription) and provided everything I wanted in onboard moving map navigation, traffic and weather.

Just to keep these problems in proper perspective, for a one-time outlay of ~ $1000 you get far more capability with the Nexus 7, GDL-39, and Garmin Pilot than we had with the 496 and XM -- and THAT cost $3000 (in 2006ish dollars) plus $70/month -- forever.

Now add the chart subscription that provides moving map sectionals -- something that was unavailable on the 496 at any price -- and you're out another $50 - $100 ANNUALLY. Big deal!

We are still saving beaucoup bucks -- like two grand, plus another $840/year-- and getting greater capabilities, on an enormous color screen -- AND we have a great tablet to use the other 97% of the time.

For such remarkable savings and greater capabilities, I am willing to be a Garmin beta tester for a while longer. YMMV.
:D
 
Jay Honeck said:
You have to realize that we are using something that literally did not exist last June. Garmin is obviously having some teething issues with stability, but they are also releasing updates and enhancements as fast as we report glitches.

In another few updates, all of this stuff will be history. My last several flights have been perfectly stable (I don't have the IFR chart subscription) and provided everything I wanted in onboard moving map navigation, traffic and weather.

Just to keep these problems in proper perspective, for a one-time outlay of ~ $1000 you get far more capability with the Nexus 7, GDL-39, and Garmin Pilot than we had with the 496 and XM -- and THAT cost $3000 (in 2006ish dollars) plus $70/month -- forever.

Now add the chart subscription that provides moving map sectionals -- something that was unavailable on the 496 at any price -- and you're out another $50 - $100 ANNUALLY. Big deal!

We are still saving beaucoup bucks -- like two grand, plus another $840/year-- and getting greater capabilities, on an enormous color screen -- AND we have a great tablet to use the other 97% of the time.

For such remarkable savings and greater capabilities, I am willing to be a Garmin beta tester for a while longer. YMMV.
:D
Click to expand...

And to be fair to Garmin, it's not all Garmin's fault. I have been flying side by side with both my iPad 2 and Nexus 7 (since you people convinced me the Nexus 7 is the next best thing after the Ginzu knives). I am finding that the Garmin Pilot is much more stable on the iPad than it is on the Nexus. Altitude on the Nexus has been erratic, screen refreshes have been slow and switching between functions (like going from the map to charts) seems to lag a bit at times.

On the plus side, the screen is much easier to read and it is nice not to need to deal with an external GPS like I do with my WiFi version iPad.

For those with Nexus, to find the altitude to be off at times? I flew for 40 minutes today with the altitude showing 7,100 when I was at 7,500.
 
Marauder said:
And to be fair to Garmin, it's not all Garmin's fault. I have been flying side by side with both my iPad 2 and Nexus 7 (since you people convinced me the Nexus 7 is the next best thing after the Ginzu knives). I am finding that the Garmin Pilot is much more stable on the iPad than it is on the Nexus. Altitude on the Nexus has been erratic, screen refreshes have been slow and switching between functions (like going from the map to charts) seems to lag a bit at times.

On the plus side, the screen is much easier to read and it is nice not to need to deal with an external GPS like I do with my WiFi version iPad.

For those with Nexus, to find the altitude to be off at times? I flew for 40 minutes today with the altitude showing 7,100 when I was at 7,500.
Click to expand...

Just one data point, but my altitude has been dead on. Almost weirdly too accurate, actually.

As for not blaming Garmin, I don't buy it. IMHO they own the problems, not Asus or Google. I don't have any other apps that force close the way Garmin Pilot has done.

But I'm optimistic they will chase down all the problems, eventually. After all, the app is a hundred times better than it was just a few weeks ago.
 
Jay Honeck said:
Just one data point, but my altitude has been dead on. Almost weirdly too accurate, actually.

As for not blaming Garmin, I don't buy it. IMHO they own the problems, not Asus or Google. I don't have any other apps that force close the way Garmin Pilot has done.

But I'm optimistic they will chase down all the problems, eventually. After all, the app is a hundred times better than it was just a few weeks ago.
Click to expand...

Well, the interesting thing is that other than the altitude being off and the slow screen refreshes, my Nexus has been rock solid in flight. No need to reboot, stays stable the whole time.

As far as my Garmin comments, it pertains to how apps work on these systems. The fact you need to reboot and run from a fresh instance suggests that something you have running in the background could be causing your issue. These tablets are capable of running multiple apps in the background. If one of those is vying for tablet resources with your Garmin app, chances are someone loses -- hence the crash. That was my point. You can't blame Garmin for what you may be doing or what the tablet capabilities are limited to because of what the user is doing.

Even on the iPad, when you run into issues with an app, they tell you to shut down all of the background apps as part of the troubleshooting.

As for my troubleshooting the Nexus altitude problem, I will pair it with the XGPS150A I use with the Garmin and see what happens.
 
Boy, I hope they hurry up with the trip planning updates they they told me about. I just tried adding a 2nd plane. What a mess. Apparently nothing gets saved when you exit the trip planning page ( cruise altitude, IFR/VFR, ...) The plane doesn't get saved either. If you have more than one plane profile, the trip planning page gets really goofy when you switch to it.
 
Matthew said:
Boy, I hope they hurry up with the trip planning updates they they told me about. I just tried adding a 2nd plane. What a mess. Apparently nothing gets saved when you exit the trip planning page ( cruise altitude, IFR/VFR, ...) The plane doesn't get saved either. If you have more than one plane profile, the trip planning page gets really goofy when you switch to it.
Click to expand...

Matthew - what i am having a hard time understanding is the relationship of the sync functions. Are you doing this on the Nexus? On my iPad version, i can log into my flygarmin.com site and store flight plans, pilot and plan information. Are you using flygarmin.com? The Nexus version doesn't have a link (or at least I haven't found it) yet it does appear to be storing and sync information -- but not the same information as the iPad version.

Anyone figure this out?
 
I just did the unthinkable... I read the manual. It appears the Nexus version can store information on something called "the server". It doesn't however tell you who owns this server. My flygarmin log-in is different than my subscription log-in for the Garmin Pilot. I'm guessing since they are different log-ins, the sync is being done under separate versions, i.e. one for each log-in.

I'm going to flygarmin and see if I can log in under my subscription name.

WOULDN'T YOU KNOW IT, THE SITE IS DOWN!
 
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Marauder said:
Well, the interesting thing is that other than the altitude being off and the slow screen refreshes, my Nexus has been rock solid in flight. No need to reboot, stays stable the whole time.

As far as my Garmin comments, it pertains to how apps work on these systems. The fact you need to reboot and run from a fresh instance suggests that something you have running in the background could be causing your issue. These tablets are capable of running multiple apps in the background. If one of those is vying for tablet resources with your Garmin app, chances are someone loses -- hence the crash. That was my point. You can't blame Garmin for what you may be doing or what the tablet capabilities are limited to because of what the user is doing.

Even on the iPad, when you run into issues with an app, they tell you to shut down all of the background apps as part of the troubleshooting.

As for my troubleshooting the Nexus altitude problem, I will pair it with the XGPS150A I use with the Garmin and see what happens.
Click to expand...

Actually, I have zero evidence that closing other apps helped Garmin Pilot's stability. I don't fly often enough -- and Garmin is releasing updates so quickly -- that I honestly don't know which action, if any, helped.

It was just a logical thing to try, when faced with an unstable program.
 
Marauder said:
Matthew - what i am having a hard time understanding is the relationship of the sync functions. Are you doing this on the Nexus? On my iPad version, i can log into my flygarmin.com site and store flight plans, pilot and plan information. Are you using flygarmin.com? The Nexus version doesn't have a link (or at least I haven't found it) yet it does appear to be storing and sync information -- but not the same information as the iPad version.

Anyone figure this out?
Click to expand...

I haven't tried this. I didn't know about it.
 
Jay Honeck said:
Actually, I have zero evidence that closing other apps helped Garmin Pilot's stability. I don't fly often enough -- and Garmin is releasing updates so quickly -- that I honestly don't know which action, if any, helped.

It was just a logical thing to try, when faced with an unstable program.
Click to expand...

I'm flying with them side by side and have about 20 hours with them both. The Nexus version is definitely a bit more quirky (speed wise) than the iPad version. The iPad version is more refined. That said, the Nexus version soldiers on and I have not seen a need to reboot or shut down anything. I fire them both up and they work.

Where my concerns come in is when I see the altitude for the iPad showing the same as both of my Aspen's AHRS and the plane's altimeter -- while the Nexus is showing 400 feet off. That with the slow refreshes (just sometimes) is where I can't decide if it is a Nexus issue or a Garmin one. Perhaps I should try a full reboot with the Nexus and keep everything else off. Wonder what that will do.
 
Jay Honeck said:
Dude. We are going to revoke your Man Card if you keep pulling this kind of crap.

:D
Click to expand...

Sometimes you got to take one for the team.

I was able to finally log into the flygarmin.com site. Now here is where things get interesting. Looking at the stored flight plans on flygarmin.com, they match exactly what is in my iPad version. On the Nexus however, there are flight plans from the flygarmin site and a few that appear to be duplicated. I deleted all of the flight plans on the Nexus except the last one and behold, they are gone on the iPad and flygarmin sites!

I then created a couple of flight plans on the iPad version, bookmarked them and went to the flygarmin site. Once I refreshed the screen they were there. On the Nexus however, they did not show up. I had to shut down the Nexus version completely and start it up again to have it show those plans. I did the same flight plan creation on the Nexus and it would not show up on the iPad or flygarmin sites until I restarted fully the Nexus version.

I created a new plane on the flygarmin site for a plane that my buddy owns. Surprise, surprise, it shows up both on my Nexus and iPad versions! And when I deleted it on the Nexus, it goes away on the iPad. HOWEVER, it still is on the flygarmin site. When I go to delete it from there, it says I need to contact customer service to delete it!!!!!!! :mad2:

So, the flygarmin link in the iPad version is linking my Garmin Pilot subscriptions across the platforms. However, it appears that the Nexus version only gets it's update when you completely shutdown and restart the Nexus (at least for flight plans). It does appear to update plane information through an active sync.
 
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Marauder said:
I'm flying with them side by side and have about 20 hours with them both. The Nexus version is definitely a bit more quirky (speed wise) than the iPad version. The iPad version is more refined. That said, the Nexus version soldiers on and I have not seen a need to reboot or shut down anything. I fire them both up and they work.

Where my concerns come in is when I see the altitude for the iPad showing the same as both of my Aspen's AHRS and the plane's altimeter -- while the Nexus is showing 400 feet off. That with the slow refreshes (just sometimes) is where I can't decide if it is a Nexus issue or a Garmin one. Perhaps I should try a full reboot with the Nexus and keep everything else off. Wonder what that will do.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm basing my opinion on my observations of the stand-alone GPS (automotive) program, "Co-Pilot" -- an excellent app, indeed.

It does many of the things that Garmin Pilot does (groundspeed, moving maps, etc.) without any of the weird glitches we've observed in Pilot.

This indicates (IMHO) that the Nexus 7 and/or Android are not the problem.
 
Marauder said:
Sometimes you got to take one for the team.

I was able to finally log into the flygarmin.com site. Now here is where things get interesting. Looking at the stored flight plans on flygarmin.com, they match exactly what is in my iPad version. On the Nexus however, there are flight plans from the flygarmin site and a few that appear to be duplicated. I deleted all of the flight plans on the Nexus except the last one and behold, they are gone on the iPad and flygarmin sites!

I then created a couple of flight plans on the iPad version, bookmarked them and went to the flygarmin site. Once I refreshed the screen they were there. On the Nexus however, they did not show up. I had to shut down the Nexus version completely and start it up again to have it show those plans. I did the same flight plan creation on the Nexus and it would not show up on the iPad or flygarmin sites until I restarted fully the Nexus version.

I created a new plane on the flygarmin site for a plane that my buddy owns. Surprise, surprise, it shows up both on my Nexus and iPad versions! And when I deleted it on the Nexus, it goes away on the iPad. HOWEVER, it still is on the flygarmin site. When I go to delete it from there, it says I need to contact customer service to delete it!!!!!!! :mad2:

So, the flygarmin link in the iPad version is linking my Garmin Pilot subscriptions across the platforms. However, it appears that the Nexus version only gets it's update when you completely shutdown and restart the Nexus (at least for flight plans). It does appear to update plane information through an active sync.
Click to expand...

Um, okay, but to what end?

I'm confused as to what is the purpose of storing flight plans in the Garmin cloud? Why would you want to do that? What functionality does it buy you to be able to share a flight plan?
 
Jay Honeck said:
Um, okay, but to what end?

I'm confused as to what is the purpose of storing flight plans in the Garmin cloud? Why would you want to do that? What functionality does it buy you to be able to share a flight plan?
Click to expand...

Jay - I use these apps for my sole source of IFR charts and approach plates. No more paper in the cockpit. I trust electronics only as far as the battery will carry me. When I bought the Nexus I wanted two things, a form factor that worked in my plane (the iPad is just too big to be yoke mounted and I don't like looking down at my kneeboard for charts) and a backup for the iPad.

The beauty of the stored flight plan is that it allows you to created a flight plan on one device and have it appear on the second. By having the flight plans populated on both, I can always have my backup ready.

I also see on the flygarmin site you can export them to Garmin portables. So, if I have a flight plan that a buddy of mine wants, I can send it to him or her.
 
Jay Honeck said:
Well, I'm basing my opinion on my observations of the stand-alone GPS (automotive) program, "Co-Pilot" -- an excellent app, indeed.

It does many of the things that Garmin Pilot does (groundspeed, moving maps, etc.) without any of the weird glitches we've observed in Pilot.

This indicates (IMHO) that the Nexus 7 and/or Android are not the problem.
Click to expand...

I would share that sentiment if it weren't for my iPad version performing flawlessly. Granted, there appears to be a second development team working on the two different platforms and the second group (Android bunch) seems to be playing catchup to the Apple bunch. Time will tell...
 
I asked Garmin support if they planned to add an obstacle database (Towers and Terrain) and this is the response I got.....

Thank you for your feedback and for using Garmin Pilot.

We are looking into adding that data into the Garmin Pilot application but there are a few features higher up on the priority list.

I have put in another suggestion to the developers to get that data added into the Garmin Pilot application.

Russ Knuth
Aviation Support
Click to expand...

==
Michael
 
sonex293 said:
I asked Garmin support if they planned to add an obstacle database (Towers and Terrain) and this is the response I got.....



==
Michael
Click to expand...

Thanks Michael. I wonder how their groups work together. The name on the email is the same for one I received for an issue I had with my GTN 650 panel mounted unit. Wonder if they support all the platforms with the same technical support group.

I am happy to see they are proceeding with improvements. I think they realized the market potential and are trying to take some of the market.
 
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