New PJ2 with GPS

WDD

WDD

Final Approach
PoA Supporter
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Oct 16, 2019
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Atlanta / Marietta
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Vintage Snazzy (so my adult children say)
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KPUJ
Sporty's new version of the PJ2 has GPS, costing an additional $150. IMHO, I don't see the value. PJ2's appeal was simplicity. Almost all of us have a cell phone or a tablet with GPS.

Adding new features doesn't always mean better.

www.sportys.com

PJ2 GPS Radio

<p>The new PJ2 GPS sets the bar even higher for what a handheld aviation radio can do. The latest Sporty’s radio incorporates all the features pilots love about the PJ2+, and adds GPS capabilities, Bluetooth, color screen, intercom, and much more. The PJ2 Radios are the only radios to feature...
www.sportys.com www.sportys.com
 
Well, if this coexists with the PJ2+, I don't see a problem. If that's an always-on display, I can imagine it being useful to the folks who fly around in antiques with no electrical system.
 
The GPS without a database or map doesn't strike me as that useful. But the Bluetooth option is cool.
 
It's cool that they integrated battery charging through the USB C port.
 
What I would like is a version with a dual VOR receiver, so it can provide an alternate position source if GPS is jammed.
 
AV8R_87 said:
What I would like is a version with a dual VOR receiver, so it can provide an alternate position source if GPS is jammed.
Click to expand...
I have a Yaesu FTA-750L that has GPS, VOR, and ILS (glideslope and localizer) capability. Neat stuff. Still, the odds of my aircraft losing GPS and both VOR-capable radios (each with a dedicated display) is sufficiently remote that I'm not sure that the Yaesu appreciably improves my safety margin. Possibly in the event of some sort of catastrophic electrical event?
 
WDD said:
Sporty's new version of the PJ2 has GPS, costing an additional $150. IMHO, I don't see the value. PJ2's appeal was simplicity. Almost all of us have a cell phone or a tablet with GPS.

Adding new features doesn't always mean better.

www.sportys.com

PJ2 GPS Radio

<p>The new PJ2 GPS sets the bar even higher for what a handheld aviation radio can do. The latest Sporty’s radio incorporates all the features pilots love about the PJ2+, and adds GPS capabilities, Bluetooth, color screen, intercom, and much more. The PJ2 Radios are the only radios to feature...
www.sportys.com www.sportys.com
Click to expand...
I'm still in the never again camp. I had an earlier model let the smoke out. So did a friend. Another caught on fire. They didn't stand behind their products in any of those instances.

Fool me once, shame on—shame on you. Fool me—you can't get fooled again.
 
AvNavCom said:
Well, if this coexists with the PJ2+, I don't see a problem. If that's an always-on display, I can imagine it being useful to the folks who fly around in antiques with no electrical system.
Click to expand...

I own a vintage plane that fits that bill

I see zero use for that GPS and an always on screen, plus the bigger issue as I have no electrical system is battery life, this seems to be going in the wrong direction.

In these planes if you need nav most of us just look out the windows, or if we really need to whip out our phones with foreflight
 
AvNavCom said:
Still, the odds of my aircraft losing GPS and both VOR-capable radios (each with a dedicated display) is sufficiently remote that I'm not sure that the Yaesu appreciably improves my safety margin. Possibly in the event of some sort of catastrophic electrical event?
Click to expand...
Your NAV radio isn't able to do VOR RNAV, is it? Yes, you can do it manually, but implementing that feature in a handheld radio that could then output the computed position to an EFB will be a lot cheaper. That would be a neat back-up if GPS isn't available.
 
AvNavCom said:
I have a Yaesu FTA-750L that has GPS, VOR, and ILS (glideslope and localizer) capability. Neat stuff. Still, the odds of my aircraft losing GPS and both VOR-capable radios (each with a dedicated display) is sufficiently remote that I'm not sure that the Yaesu appreciably improves my safety margin. Possibly in the event of some sort of catastrophic electrical event?
Click to expand...

With a electrical failure, high
 
The point of the PJ is somplicity. Dial freq, push button, talk. No complicated menus.

Adding GPS - which I can’t see helping anyone - complicates it.

If you want a GPS moving map use your IPad.
 
AV8R_87 said:
Your NAV radio isn't able to do VOR RNAV, is it? Yes, you can do it manually, but implementing that feature in a handheld radio that could then output the computed position to an EFB will be a lot cheaper. That would be a neat back-up if GPS isn't available.
Click to expand...
The user manual shows that the Yaesu acts like a regular CDI. Distance (on a different nav screen) appears to be computed from GPS, rather than any DME capability. I don't think that the radio can output that position to anything though. I agree that it would be a neat back-up if such a device were available.

Screenshot 2026-04-03 at 12.50.45 PM.png
 
"But it's a new FEEEEEEATURE!!!!"

I've never used the VOR functionality in my A24 either.
 
I have the pj2 and I’m happy as it is a backup radio,can’t see the benefit by adding a gps to the radio. I can remember purchasing my first backup portable. A bending king with vor,never used the vor function.
 
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