thinking about a stratus II

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cirrusmx

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i have been debating about buying a stratus II, but I am thinking i am way too late on the product cycle. Does anyone know if theres a new model coming out? should i wait or should i look at another reciever?
 
cirrusmx said:
i have been debating about buying a stratus II, but I am thinking i am way too late on the product cycle. Does anyone know if theres a new model coming out? should i wait or should i look at another reciever?
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Well if you use only Foreflight, then another receiver is not an option. If there was to be a new Stratus it probably would not be before Airventure
 
Bought one last year. Have been very happy. Have not heard anything about another version. Did get email about synthetic vision that can be added onto your FFPro supscription for $25 next yr. Upgrading to have ADS-B out in plane soon (Garmin 330ES). Will be interested to see how much more traffic I get afterwards.
 
Do you have a Garmin 650 or better? If so, the Garmin app has the possibility to communicate via BT and upload flight plans and such.

If your a renter or don't have Garmin, I'd go Foreflight/stratus. They seem to be the Nav App leader.
 
I have about 150 hours this past year on my Stratus and I would not consider flying without it, even though my plane has a G1000. Back a few months ago I particapated in a Stratus survey asking if I would be interested in upgrading to a new unit with both ADSB in and out, if it becomes available. This would be an interesting twist to our ADSB delema. Tomorrow I will have my first flight with synthetic vision. Excellent aid to aviation.

Jimmy
 
Even though I own my own airplane, I have fore flight and the stratus 2 .its portable so you can take it in other aircraft. It can also be shared by other pilots.
 
Airworx said:
I have about 150 hours this past year on my Stratus and I would not consider flying without it, even though my plane has a G1000. Back a few months ago I particapated in a Stratus survey asking if I would be interested in upgrading to a new unit with both ADSB in and out, if it becomes available. This would be an interesting twist to our ADSB delema. Tomorrow I will have my first flight with synthetic vision. Excellent aid to aviation.



Jimmy
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There was another discussion recently (I believe it was here on POA) that talked about portable ADS-B in/out devices and how the FAA won't allow it. If the developers could find a way to have it installed in the aircraft without it costing as much as a lot of the current ADS-B solutions do, I think many would jump on it quickly.

The synthetic version looks nice but as I understand it, you have to renew your subscription to do it and ForeFlight will credit your account the following year. Even still, I just renewed in November and don't actually need SV right now. I don't mind waiting until next year to get it, if I decide I need it then.
 
cirrusmx said:
i have been debating about buying a stratus II, but I am thinking i am way too late on the product cycle. Does anyone know if theres a new model coming out? should i wait or should i look at another reciever?
Click to expand...

I was trapped in the same mindset, then finally decided it had all the functionality I needed/wanted now so went ahead. I can't imagine what else they'd add to it to make it so much better I'd have to upgrade. But if they surprise me, I'm sure there will be a market for the II for a long time.

So, Santa brought mine last week and I love it!
 
LevelWing said:
The synthetic version looks nice but as I understand it, you have to renew your subscription to do it and ForeFlight will credit your account the following year. Even still, I just renewed in November and don't actually need SV right now. I don't mind waiting until next year to get it, if I decide I need it then.
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If you just re-upped your subscription a month ago you'd only pay the $25 plus 1/12th of a subscription and your subscription would then run for a full year from your upgrade date. I added it earlier this week and am impressed with the SV feature.
 
LevelWing said:
There was another discussion recently (I believe it was here on POA) that talked about portable ADS-B in/out devices and how the FAA won't allow it.
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That's not exactly true. The FAA doesn't care about ADS-B-in unless you're using it to feed certified equipment. You can do all the portable ADS-B-in you want as long as you're using it to feed your iPad.

If the developers could find a way to have it installed in the aircraft without it costing as much as a lot of the current ADS-B solutions do, I think many would jump on it quickly.
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If you can figure a way to get the market for certified ADS-B units up to around ten million (or better yet 100 million) instead of 100,000 or so, you might have a chance to bring the price down significantly. That's the problem with aviation -- the market is so small that the development and certification costs are aren't spread over very many units.
 
LDJones said:
I was trapped in the same mindset, then finally decided it had all the functionality I needed/wanted now so went ahead. I can't imagine what else they'd add to it to make it so much better I'd have to upgrade. But if they surprise me, I'm sure there will be a market for the II for a long time.

So, Santa brought mine last week and I love it!
Click to expand...


I'm hoping for in flight Coffee on the Stratus 3.:rofl:
 
Ron Levy said:
That's not exactly true. The FAA doesn't care about ADS-B-in unless you're using it to feed certified equipment. You can do all the portable ADS-B-in you want as long as you're using it to feed your iPad.
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I should have said portable ADS-B to feed certified equipment. In other words, The Stratus box won't be allowed to be used as a solution for the 2020 mandate.

Ron Levy said:
If you can figure a way to get the market for certified ADS-B units up to around ten million (or better yet 100 million) instead of 100,000 or so, you might have a chance to bring the price down significantly. That's the problem with aviation -- the market is so small that the development and certification costs are aren't spread over very many units.
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This is why the date needs to be pushed further out. General aviation is going to take a pretty big hit over this.
 
Think about it this way. What does the Status II do now vs the complete feature set of ADS-B and GPS? Pretty much equal. There are no ADS-B features left out to add to a stand alone passive ADS-B in device. And I highly doubt the brain trust at the FAA will be adding anything new in the next decade.

So it's unlikely something new and revolutionary will be coming to any of the stand alone passive ADS-B in devices (Stratus, GDL39, Dual 170, etc). The price might come down in a year, but probably not by much since, well, they can.
 
Airworx said:
https://www.appareo.com/aviation/ads-b/

Interesting future solution to ADSB, incorporating the Stratus II.
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I wonder how much that will cost? Since it includes a WAAS source, I would think it would be more than something like a KT74. Probably perfect for someone without a WAAS GPS, but more expensive for someone that has a 430W already in the panel.

BTW, how does communicating with the stratus work? I have the KT74 and stratus 2, and I can see traffic and weather on my ipad. What does the appareo do differently?
 
Pedals2Paddles said:
Think about it this way. What does the Status II do now vs the complete feature set of ADS-B and GPS? Pretty much equal. There are no ADS-B features left out to add to a stand alone passive ADS-B in device. And I highly doubt the brain trust at the FAA will be adding anything new in the next decade.

So it's unlikely something new and revolutionary will be coming to any of the stand alone passive ADS-B in devices (Stratus, GDL39, Dual 170, etc). The price might come down in a year, but probably not by much since, well, they can.
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The only thing I can see coming in a Stratus 3 would be smaller size and longer battery, but those would not be sufficient reasons to hold off on buying a Stratus 2 right now.
 
rbridges said:
I wonder how much that will cost? Since it includes a WAAS source, I would think it would be more than something like a KT74. Probably perfect for someone without a WAAS GPS, but more expensive for someone that has a 430W already in the panel.

BTW, how does communicating with the stratus work? I have the KT74 and stratus 2, and I can see traffic and weather on my ipad. What does the appareo do differently?
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From looking at the website, it feeds the Stratus power, GPS and the ADS-B data. Having an external antenna, it would improve the reception of the Stratus.
 
Airworx said:
https://www.appareo.com/aviation/ads-b/

Interesting future solution to ADSB, incorporating the Stratus II.
Click to expand...

I read about this a few weeks back. I'm extremely interested in this option. I did just recently buy a Stratus II and have only been able to use it on two flights so far, but I love it! Flew to Sportys to pick it up, and used the WX right on the flight home. Was nice to be able to keep track of the impending weather to my west. The traffic is also a nice feature. Better for me around busier airspace, but I've noticed a stray target around my airfield.
 
Scrabo said:
Well if you use only Foreflight, then another receiver is not an option. If there was to be a new Stratus it probably would not be before Airventure
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FWIW, the Stratus 2 debuted at Sun 'n' Fun. But you certainly wouldn't see a new one before then.

cirrusmx said:
i have been debating about buying a stratus II, but I am thinking i am way too late on the product cycle. Does anyone know if theres a new model coming out? should i wait or should i look at another reciever?
Click to expand...

What "product cycle"? These aren't cell phones, they're devices that have a very specific use, so you don't see the same type of cycle you see with electronics. As other posters have mentioned, the Stratus 2 has a feature set that's not likely to be eclipsed in the short term.

There is a connector right next to the power connector that they said was for "future upgrades" too, which may mean that even the current Stratus (2) will be able to plug into their panel-mount solution.

Were I you, I'd go ahead and buy. I don't see a new Stratus coming out soon, especially not with some compelling new feature. I could be wrong, but you could also spend an awful lot of time waiting and not having in-flight weather and such.

Unit74 said:
Do you have a Garmin 650 or better? If so, the Garmin app has the possibility to communicate via BT and upload flight plans and such.
Click to expand...

Only if you have the right (additional) hardware. ForeFlight can communicate with Garmin stuff via the Aspen Connected Panel hardware too, so there's a solution either way.
 
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