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Thread: GPS For Your Cellphone / Tablet

  1. #1

    GPS For Your Cellphone / Tablet

    I was recently asked by one of our chapter members “What’s the best GPS to buy?”. A couple pilots chimed in and suggested one of “Gxxxxx’s” products. Normally I would have agreed but I think times have changed. Less expensive, easier to use and more capable GPS solutions are available for download on your smartphone.

    If you don’t have one of the latest smartphones and hate the idea of upgrading to an expensive cellphone service plan (mine’s $85 per month), consider a Tablet instead. Tablets don’t need a cellphone service plan. As a result they lack some of the communication features of a smartphone, such as, no real time TAF’s, METAR’s, TFR’s, and weather radar. Make sure your Tablet is GPS enabled, however, or else you'll just have a fancy map (the same is true for a smartphone).

    To read about my own smartphone GPS experience click here. This will bring you to a post off our EAA Chapter 1221 Website.

    Finally, if you own an Apple product, ForeFlight is excellent GPS product that will work for you. At $75 it’s a good navigation solution, just not quite the $50 per year bargain that Naviator offers the Android crowd. With either product, and whether using a smartphone or tablet, you’ll have a powerful GPS solution that comes with automatic software upgrades and charting updates. And you’ll never get stuck with an obsolete, unsupported, un-updateable GPS again!


    Mike Hongisto
    President – EAA Chapter 1221
    HongistoMichael@aol.com
    Last edited by Mike Hongisto; 04-30-2012 at 02:07 PM.

  2. #2
    Here's a picture of the Naviator App operating on my Samsung Galaxy S2, and running along side my Lowrance Airmap 600C.

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    The cellphone holder is made from 3 strips of wood, the thickness of the phone, and 1/16" plywood.



    Mike Hongisto
    President - EAA Chapter 1221
    HongsitoMichaelaaol.com

  3. #3
    Joe Delene's Avatar
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    Lots of choices out there, much depends on the type of flying done & cash available. Right now I do fine with my 696/XM weather option. I do use my smart phone with fltplan.com & some aviation weather apps to look over info when away from a computer.

  4. #4
    MickYoumans's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Hongisto View Post
    And you’ll never get stuck with an obsolete, unsupported, un-updateable GPS again! Mike HongistoPresident – EAA Chapter 1221HongistoMichael@aol.com
    +1. In addition to that, with the competion between WingX, ForeFlight and Naviator, you know they will keep pushing each other to just keep improving on what they are already providing. The cool thing is as they make these improvements, they provide their updates for free for people with current subscriptions. About a year ago I started using ForeFlight but swapped to WingX since it was a better fit for my flying. Both of these programs are awesome and getting better and better.

    The other real plus for using the iPad is all of the other great apps you can have available, not just GPS.
    Last edited by MickYoumans; 05-04-2012 at 09:37 PM.

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