Android tablet to replace Garmin 396??

[Mike Switzer]

I really like my Garmin 396. Even though I haven't flown in a while I still use it for road trips. Due to aging eyes I am considering replacing it with some sort of Android tablet with a larger screen. Does anyone have any experience with the apps available for android tablets, both for road & aviation use? I would need something that had the maps in an on board database as many of the road trips I take go thru areas with no data coverage. I thought Garmin had some software that would do this but I can't find anything on their website.

[Dana]

Navigation apps for smartphones and tablets are so good nowadays I can't see ever buying a dedicated GPS again, unless you needed a certified IFR GPS. For driving, google maps or Waze, if you have a data connection you even get realtime traffic, if not you have to preload the maps, which is easy to do in google maps, not sure about Waze.

For flying, I've been using Avare, which is completely free (there's also Garmin Pilot, though I've never used it). Up until now I've just used Avare on my phone, but for the 1000 mile flight home in my new plane I'm going to use my 7" tablet instead as primary with the plane's existing Garmin 196 as backup.

Avare displays the actual sectional chart as the moving map, instead of the simplified version in the older Garmins. You preload the charts and A/FD, it can also get weather and (with an external receiver) ADS-in data.

[Mike Switzer]

How do you go about pre loading the Google maps? I can't find any way to do it on my phone. I don't have the newest version, I reverted to what came with the phone because the new version covers virtually the entire map with text boxes full of local attraction info that I couldn't find any way to shut off & they covered the map making it useless.

[Dana]

How do you go about pre loading the Google maps? I can't find any way to do it on my phone. I don't have the newest version, I reverted to what came with the phone because the new version covers virtually the entire map with text boxes full of local attraction info that I couldn't find any way to shut off & they covered the map making it useless.

https://www.androidpit.com/use-your-google-maps-offline

I've never seen any "text boxes full of local attraction info" in maps... you sure you're talking about maps and not Google Earth? Two different programs...

[Mike Switzer]

you sure you're talking about maps and not Google Earth? Two different programs...

Yes, it is definitely google maps. The same stuff comes up on the desktop version but with a 27" monitor it isn't as big of a deal & there you can shut it off.

[Mike Switzer]

Oh, and it doesn't happen everywhere. Here at home it doesn't show up, try zooming in on the Assembly Hall area in Champaign IL & it is terrible.

[Mike Switzer]

https://www.androidpit.com/use-your-google-maps-offline

The menu on my phone doesn't have the offline option they show there (or a couple of the other options). I am either going to try to load the newest version on my old phone to see how it works or borrow a tablet. Thanks for the link

[dewi8095]

I really like my Garmin 396. Even though I haven't flown in a while I still use it for road trips. Due to aging eyes I am considering replacing it with some sort of Android tablet with a larger screen. Does anyone have any experience with the apps available for android tablets, both for road & aviation use?

Mike:

I second Dana's recommendation of Avare. It has worked well for me on a Samsung Galaxy Tab A tablet with a 7" screen. Clear, bright screen at low cost. I bought mine for less than $100 on a holiday special from Best Buy. Only downside of this tablet that I can see is that it comes with only 8GB of ROM, but I off set that by using it exclusively for navigation. If more memory need, an additional memory chip is cheap.

Don

[Dave Stadt]

I really like my Garmin 396. Even though I haven't flown in a while I still use it for road trips. Due to aging eyes I am considering replacing it with some sort of Android tablet with a larger screen. Does anyone have any experience with the apps available for android tablets, both for road & aviation use? I would need something that had the maps in an on board database as many of the road trips I take go thru areas with no data coverage. I thought Garmin had some software that would do this but I can't find anything on their website.

My $600 Garmin Aera 510 became intermittent and would cost $250 to (maybe) have fixed. Instead...I bought a 7 inch Samsung tablet and run AVARE. Also bought the parts for a Sratux ADSB in receiver which wirelessly interfaces with AVARE and the Samsung. All the above for less than the $250 I would have spent having the AERA fixed and I get free software, free chart updates, real time weather, weather radar, traffic, etc.. What's not to like. I do believe the writing is on the wall for the portable GPS market. Anybody want a not so reliable Garmin AERA 510?

Here is the link to the Garmin aviation APP. https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/115856
And the ground based APP. https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/98479

There look to be a number of ground navigation APPs that have onboard databases available. A quick look through the Play Store found several.

[Mike M]

I too use an Android device, a Samsung Galaxy GT-P5113 (tab2, 10 inch screen) running Avare. Gave up on my G196 because some of the buttons have stopped working. Garmin said they don't repair them anymore. It was nice because it did bunches and bunches of stuff but i never really figured out how to do most of it :)

Also built the Stratux as discussed in one of the EAA pubs. Get Avare and don't do Stratux? No. Do it!

Then got a Talos Aeolus to drive an old Android phone as a backup to the panel mounted flight instruments.

Total price tag, less than a thousand dollars. For nav, ADSB-in, and AHRS - including updates. Would I ever consider this a primary IFR set? Of course not. But it's great for what it does.

(GPS Copilot for Android is free on the Google Play store and runs ground maps off line)

[Mike Switzer]

For road navigation I found something called Sygic, I have been trying it on my phone while driving. Once I got the lady with the British accent to tell me miles & yards instead of meters & kilometers it is fairly good. You can download maps for off line use, and if you have a data connection it will tell you about accidents, traffic, speed cameras, etc. For tablet use I would have to link my phone to the tablet for the data connection to work.

Do most of the tablets these days have GPS built in? I have a older USB GPS but internal would be more convenient.

[Dana]

Yes, most tablets have GPS nowadays, at least Android. I believe iPads don't have GPS unless they also have cellular (no technical reason, just Apple marketing).

Even though my tablet has GPS, I just ordered a bluetooth GPS receiver for a better signal when the tablet is down inside the cockpit on my lap.

[belgianbuzzer]

Then got a Talos Aeolus to drive an old Android phone as a backup to the panel mounted flight instruments.

Dear Mike,
How is your experience with the Talos Aeolus? I'm just thinking about getting that little AHRS box. $600 plus my tablet Nexus 7" and I'm done for my homebuilt. Thanks, Bob

[Mike M]

Belgian Bob, the Aeolus works like the Talos folks say it does. The developers are (so far) happily communicative and email-available. No, it's not my primary, they didn't say it should be. If you're looking for a backup you'll probably like it once you learn it. I do.

[Mike Switzer]

I tried using Sygic on a longer trip over the weekend, while it has some nice features it is buggy. Voice instructions wont stay turned on & when they did work she was telling us to take a ramp at 50 miles per hour (50 kph might have worked, but definitely not 50mph)

[Jim Heffelfinger]

I have been using Naviator, it has 100,000+ downloads, works well with Android, it is a subscription for updates - which automatically by default update every time it is in a wifi environment, does all the usual stuff, airport diagrams, full moving map , choice of charts from VFR, IFR, low and high altitude, all the weather bits, rubber band tracks, layers, interfaces with ADS-B in data and with the new AHRS module it displays as PFD, and naturally full 3D, Vnav, slpit screen data, file and brief, export GPX, and import route infor from a desktop, TFRs, and IR satellite overlays, etc. Has spoken up a number of times " Obstacle ahead - pull up " when you forget to close the app while driving. ForeFlight is the go to app for iOS devices. IMHO

Need to mention that internal GPS in many tablets and phones may be AGPS. An external GPS (WAAS) input is needed for flight operations using a tablet. .
One solution: https://www.openflightsolutions.com/flightbox/

[2ndsegment]

I have a Garmin 35. (a Watch) My experience with computer connections goes back to a TRS-80 Basic 2 interface box with ribbon connections that had solder mating and even a RS-232C that sat on rubber feet and had sharp point connections on a flat plane. In Florida with the humidity I was constantly scraping the connections with an X-acto knife after taking it in until service ended.

Then with a Polar watch and a chest band I found I could also nick off the little corrosion pimples after using it in a pool of sweating a lot in a 5K or 15K. Those connections were rhodium. The TRS-80 RS-232-C had gold plated connections other than to the interface box. Through the decades now I have found, wash the not truly waterproof connection to a rechargeable battery with clear water and rub vigorously with a Kleenex every time you take it off.

If it quit working for any other reason it is probably some memory got full. You will have to delete all your history, all your records and go on.

My FIRE tablet worked fine for a strap down so my grandkids could learn how to fly through frames. I'll back off on spin up gyros and strap downs if you can answer this question. Is Hellfire wire guided like TOW? Please untangle me.

[CHICAGORANDY]

There have been times when newcomers who like to necropost have turned out to be those silly little people who live under bridges. Not saying that this is an example of course, but 'just sayin'.