Re: AnywhereWx vs. AirGator NavAirWx

Many of the things you want to do with the software, you can do without any
"keyboard/text" input. A lot is based on selection screens, where a list of
airports, navaids, user waypoints, etc, are listed, and you select what you
want, or tapping what you want on the moving map screen, such as the
airport. The section of the their documentation that is relevant to this, is

http://docs.controlvision.com/pages/finding_nearby_airport.php

One quote from that section is:
"The ideal way to select the nearest airport in an emergency is to use the
EMODE button. This button will allow you to graphically select the nearest
airport with a single tap, and will set up a flight plan to that airport,
with VNAV enabled and a glide predictor arc drawn in front of the aircraft.
For more information on this, see the EMODE section of this document."

Over all, "I" don't think it's a major problem doing what you envision.

I should point out that I have no vested interest in the company. I'm a user
of the product. Needless to say, everyone needs to base their selection on
their unique requirements. For me, I like using a PDA. I not only have the
aviation moving map software, but street level moving map for all of the
U.S. of A.(Navman Smartstreets), keep a bunch of songs in mp3 format, have
checklists, have a mini word processor and spreadsheet, Quicken, cruise the
Internet, print, view pictures, pdf files, check email, weather, calendar,
calculator, etc, etc, and fit it in my pocket. Do all that with a Garmin
296. ;-) If anyone in the eastern mass area would like a look, send me an
email if you want to meet someplace. I'm in the KOWD/K1B9/KTAN/K3B2/KPYM
area.

The scenario I envision is being bounced around while looking for "better
weather", which might mean seeking a nearby airport at which I can land.
I'm not sufficiently familiar with the product to know how I'd do such a
thing, but (1) can I do it and (2) can I do it in turbulance?

Thanks...

- Andrew

For me, if the turbulence was "bad enough", I wouldn't be messing with the
PDA, as I use it for situational awareness only. Having said that, there a
few things that assist in rough air. First you can assign functions to the
physical buttons on the PDA. Second, Control Vision has a feature called
"Rough Air Buttons", that are icons that you can show on the screen for
several functions. Third, Control Vision supplies a keyboard with larger
character keys.
A couple screenshots :
http://www.shn.org/AWSIPA.jpg
http://www.shn.org/AWSIP1.jpg

What about in turbulance?  How do you enter data on the palmtop while
bouncing?

- Andrew

I have used AnywhereWx on an Ipaq 2215 for some time now. I can't imagine
flying IFR without it. There have been some issues with the XM Weather unit
forcing activation and apparently they have been pushing out firmware
updates to try and correct that. As to which system is easier to use I
suspect that this is like asking which flight planning software is best. I
occasionaly download and run the NavAir software and find it to be more
difficult to use. I'm sure that a lot of that is related to the fact that
I've used AnywhereMap for so long. Unfortunately CV has so far refused to
provide a demo version of their software. As to the display being better on
the NavAir that seems to be the general consensus when it comes to terrain
depiction. I don't think that will be an impact on the weather because the
granularity from XM is the same for both products. CV is supposedly going to
have support for VGA display modes soon.

Thanks to all who replied to my in-flight weather questions.

I think that I've narrowed my selection down to a PDA solution using the
iPaq 4700, along with packages for XM weather an moving map from either
Control Vision (AnywhereWx) or AirGator (NavAirWx).

Detailed information on the web sites of both companies is a little
sketchy, and the photos are unclear, but the photos appear to show a
slightly more impressive software display from AirGator's NavAirWx than
from AnywhereWx / Map.

I have been advised that AnywhereMap's "Cones of Safety" feature is
valuable, but I am trying to place a priority on the weather display and
easy of use.  Does AirGator have a better system for weather?

Thanks,
JKG