Pocket PC navigation - again

[Akos]

Hi all

I have been thinking about getting a pocket pc based gps navigation
tool. I have downloaded and tried PocketFMS, and admittedly was quite
impressed with it. But I find it rather hard to justify paying a 150
Euros annually (!) for a piece of software that seems to be in permanent
beta state. (I suppose once hooked there is no way out, the app will
stop working after a year if I decide not to renew the license, even if
I'm happy to use it with out of date data.) Not sure what the deal with
he Garmin appliances, but I suspect these will not stop working if one
stops the data subscription. If this is the case, in a few years the
appliance make a better value for money.

I wonder if anyone has a strong view on this? Or indeed, if anyone does
find PocketFMS a worthwhile investment. Any feedback would be much
appreciated.

Cheers,
Akos

[pietro]

Ciao Akos,

It's practically impossible to read a Pocket PC when the sun shines.
I've used PFMS in Cessnas and a Piper P28. - Trying to find a dark
corner in the cockpit just to be able to read what the PPC is showing is
not really the safe thing to be doing, especially if you are on your
own. My old monochrome Garmin is in that respect much better - but also
not perfect. If you already own a pocket PC try standing near the window
at home on a sunny day and you'll see what I mean. For safety's sake one
should be able to read an instrument at a single glance, and that is
unfortunately not the case with a pocket PC. PFMS I found good for
flight planning and generally fiddling about, but I (and many others
too) agree with you on the two points you made namely the cost and the
fact that it stops working altogether after the subscribed period has
elapsed. That doesn't happen with the established GPS systems i.e.
Garmin etc.
Most of us fly VFR locally and really only need to update for the month
when we make our yearly big trips, so the standard GPS with a monthly
update is probably the better bet.

P.

[Peter]

Pocket/PC will only ever be as good as the PDA itself, and most of
them are poor especially on sunlight readability. I think the Fujitsu
LOOX ones are worth a look (so to speak) and they have a GPS receiver
built-in which is v. nice, and my old HP 4700 is not bad.

I've been playing with this stuff for a while now, and have come to
the conclusion that the requirement is best split into two separate
tasks: airborne and ground.

For airborne you just want a decent big moving map, with minimal
interaction and very good readability. IMHO the only control should be
a brightness knob. But there I am assuming you have another panel
mounted GPS for the primary navigation; if not then you want something
capable of rapid and robust interaction and no PDA solution I have
seen does that.

For ground i.e. flight planning a decent lightweight laptop, with
GPRS/3G, is the best way.

Post by Akos
Hi all
I have been thinking about getting a pocket pc based gps navigation
tool. I have downloaded and tried PocketFMS, and admittedly was quite
impressed with it. But I find it rather hard to justify paying a 150
Euros annually (!) for a piece of software that seems to be in permanent
beta state. (I suppose once hooked there is no way out, the app will
stop working after a year if I decide not to renew the license, even if
I'm happy to use it with out of date data.) Not sure what the deal with
he Garmin appliances, but I suspect these will not stop working if one
stops the data subscription. If this is the case, in a few years the
appliance make a better value for money.
I wonder if anyone has a strong view on this? Or indeed, if anyone does
find PocketFMS a worthwhile investment. Any feedback would be much
appreciated.
Cheers,
Akos

[TMG]

Just use a pre-pay version. I think anything before .64 keeps working, only
the data will be outdated. And it is free...

Post by Akos
Hi all
I have been thinking about getting a pocket pc based gps navigation
tool. I have downloaded and tried PocketFMS, and admittedly was quite
impressed with it. But I find it rather hard to justify paying a 150
Euros annually (!) for a piece of software that seems to be in permanent
beta state. (I suppose once hooked there is no way out, the app will
stop working after a year if I decide not to renew the license, even if
I'm happy to use it with out of date data.) Not sure what the deal with
he Garmin appliances, but I suspect these will not stop working if one
stops the data subscription. If this is the case, in a few years the
appliance make a better value for money.
I wonder if anyone has a strong view on this? Or indeed, if anyone does
find PocketFMS a worthwhile investment. Any feedback would be much
appreciated.
Cheers,
Akos

[Peter]

Post by TMG
Just use a pre-pay version. I think anything before .64 keeps working, only
the data will be outdated. And it is free...

The problem is what is the point in flying with out of date chart
data?

If you are going to do that, you may as well scan in the latest (1998)
ONC chart of Europe and run that under Oziexplorer. The terrain hasn't
changed :)

[Akos]

Thanks, all, for your feedback.

I have one of these windows mobile phones with a built in GPS, and a
tiny but not-too-bad-in-sunshine screens. I thought it would be a great
little back-up device for in-the-air navigation. I was thinking about
using the HSI-like feature, instead of the moving map, though the latter
wouldn't hurt either to be available.

Cheers,
Akos

[Peter]

Post by Akos
I have one of these windows mobile phones with a built in GPS, and a
tiny but not-too-bad-in-sunshine screens. I thought it would be a great
little back-up device for in-the-air navigation. I was thinking about
using the HSI-like feature, instead of the moving map, though the latter
wouldn't hurt either to be available.

It would be better than nothing, perhaps.