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AvMap Ultra EFIS

I played with one at Osh.

This thing has an awesome AHRS in it. No matter how hard or fast I tried and even using my bag of tricks, I could not tumble this thing. The sales guy said he never has seen anyone try so hard to tumble a demo unit.

I was simply amazed. The response rate of this thing is phenomenal .

The screen was nice an bright. They told me it was transflective.

It was very light weight and requires little space behind the unit.

Now for the bad stuff:

The graphics are butt ugly. They need work!

They don't fit a standard cutout...not sure why the heck they did not make em fit a standard hole....they are close however.

The knob seemed cheap. Seems like I remember that it had a pigtail and not a normal Dshell connector. I did not like the air data connectors either. They look like cheese!


To reiterate, I have never seen an experimental AHRS that can match this things response rate and saturation limits. Have no idea how it will perform in the real world but it looked promising in the demo booth!
 
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Silly engineering

Turns out the diameter of the round part is just larger than the standard, 3 1/8" and the hole pattern for screws is different as well. So this is not a simple replacement of an AI upgrade.
Just FYI.
Still might be a good EFIS for a fresh design.
 
Turns out the diameter of the round part is just larger than the standard, 3 1/8" and the hole pattern for screws is different as well. So this is not a simple replacement of an AI upgrade.
Just FYI.
Still might be a good EFIS for a fresh design.

Yes, strange for a product for sale here in the states...
 
Turns out the diameter of the round part is just larger than the standard, 3 1/8" and the hole pattern for screws is different as well.

This fact alone could kill the unit's fleet viability. The panel has to be cut specifically for this device, and once cut, can never be used for another. Strange why the manufacturer would limit the market in that way.
 
Apparently the market for which this was designed has a different standard.

At least that is what they said.
 
The 3 1/8" hole is only "kinda" standard. I've got a round hole for the ASI, a round hole with a corner cut out for the ALT, and a round hole with two corners cutout for the TruTrak ADI Pilot II. Standards aren't really so standard after all. Opening a hole up a bit isn't a really huge deal.

What is a huge deal is getting an EFIS with ADAHARS AND GPS for $1200. Dynon take note!

In response to Brantel's comments on the graphics, I wonder who we should bug to get a youtube video of this thing in action so we can take a look-see for ourselves?

BTW, I'm holding my breath for the GRT Mini - and hoping it will come in at nearly the same price point, then I can ditch my ADI Pilot II, install a Mini, and VSVG flat pack controller and have full GPSS + VNAV while keeping my backup attitude indication, and adding a second backup ASI & ALT! If this plan doesn't work then I'll be looking long and hard at the AvMap Ultra as my backup instrumentation.
 
In response to Brantel's comments on the graphics, I wonder who we should bug to get a youtube video of this thing in action so we can take a look-see for ourselves?

I have asked Ryan Deck to do one for ACS. He has had some stock on these so I think he will.

Can tell you that all the marketing data has conflicting images of what we should expect for graphics. The one on display at Osh was a bit different than what I see in the documents.

I would be curious what the final version looked like so I would love to see a video as well.

Since this thing is being developed and mainly marketed in Europe, I doubt we can expect to have much impact on future software revisions like we do here with Garmin, GRT, Dynon, TTFS etc. I would expect less for support as well. It took em over 3 weeks to respond to a simple request for info via email. Something to keep in mind...
 
What is a huge deal is getting an EFIS with ADAHARS AND GPS for $1200. Dynon take note!

BTW, I'm holding my breath for the GRT Mini - and hoping it will come in at nearly the same price point, then I can ditch my ADI Pilot II, install a Mini, and VSVG flat pack controller and have full GPSS + VNAV while keeping my backup attitude indication, and adding a second backup ASI & ALT! If this plan doesn't work then I'll be looking long and hard at the AvMap Ultra as my backup instrumentation.

I am also keeping an eye on this, would love to replace my TT ADI with a mini EFIS. Something with a real AHRS but smaller and cheaper than a D6.
 
I am also keeping an eye on this, would love to replace my TT ADI with a mini EFIS. Something with a real AHRS but smaller and cheaper than a D6.

Walt, I played with one of these in my hand for about 30 minutes at Osh and I have to say that I was impressed. The AHRS in this thing is amazing. I could not tumble it no matter how hard I tried.

The unit is very light weight and small behind the panel. Not real fond of the connectors and air data fittings. The unit feels sort of cheap in your hand but heck it is a $1200 full fledged EFIS with a GPS!
 
Walt, I played with one of these in my hand for about 30 minutes at Osh and I have to say that I was impressed. The AHRS in this thing is amazing. I could not tumble it no matter how hard I tried.

The unit is very light weight and small behind the panel. Not real fond of the connectors and air data fittings. The unit feels sort of cheap in your hand but heck it is a $1200 full fledged EFIS with a GPS!

Thanks Brian, I am very tempted to give this a try... maybe GRT can give us an update on their unit, I would prefer to support them with my RV bucks.
 
My take on this is that it appears to be a neat little box...on the bench / on the ground. The reality is that AvMap has not been in the business of making EFIS system, there isn't any track record of it over any period of time...so any comments on it's robustness and reliability are dubious at best.

It certainly may end up being a fantastic little box that becomes very popular. I'll withhold any opinion (plus or minus) on it until we see some real world examples with at least some minimal history behind them. Also, it'll be interesting to see how the customer service, repair, maintenance, etc.. stack up against the known quantities we currently deal with (GRT, AFS, Dynon, PSE, etc..) in that area specifically.

Hopefully at some point I'll play with one in the air (not just on the ground) and be able to give some reasonable feedback. I suppose a youtube video would give some details, but I sort discount any ground based reviews on something like an EFIS without some additional data-points from real world flights. Who knows - this could be a home run....or a bunt.

Just my 2 cents as usual.

Cheers,
Stein
 
OK, so here is a little background/info on the Ultra. I am a beta tester for the AvMap aviation products and have an Ultra sitting on my bench at the hangar.

First, I have been telling the factory people that the form factor they chose could/would have a significant negative impact on the sales of this device. I have also sent them the link to this thread so they can judge for themselves. At present they are sitting on ~500 cases in the current configuration, so it is doubtful that there will be size change anytime soon unless there is enough feedback to shift their thinking.

I think that the unit has great promise and could make for a very simple panel for the those wanting to go light or it could serve as a backup system for those with more panel space. The GPS derived distance/direction to airports, VORs, other way-points will be very useful especially as an emergency backup for your normal navigation units.

I have not mounted the unit yet since I was waiting to see if there was going to be change in the size to fit our standard 3.125" instruments. By the way, I am told that these units are drop in compatible for the Yaks. So if you have any Yak buddies this would be a great upgrade for them. There is also some talk about furnishing a small sub-panel with the Ultra so that if in the future you decide to replace it with a standard instrument, the panel will cover the larger hole and have the 3.125" hole/screw holes already drilled.

I will probable be mounting the unit over the Thanksgiving week so might be able to post some video shortly thereafter if anyone is interested.
If there is anything in particular you would like me to test let me know, but I do plan to do some extensive testing as part of the Beta Testing program. The Ultra will be mounted directly below my Dynon 100 so it should be easy to make comparisons between them.

Bill
 
I was intrigued by the comments about the graphics being butt ugly so I contacted AvMap tech support. I've suggested they post some current pictures and/or a video so we could at least see what the screen presentation looks like in production units, rather than having to sort through the chaff represented by several different variations of marketing literature. I also made them aware of this discussion thread as well as the critical comments on graphics.

The response I have received so far is that they are working on a video, so that's in the plan. This additional information provided by AvMap support gives some insight into why different versions of the screen graphics may have been floating around.
"From the time it was presented to the present, there have been many enhancements on it – one being a whole new LCD in the unit."

Bill - I think there are a lot of us looking forward to any info you might be able to provide, both on your installation experience as well as flight testing.
 
Also needs to be able to configure the airspeed to display in statute MPH as well as Knots.

There's still plenty of us out here who prefer to use MPH for our airspeed indicators... and yes even in RVs... and yes, even in RVs with glass panel EFIS as the primary flight instrumentation.
 
AvMap Ultra Video

OK Guys,

Managed to get the Ultra mounted in the aircraft over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Removed a turn coordinator and had to enlarge the mounting hole slightly. Took it up for a compass calibration flight this past Sunday. Posted a composite video on YouTube if anyone is interested.
http://youtu.be/3KlmEdm9cb8
One thing I noticed was that the glare off of the steam gauges was much more pronounce than off of the Ultra. Still need time to play with the HSI functions before I can evaluate but the PFD function seemed to work very well. Both the altitude and airspeed indications seemed to follow the round gauges quite closely.

Bill
 
Thanks for posting that video, Bill. Seems like the display had plenty of brightness and was quite legible. It also looks like the user interface is pretty easy to sort out.

(I was a little thrown off by the video - it took me a few seconds to realize I wasn't on a boat! :D )

Thanks again for taking the time to post the video!
 
OK Guys,

Managed to get the Ultra mounted in the aircraft over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Removed a turn coordinator and had to enlarge the mounting hole slightly. Took it up for a compass calibration flight this past Sunday. Posted a composite video on YouTube if anyone is interested.
http://youtu.be/3KlmEdm9cb8
One thing I noticed was that the glare off of the steam gauges was much more pronounce than off of the Ultra. Still need time to play with the HSI functions before I can evaluate but the PFD function seemed to work very well. Both the altitude and airspeed indications seemed to follow the round gauges quite closely.

Bill
Bill,

Was the video taken during the actual compass calibration procedure ?

I am asking because I haven't seen the pitch up/down described in the manual.

I just installed a ULTRA in my RV-6 here in Brazil and I'm having a hard time to calibrate the compass, already performed five flights and still getting 40 deg W of heading offset.

I am performing the pitch up/down maneuver described in the manual.

Already checked for magnetic interference with other 3 sensors in the location I installed the ULTRA and all the others were undisturbed close to the ULTRA panel locaion.

Any Thoughts ?

Tanks.
 
Hi Luiz,

Yes the video was taken during the calibration process but the video also some flight after the calibration process.

Look at page 11 of the users manual and you will see the pitch/down step.

Assuming the calibration is started with the aircraft heading North, the steps required are (see Figure 8):
1. Maintaining heading 000? execute: pitch up + 20?, back to straight flight and then pitch down -20?
2. Turn left to heading 270? by performing a standard rate turn.
3. Execute pitch up/down manoeuvres as described in step #1



At present, there IS an issue with the compass calibration which the factory is well aware of and is hard at work on. I hope to be testing a new version of the software this weekend which will not be the final released fix but should help them get a better handle on where the problem is.

Hang in there. The problem should be resolved soon.

Bill
 
Bill,

I've tested the sw 4.11 (test version) this weekend (the calibration is done on the ground in this version) but the results obtained were still bad.

I'm getting a variable offset in the heading indication (a different value for each heading) but average I've got 40 deg of error (offset) in the ULTRA indication.

My PFD page is also not perfect I believe due to this offset in heading - little bank offset to the side of the heading offset and the trajectory vector obviously wrong.

Have you had the oportunity to test a version this weekend ? Was it the same as I've tested ? Would you share some results ?

Thanks again

Luiz.
 
Luiz,

I had the same results as you with the new version and have sent this info to the factory folks.

Bill
 
Hi Bill,

If I may ask you an additional question, Has your AVMap ULTRA behaved as expected (I mean heading-wise) since the day you installed ? Have you had a software regression or it never worked as expected and factory folks are struggling to solve the problem?

I'm asking you because I've been interacting with the manufacturer in a daily basis (flight testing the unit and sending then data) and they never informed me the problem would not be contained to my unit. Based on you having tested the sw last weekend and getting the results as I'm it ssens like known firmware problem.

Luiz.
 
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Hi!

had the same troubles as discribed above.

Got a new firmware (3.15) and new software (5.6) yesterday. Will test it at the weekend and will report the resultes

Cheers Olli
 
Hi Olli,

The Firmware 3.15 and the soft 5.6 or 5.9 (latest) worked fine for me as far as the Mag calibration is concerned.

Please note that sw 5.6 has a known issue of reseting the unit after using the center knob.

I'm waiting the Avmap answer about a inverted CDI TO/FROM indication I've got after updating to those versions.

Regards.

Luiz
 
Hi Luiz!

you are right, it works fine.

two thing to issues:
the inverted CDI and the wind indication

if you get any news from AvMap, please let us know

cheers Olli
 
Is it possible to run Ultra without the GPS receiver pigtail? I'm not so intrested in the heading display, so if that's degraded or absent, it's still acceptable for me.

P.S. Also, the question of the battery wasn't answered. Is there a battery or not? Seems unthinkable if there isn't one, but then stranger things happened.
 
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Ultra Status Update

Thought I would update everyone on my current observations of the Ultra. First I should state up front that I have been a beta tester for AvMap aviation products for several years, so I have had the chance to test many versions of their software and hardware.
As of Software version 5.14 all of the previously listed issues seem to have been resolved. I have been flying with this version for some time now and can say that it appears to be very stable. Magnetic calibration is now within a few degrees of what I see on my Dynon D-100, so I'm happy with that. CDI and wind vector issues have been corrected. On a recent trip from San Diego to Sacramento and back, I used it as a cross check for my primary navigation GPS & flight instruments and it was right on. In general, I think that with the latest software, the Ultra is doing what it was designed to do.

Of course, YMMV
Bill
 
Thanks Bill and everyone for the reports.

Can anyone tell me whether the Ultra provides an altitude output on one of its RS232 ports? The installation manual says it does so when connected to a Micro Air T2000 transponder, but I don't have one of those. I'd like to use it to feed altitude to my SL70R, via a custom microcontroller protocol converter if necessary...
 
Henry,
I suggest that you contact the factory and ask them what information and format is available on the serial ports. Or perhaps look to see if you can find any information on the Micro Air unit's serial comm port. Sorry but I have not tried connecting the Ultra to any other equipment so I have no personal experience to share.
 
OK, thanks Bill. I emailed the manufacturer a couple of days ago but haven't heard back yet. I'll post when I find something out.

Thanks for the welcome Mike :)

Henry
 
Turns out the diameter of the round part is just larger than the standard, 3 1/8" and the hole pattern for screws is different as well. So this is not a simple replacement of an AI upgrade.
Just FYI.
Still might be a good EFIS for a fresh design.

Update:
Looking at AvMap website, there seems to have been a design revision.
The new model (while it seems to be identical feature-wise) is now physically a fit for a standard 3" hole in the panel, including the hole pattern for the screws.
Much better.
 
Garmin G5 vs. AVMAP Ultra?

I just bought the G5 and literally after I got home I saw the AVMAP, which looks like it's got more functions, an external GPS antenna, lower cost. Can someone comment on how they like theirs, esp. with the new version? Any negatives compared to the G5 aside from "ugly" graphics and lack of back-up battery?
 
After checking out the Avmap at Oshkosh, I bought and installed it. Flew a 1700 mile round trip last weekend in it... works well. I mean to do a full write up in the future, but in the mean time, I am very happy with it!
 
Any updates to user experiences? Price has certainly gotten attractive.

Also, that youtube video is no longer available, and all the other yutube reviews I found were non-English (I'm crippled by being single-lingual).
 
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Any updates to user experiences? Price has certainly gotten attractive.

Also, that youtube video is no longer available, and all the other yutube reviews I found were non-English (I'm crippled by being single-lingual).

Hi Charlie,
I never did get around to doing a full write up. Have yet to experience any hiccups with the product. The only downside is the graphics aren?t quite as clear as the garmin product. 720p vs 1080p if you will. But that is what allows the price to be where it is at. And it is absolutely more than enough for a VFR situational awareness builder. I went from unreliable steam gauges to the avmap and love having the built in gps (no messing with the ipad) and the instant wind read out. No issues with the ahrs when going upside down. Any specific questions feel free to ask!!
 
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