Bob Barrow and Kahuna,
To say that ?virtually everyone who has a GRT or AFS EFIS would be VERY disappointed with the current mapping functions? or that ?moving map functionality is poorer than an 8 year old portable I have? is not only insulting it is completely false. I can tell you that we have hundreds of customers who have purchased mapping for their systems and NOT ONE has called to say that they are unhappy
Have you seen and used the map on a 430W? I?d be curious to know just what your 8 year-old portable is and whether it will do any of the following: (I still have a 195, IPAQ with Anywhere Map, 295, 396, and 496)
? A color screen?
? Display airspace vertical boundaries without having to select it?
? Display a course line to the airport as you are scrolling through the nearest airports list?
? Private airports?
? Display Zaon Traffic?
? Display TIS Traffic?
? Display ADSB Traffic?
? Display NexRad Weather?
? Display METARS?
? Airport Remarks?
? Intersections?
? VOR?s?
? Display the current OBS VOR radial inbound and outbound?
? Display the flight plan from a 430W/530W?
? IFR charts?
? Display the GPS selected radial from a 430W in OBS mode?
? Let you select multiple GPS sources?
I am sure that your 8 year-old map has pan and multi-leg flight plans. Our new AF-4500 has a built in Joystick for map panning and we will have multi-leg flight plans before Sun-n-Fun. Yes, we are behind schedule on shipping the AF-4500, but this is due to a delay in our changing processors to one that will allow the display of synthetic vision. We knew it would put us behind schedule, but it was the right thing to do for our customers. I?m not trying to make excuses, just telling it like it is.
The following picture shows the AFS map compared to the new Garmin 696. Notice with the 696 that you have to pan and select the airspace for it to display the vertical boundaries, whereas our map shows them without needing to pan and select. The 696 does not display the OBS selected radial from a SL30 or 430W on the map, the AFS does. The 696 costs a lot of $$$ to keep the nav data current, the AFS nav data is free and updated on our web site every 28 days. The 696 will not display flight plans from multiple GPS sources, while the AFS will display the flight plan from any GPS connected to any AFS screen in the plane. The 696 does not draw a course line to the airport as you scroll through the nearest list, the AFS does. The 696 only displays the text left or right for the traffic pattern, the AFS draws the traffic pattern arrows on the runway diagram. The 696 costs around $400 a year to display the current approach plates without your aircraft position, our current beta test software has the same feature for far less money. We are currently testing geo-referenced approach plates and should have it released before Sun-n-Fun. I believe that Garmin charges around $3000 to unlock and over $1000 per year for this feature. I find that filling your screen with an approach plate while losing your aircraft?s position on the map is not very helpful.
Notice that the runway at HIO is color coded to the current METAR and you can actually see the pattern direction on the runway.
Notice that you can actually see the vertical boundaries for the airspace around PDX class C without having to pan and select.
Can you tell the vertical boundaries on this picture from the 696?
Advanced Flight Systems has six full-time engineers working on hardware and software design. We have free software updates and we actually have a hardware update plan for our customers so they do not get left behind. We not only design and sell our products but use them in our own RV-4 and RV-10 aircraft. I have flown over 120 hours in our RV-10 since July using our EFIS and Map as the primary navigation displays. I have done some IFR training with a Garmin G1000 and Perspective and almost all of it with two AF-4500 screens in my RV-10. Have you tested the zoom speed of our map compared to a G1000 ? How long does it take to bring up a chart on the 696? The AFS chart loads almost instantaneously and you don?t see those cute racing circles while it loads.
We are extremely confident in our current mapping product. So confident, that we offer a free five-hour trial so that our customers can try it before they buy it. So far, every customer that I know of that has tried it has been extremely pleased and purchased it. Honestly, all we usually hear is how great our map is. You claim that you talked to someone that was ?disappointed? with our mapping, have they flown with it? If they are truly dissatisfied with it have them contact me and I will refund their money.
Have you flown one of our systems to see how it works in actual flight? Why don?t you come to Oregon and fly my RV-10 on an actual IFR flight and make a fair, thorough and educated evaluation?
Rob Hickman
Advanced Flight Systems Inc.
IFR written passed & almost ready for my IFR check ride in the RV-10
This is only one of the emails that I have received about our mapping:
"Rob, I?ll take it!!!! Used the demo map this weekend for a flight to Boise and back. Over the Cascades I started picking up rime ice (at 44 degrees F!!!) and it got over a half inch thick. About 30 miles out of Yakima I was unable to maintain altitude, and the map gave me outs that I simply would not have been able to be confident about using only my 430W."
Al[/I]
