Screens in flight - SkyView, 696, iPhone, iPad

enroute to the badlands fly-in i took a couple of shots of the the dynon skyview, garmin 696, and foreflight on the iphone and ipad for real world comparison.

the skyview screen is a matt finish and has very good automatic brightness control; no glare, and is the benchmark for other screens.

the 696 is very glossy and has a fair amount of reflection... not really an issue in actual use though; the glossy finish is pretty friendly for finger touch. there is no automatic brightness control which is only an issue at night when you need to turn it down.

the iphone screen is a bit brighter with less reflection than the ipad. both were very usable in flight. my ipad does not have a gps so the only testing was with the gps in the iphone which was close to useless in flight.

here is a shot with the panel and iphone in bright sunshine.


using foreflight the ipad allows for more flexibility in flight planning with a touch plan feature that is not yet available for the iphone but either is a great way to flight plan on the ground and review charts enroute.

in my lap, here is a shot of the iphone and ipad


after flying over 2,000 miles on our maiden journey in the beast i can say that xm radio and weather are just amazing and i absolutely love flying this panel. 'on the fly' route planning for fuel stops and weather are dramatically enhanced with xm services.

here is a shot at the end of our flight back into the seattle area with xm radar images updating every 5 minutes or so.

that's what I wanted my panel to look like! lol

the 696 is touch screen? did I miss something?

It's magical! (an inside jab!)

Look's very cool. I think it's time for a panel upgrade. Is 3 months about right for a complete redo?

not touch screen...

the 696 is not a touch screen... i tend to touch the screen when reading small text on the weather detail and info pages; the screen is firm and smooth and does not leave noticeable finger prints.

3 months...

gotta love the magic boxes...

3 months would be 3 weeks in Tony time!

Stephen, you have anymore panel pictures? Yours is exactly what I'm thinking (skyview with 696 for weather). Add on a 430W, and a some other toys.

Just for the record, my Garmin 696 is much more brighter & colorful, that what I see in these pics. Is it just because of the camera effect & Garmin's screen, or perhaps angle of the Garmin relative to the camera?

L.Adamson --- RV6A

L.Adamson said:

Just for the record, my Garmin 696 is much more brighter & colorful, that what I see in these pics. Is it just because of the camera effect & Garmin's screen, or perhaps angle of the Garmin relative to the camera?

L.Adamson --- RV6A

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Could it be the brightness setting is not set bright enough on the Garmin? In the Display Menu on the 696/695 you can increase the brightness for that unit. I have mine mounted in the panel similar to yours. When I first powered it up it was not near bright enough to see in flight. I increased the brightness setting to 10 and now it is just fine. Just a thought.

pet peeve

Screen brightness (or more accurately the lack thereof) is a pet peeve of mine. After flying the '8 for only about 40 hours I rebuilt the panel because the Dynon D100/EMS120 (superbrights) just were not adequate for the conditions under that nice bubble canopy. The 696 was so-so depending on where is was located and the angle. (It really is better in your lap than in the panel because of the ability to move it to the best viewing angle).

I upgraded to the 10" Skyview and kept the 696. The Skyview is truly amazingly bright and readable. No straining at all to read it under any lighting conditons. The 696, not so much. If you can position the 696 well (ie. fairly close and at a good angle) its not bad given that its only a 600 nit screen, but its truly not in the league with the Skyview.

Just as an aside, I looked at the G3X's at Oshkosh out in the sun in someone's ole RV6 ( ). I just can't read them (they use the same hardware as the 696). Some of you guys apparently have eagle eyes!!

RVbySDI said:

Could it be the brightness setting is not set bright enough on the Garmin? In the Display Menu on the 696/695 you can increase the brightness for that unit. I have mine mounted in the panel similar to yours. When I first powered it up it was not near bright enough to see in flight. I increased the brightness setting to 10 and now it is just fine. Just a thought.

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the garmin is set at maximum brightness... the brightness is pretty sensitive to view angle... in flight i find it adequate.

here is another shot from a different angle that shows the garmin much brighter and crisper.

Good point Stephen...

Notice in his first pic, the Skyview looks brighter than the 696. The latest pic, the 696 looks brighter than the Skyview.

This is why we get so many different opinions on screen brightness on these forums. Viewing angle plays a major roll in how bright a screen looks to the viewer.....sometimes just a few degrees can make a major difference.

Panel Redo

apkp777 said:

It's magical! (an inside jab!)

Look's very cool. I think it's time for a panel upgrade. Is 3 months about right for a complete redo?

Click to expand...

I started the Doll's panel redo on June 14th, and tookoff for Oshkosh on July 23rd. I powered up the panel, and test flew it on July 21. I removed the steam gauge panel, and installed a two screen G3X system including a GTN 650, GTX 327, Tru Trak GX Pilot, and a ACID AM/FM/CD player. The job required replacing all the sensors, and all the wiring firewall forward, except the alternator, and starter cables. The job also required a major rewire of Van's RV-8 wiring harness, and changes to the Infinity stick Grips wiring.

Stein Air was my dealer and made up the wiring harness for the new radios and screens. There is no way I could have finished in time for OSH if I had to make up the harness myself. They did a great job, and were there to answer my many questions as I worked through the redo. I highly recommend them.

Therefore, five weeks is enough to get it done if you are properly motivated! Thank God, and DR, for the Spot Cool air conditioning unit that made working in the hanger possible with temps well above 100 degrees each day. The DFW area 100 degree plus streak started on June 13th, and is still going strong! Lucky Me!