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Bendix King AV8OR handheld GPS

The AnyWhere Map will work on most any device. Their more expensive units (larger screen) has a hard drive and the altitude limitation.

This actually got me to thinking that this whole industry is set to change at a rapid pace. I was leaning toward their 7" screen unit.

So, I decided to cancel my order for the 496 and wait for someone on this thread who has used both to advise me. I'd rather buy the $700 unit with the larger screen and then sell it off next year when the next better unit comes out.

But, if the 496 is way better, then I'll buy that.
 
auto pilot hook up

Is anyone driving a auto pilot with a Bendix AV8OR or Anywhere map ATC?
 
638RS said:
Is anyone driving a auto pilot with a Bendix AV8OR or Anywhere map ATC?
Click to expand...

I dont believe that the initial release of the AV8OR can drive an autopilot as it doesn't have the NEMA output enabled. I think it would be a great selling point if Bendix/King would add the feature, especially for the RV gang.

Here's a cool thing on the car nav side of the AV8OR. If you go faster than the speed limit, it pops us a little icon with the posted speed limit in the lower left corner. We went to El Encanto restaurant in Cave Creek AZ and it had the restaurant included in its database to select as a destination.

Its been fun playing with the car nav side. I haven't used one before, so cant compare it with any other system. Number one rule: don't mess with it while driving! Planning on using the car/nav side when we go flying on trips to get around on the ground.


IMG_1416.JPG
 
Tom, Can you throw up a couple of pics in flight? I'd like to have a look at the graphics on the air side. Thanks!
 
Hi Andy
My plane is down for a few more days. I plan on flying to Sedona on Saturday for the Sedona flyin and also to do a hike in the area. I will take some pictures then.
 
So have we agreed on this or not.

I keep screwing around and being all wishy washy on GPS. Lowrance 2000, garmin 295 etc. Basic day vfr that i want to use in my car too. I have had NO gps in rentals on cross countries and for the price, seems like very smart insurance. It seems $645 for this unit (no weather needed) its a great new technology unit. Should i just buy and stop shopping or ?? Any better deals than the $645 anyone found.
 
If the weather option isn't important to you, I would suggest the Lowrance 600C. Being a current (satisfied) Lowrance customer and someone who sent back my AV8OR, my belief is that you'll be happer with the Lowrance over the long run.

The Lowrance is cheaper, and can drive an autopilot if you want to use that function. The AV8Or can't...

If you're interested in XM weather, Lowrance isn't a player in that market, so you're left with Garmin, Bendix/King, AnywhereMap, and a few others. Next time I dip into that market, I'll probably go with a Garmin product unless Lowrance comes out with something.
 
I have been a Lowrance fan for a number of years. Currently have a 2000c and for 599.00 I think it has the best bang for the buck if you don't need weather. I'm hoping someday Lowrance jumps into the weather market...
 
I kinda felt letdown by Lowrance because they haven't brought anything new to the market for sometime now. I've been extremely happy with my Lowrance 300 for 10+ years, but because they had nothing new, I bought the ATC at OSH. I wasn't impressed with the AV8OR when I evaluated it at OSH.

Steve
 
w1curtis said:
...Also, FYI the $10K GNS-430W also does NOT include private airports. This is more a function/limitation of the Jeppesen database that most vendors use, rather than the vendors themselves.
Click to expand...
This is a big deal. The more I fly, the more people I meet who live on private strips, the more I get invited to drop in. Not to mention the safety feature of having all those landing spots available at the push of the "nearest" button.

rvator51 said:
I dont believe that the initial release of the AV8OR can drive an autopilot as it doesn't have the NEMA output enabled. I think it would be a great selling point if Bendix/King would add the feature, especially for the RV gang.
Click to expand...
My 496 is the only nav source I have in the plane it drives the HSI on my Dynon and my autopilot. Those of you who are looking for a simple VFR EFIS setup, you will want the NEMA output to drive these things. I suggest you hold off until this is available.

rvator51 said:
Here's a cool thing on the car nav side of the AV8OR. If you go faster than the speed limit, it pops us a little icon with the posted speed limit in the lower left corner.
Click to expand...
Talk about major screen burn in! ;)

Weather is worth every dime, more so if you are VFR only. The more I fly with on board weather, the more likely I am to complete a flight safely. This keeps me from continuing on into deteriorating weather and lets me fly when the weather is better than forecast.

The other question I have is, how long until AirGizoms come out with a panel doc for this GPS? Has anyone contacted them?
 
Simulated trip to Sedona

I promised Andy some pictures of my trip to Sedona using the AV8OR last week and didnt make it. But the AV8OR has a demo mode function where it can be flown in simulation mode so here are pictures of my virtual trip to Sedona last weekend :D.

Simulated Trip to Sedona using AV8OR
 
Thanks Tom, I appreciate the followup. I actually broke down and bought my own copy of a backordered one!!:) It is suppose to ship any moment. The beauty of buying it was that it gave me the opportunity to buy a lot of other things I didn't need, like a new flight bag and flashlight and .......

I guess that is the airport info you get by tapping on the airport. I like the way the AV8OR overlays the runway at the end of your course line in that one box. Not sure if anyone else does it, but I always draw my arrival airports on my knee board so I don't have to think about which runway I am approaching.

I'm looking forward to getting mine. To be honest, at this point, I think the street funtionality will be well worth a fair portion of the purchase price. And I don't need the weather or any of the other things some people are interested in, like driving an auto pilot. So I think I am going to be happy to have it in the cockpit for airspace awareness. Might give me a little more confidence flying near NY's bravo, which covers my local airport. I must say though that 5 weeks into my budding piloting career, using the two VOR receivers in the plane has been a ton of fun. Very satisfying to plan a flight using to/from, or crossing radials, and then have it all work the way you planned it.

Thanks. Andy
 
av8or

This is an incredible advancement in handheld gps technology. Try to get your hands on a demo... you won't want to let go. It's great on the road too. Here is an easy link for more product details.
http://www.av8or.com
 
Spam

Give us a break, first post and your spreading the gospel. Really.
Where are the moderators. ??????????????????
 
dkirsten said:
This is an incredible advancement in handheld gps technology. Try to get your hands on a demo... you won't want to let go. It's great on the road too. Here is an easy link for more product details.
http://www.av8or.com
Click to expand...

Odd that this exact post (word for word) appeared on the "Pilots of America" board today. Also, (coincidence, I'm sure) the guy posting on POA was a first time poster too.
 
Tom,

Thanks much for the sim pics of the flight.
Now, if we could just get the exact same pics from the ATC unit!!!

I'm going to look at both at the AOPA expo in November and then buy one. Probably the ATC. I figure that the ATC unit will be replaced within a year with another piece of hardware & then I can trade up. Also, the ATC has a much lower cost of ownership.

I also read the review by the Aviation Electronics Magazine & the reviewer considered the AV8OR to be well below the ATC. But, I've also read about them freezing up, etc.

It's strange that these companies can't make better products. But, like I said, maybe next year they will both be better and still the same price.

- Matt
 
Well, I guess I'll add my opinion here.

I finally got my AV8OR Thursday. I charged it and walked around my apartment in Manhattan for a while. It had a hard time showing the actual location. It was within a block or so, but often had the direction incorrect or couldn't hold the direction. I attributed that to the buildings.

I drove with it to the airport Saturday morning and it did an excellent job. I was a little disappointed that it doesn't announce street names, but I guess it is still pretty nice. Very easy to use. I never bothered to read the manual, and this is my first GPS. Even as such, it was easy to figure out how to use it. One oddity though. On my way back to my other apartment in NJ (moving between the two), it kept trying to get me to leave the highway. I wonder if that is a function of the type of course setting I chose. I think I chose shortest instead of fastest, or something like that. Maybe one is going to give me a highway route and the other a side street route???

Anyway, I had no trouble hooking it up in the C172P and even the 12V socket worked (surprisingly). I had programmed in a short 70NM "square" route between airports (CDW>4N1>FWN>12N>CDW). I must say the internal antenna did a perfect job (rock solid). I've never used a GPS of any type before this, so I was pleased to see some of the things it does, like tell me my ground speed. It also tells you the compass heading to turn to at the way point to get to the next. I am sad to say that the GPS was at least 25 degrees more accurate than the HI in the Cessna! I have zero complaints about the Go Fly portion of the GPS. Again though, I have nothing to compare it to.

One thing I am a little disappointed about is the general difficulty of using such a small device. I kept wanting to see what was outside the screen. If you zoom out, the screen gets too cluttered with objects to be useful. This isn't a limitation of the AV8OR, it is a limitation of any device with this size screen. I can't imagine using anything smaller. Any suggestions???

I drove around with the unit in my town that afternoon (because it was fun listening to the Australian women I chose). But I think my unit is broken already, believe it or not. I couldn't power it down at the end of one short drive. I finally took the battery out and replaced it, but then I couldn't get it to power back up. I'll have to read more of the manual now. When I said I didn't read it, I meant I didn't read up on how to program the Go Drive part. I did read all about starting up and using the Go Fly part. Maybe there is a troubleshooting section that covers my problem. For anyone that has one, it was not the lock switch. The unit is unlocked.

So that's it. I like the unit. It is lighter than I thought it would be and has a nice rubberized covering on all but the screen and screen trim. Other than having to find a sweet spot for the zoom setting, or maybe removing some of the less critical objects like low towers or even NDBs and VORs, I really like it. It should be handy navigating around NY's Bravo. And at this price point, I think it is a very nice tool, especially considering you can also drive with it. I am currently very happy I did not buy a Garmin for almost 3 times the price. As far as the competitors, I can't see how they could be much better. And they are all the same size (ATC is what I am thinking of anyway).

Maybe I'll post an update after I talk to Honeywell and see what they think of my power problems.

Andy
 
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AndyRV7 said:
Well, I guess I'll add my opinion here.

I drove with it to the airport Saturday morning and it did an excellent job. I was a little disappointed that it doesn't announce street names, but I guess it is still pretty nice.
Andy
Click to expand...

Are you referring to it showing the street names of telling them out loud? Mine shows the street names fine. I usually drive it in 3-4D mode and it works great for the street names. Really happy with the Go-Drive mode although I have never used an automotive gps before. At LOE last weekend, I searched in the database for my hotel, found it and set it for the destination and was able to drive right to it.

AndyRV7 said:
One oddity though. On my way back to my other apartment in NJ (moving between the two), it kept trying to get me to leave the highway. I wonder if that is a function of the type of course setting I chose. I think I chose shortest instead of fastest, or something like that. Maybe one is going to give me a highway route and the other a side street route???
Andy
Click to expand...

I suspect that is what is happening. I think there are 3 different settings if I remember correctly.

AndyRV7 said:
One thing I am a little disappointed about is the general difficulty of using such a small device. I kept wanting to see what was outside the screen. If you zoom out, the screen gets too cluttered with objects to be useful. This isn't a limitation of the AV8OR, it is a limitation of any device with this size screen. I can't imagine using anything smaller. Any suggestions???
Andy
Click to expand...

You dont have to zoom out. Just touch your finger to a part of the screen and move your finger in one direction to move the screen over without zooming it. This way the screen is at the same resolution and doesnt get cluttered. You can move the screen to a different area of adjoining map real fast this way. Kinda cool.

AndyRV7 said:
I drove around with the unit in my town that afternoon (because it was fun listening to the Australian women I chose). But I think my unit is broken already, believe it or not. I couldn't power it down at the end of one short drive. I finally took the battery out and replaced it, but then I couldn't get it to power back up. I'll have to read more of the manual now. When I said I didn't read it, I meant I didn't read up on how to program the Go Drive part. I did read all about starting up and using the Go Fly part. Maybe there is a troubleshooting section that covers my problem. For anyone that has one, it was not the lock switch. The unit is unlocked.
Andy
Click to expand...

I suspect you just arent shutting it down correctly. You have to hold the power button for several seconds. After a few seconds, a "Sleep Mode" shows on the screen. If you continue to hold it for a couple more seconds, "Powering Down" shows on the screen and it shuts off.
Try that and see if it works for you. If you just tap the power button, nothing will happen.

AndyRV7 said:
So that's it. I like the unit. It is lighter than I thought it would be and has a nice rubberized covering on all but the screen and screen trim. Other than having to find a sweet spot for the zoom setting, or maybe removing some of the less critical objects like low towers or even NDBs and VORs, I really like it.
Andy
Click to expand...

Try panning the screen as I mentioned above instead of zooming. You can also go into setup mode and set the zoom levels for different objects to unclutter the screens if you dont want them to show at certain levels.
 
Nope, it's not working. I understand the sleep mode functionality, mine is simply not responding to the power button at all.

I like the idea of zoom settings for objects. That may work for me. I know about the drag function too, but I guess I just feel like I would like to see more of the picture, not just a different part. But it will take some time I guess to just get used to the technology. I think if I can find a way to shrink some of the towers on the display, or just remove some of the low ones, maybe that will help.

With the Go Drive, I just meant that it says "take the next left" instead of "turn left on Wright Way." Not a deal breaker, more of a wishlist item. I DO like the GPS in the car though. It does and excellent job of tracking your route (good refresh rate). Once I get it working again, I'm sure I'll get better at it and figure some way to get a better route too. Oh, and I want to try the multi-D view too, but I couldn't try it while Ii was driving. I never thought about it before I started drving.

So I am going to call Honeywell this morning and see what they say. Did you get a free database refresh? I noticed that my database expired 8/28. I didn't see anything in tthe box that talked about updates (for free or otherwise).
 
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Sharing my Av8or experience

(Been a lurker on this list for too long, but finally have some experience to share after this past weekend so here I go... please be kind :) )

I bought my Av8or a couple months ago. I combined the Microsoft Cashback eBay deal (25% off then, IIRC) and Pacific Coast Aviation's BIN/best offer to get it for just over $500 delivered to my door. Since I'm not fortunate enough yet to own my own plane, I've explored its features quite a bit on the ground. In fact, I air tested it on a couple commercial flights as at least Southwest permits GPS receiver use above 10K feet. I'll admit this "geek time" (familiarizing myself with the device, browsing the manual a couple times) and possibly a nice price have probably contributed to my overall level of satisfaction, but I think this is a nice device.

I've been an automotive GPS nerd since 2000 when I went cross country on my Honda VFR motorcycle with my Garmin eMap, and I've owned 2 Garmin handhelds (nuvi's) and an in-car system since then. With that background, I think the Av8or is an amazingly capable tool and is very customizable to remedy many of people's concerns/complaints. It may just take some more time to explore a relatively user-friendly interface.

This past weekend, my wife and I rented the GNS 430-equipped Diamond DA-20 that I did my PPL training in to go from Stinson (San Antonio) to West Houston and back at night. I also flew beneath and through the Bravo airspace in the bright sunny middle of the day. By exiting out of the "Go Fly" section, and going to the settings to adjust the backlight to full, I can't imagine any issues with sunlight readability. I've read many reports complaining about the poor display on a sunny day in a canopy cockpit but I wonder if those people had the backlight all the way up. (Admittedly, it is a bit tricky to find the adjustment the first time but even my wife/navigator has it down now after adjusting it for day/night ops over the weekend. I do wish it had the auto adjustment like at least some auto Garmins have, but this still works fine.) In the end, it worked as good as I ever wanted! I actually felt comfortable using its profile view and relative terrain maps while flying near the Houston surface bravo airspace to give my brother-in-law an aerial tour of his home and office.

As for the mention earlier of too much cluttering on the map (or the other extreme of losing info while zooming out), that too is adjustable. You can set the range of zoom that you want various individual items (airports, VORs, towns, etc.) displayed. It does seem to be slightly sluggish with the more items you display at low zoom settings, but you can find your own personal sweet spot over time. I found this very useful to make it show what I care about for my purposes, while omitting what I don't care about (like NDBs in my case). You can also adjust the color coding to an extent for different airpace designations. I do admit, however, that I wish they had some more standard color coding options (like dashed dark blue instead of light blue/green for Delta). I've found settings that are close enough, and they may even be the default settings from what I can remember. :eek:

Some random, and hopefully more succinct thoughts:
- As mentioned above, this things gets a signal almost anywhere; in the house, in the SWA 737 at 40k feet, anywhere, and that's without the remote antenna!
- The touchscreen is awesome - touch an airsprace border, and it pops up with the altitude limits of the airspace. If your selection was close to other items, it'll ask you to choose which item you wanted more info about. Easy.
- The left-hand column of info is customizable, and makes 8-9 pieces of useful info available in the flick of a finger. Air testing as a passenger was great for determining what info I wanted in the scrollable column (Waypoint, ETE, distance, min safe alt, groundspeed, CDI, etc.) and now my wife scrolls through to determine "are we there yet?"
- The battery is the same as a common Nokia cell phone battery (BL-5c) so I got an extra for $5-6 shipped from eBay as cheap insurance. Thanks goes to the AOPA forum for this info. The battery is quick to burn at full backlight (~1.5hr) but it lasts ~4hr at night/low backlight, or all day with the cig lighter.
- Flight planning couldn't be simpler or quicker, even on-the-fly direct routes, with the touchscreen QWERTY keyboard. It makes the knob letter selection on the GNS 430 seem almost painful.
- Its compact size relative to the Garmin x96 series is great. I feel comfortable bringing it on vacations for ground navigation (hides easily in glove box) and in smaller cockpits without taking up too much space
- Even with a straight forward interface, some dedicated homework/exploration time goes a long way for satisfaction and maximizing its potential
- I am crossing my fingers I don't get any of the big failure issues some have reported :(

Ultimately, this is a great value for my flying that adds a significant layer of safety and comfort/confidence while on a budget. I agree with the drawbacks of an awkward power button positioning (which causes me to send it into sleep mode inadvertently; I use the slider lock on the side to minimize my frustration), reported lack of autopilot-driving potential, clumsy Wx wiring and short battery life. But in the end, I'm amazed at the capabilities of this unit. I may decide to upgrade to XM Wx depending on how much I end up flying longer cross countries over time. I also wanted to avoid buying a pricey Garmin to only have a newer, feature-packed and more affordable Garmin released right around the corner. The Av8or was my sweet spot at close to $500 delivered.

Anyone in the San Antonio area is welcome to borrow mine for short-term use. Shoot me a PM and we can talk, if you're interested. Hope this helps.

Ryan M
San Antonio, TX - RV "NV"
 
Thanks for the feedback.

I am going to have to play around with the airspace boundries. That was one of my initial concerns (all the pink boundries). If there is any way to distinguish the different airspaces a little better, that would be great. I'm also looking forward to uncluttering the screen by removing the NDB's and some other less critical objects.

UPS is picking mine up today to send back to my chosen retailer. Honeywell wanted to handle it this way. Hopefully, I get a chance to test it some more in the near future!!
 
vfr800 said:
- The battery is the same as a common Nokia cell phone battery (BL-5c) so I got an extra for $5-6 shipped from eBay as cheap insurance.
Click to expand...

That's actually a good idea. Do you know the equivalent battery in the hicap size? Or did you just buy another standard capacity?

Thanks. Andy
 
Kept it simple

I wasn't sure if I'd need a different battery compartment door, so I just went with the standard size, BL-5c, and it works great. It would be nice to have a higher capacity if it fits with the original door, which I doubt -- maybe someone can clarify who's tried it.

As for differentiating airspace, class A/B/C all get the same color. Delta gets its own designated color. E/F get another per the settings choices. MOAs and other SUA get their own colors. Again you can touch any airspace boundaries and see the class/type and altitude limits.

Ryan
 
vfr800 said:
I wasn't sure if I'd need a different battery compartment door, so I just went with the standard size, BL-5c, and it works great. It would be nice to have a higher capacity if it fits with the original door, which I doubt -- maybe someone can clarify who's tried it.

As for differentiating airspace, class A/B/C all get the same color. Delta gets its own designated color. E/F get another per the settings choices. MOAs and other SUA get their own colors. Again you can touch any airspace boundaries and see the class/type and altitude limits.

Ryan
Click to expand...

Gonna check these things out when UPS brings me another unit. I did see that a restricted area was a nice yellow and black warning border. Very easy to see.

Thanks!
 
I got my replacement unit two days after I called the retailer to tell them I had a problem. I guess I have to attribute that level of service to Honeywell. My dealer scheduled a return pick-up with UPS and all I had to do was close everything back in the box. I had the replacement before my unit got back to the dealer. Who could complain about that!?

I haven't gotten to fly it yet, and I don't have good weather on tap for the weekend, but I was anxious to try to tweak some of the settings. It was kind of a mixed bag I guess. I was able to change some of the display items for the better, but that just makes me more puzzled as to why I am limited in the choices offered. What I mean is that the airspace boundaries are customizable as far as the type of line you choose. The problem is that the available choices do not allow you to mirror a sectional chart. So I am puzzled as to why Honeywell would give you so many options (probably around 20-25 different color or pattern choices for lines) but not give you the 4 sectional chart choices (solid and dashed blue and magenta). Also, why would they chose to lump class A, B, and C into the same group (i.e., you can't choose magenta for Charlie and blue for Bravo). I asked in here about that a while back and even called Honeywell, but no real answer was found. It just seems like if you are going to offer 20 or more different line options, why not make 4 of them like those used on the sectional charts!?:confused:

Anyway, my screen looks better now that I have been able to distinguish Delta from Bravo and Charlie. I also tweaked some of the items on the map, like NDBs. I left the VORs in view and haven't adjusted the "tall objects" yet because I can't tell if removing them from the map will remove them from the terrain warning functionality as well. I also left the VORs on because I figured I might want to be able to try to pull a FSS frequency off them at some point. I am assuming that this information is buried in the "more info" area if you touch a VOR to highlight it. One other reason I haven't tried to tweak the tall objects is because the manual is pretty poor. It doesn't explain what exactly you are doing if you tweak the settings associated with the objects. It might be obvious to someone that has used a GPS before what the settings represent, but to me it is pretty cryptic.

One other comment I will make. It escaped me for a while that one of the real reasons I wanted a GPS like this is so I could feel a little more comfortable navigating at night. That is, at least in locating airports and reporting distances as necessary. I still plan to use VORs for navigation, but the GPS will definitely be a nice safety net. Having said that, I dimmed the back light to the lowest setting last night, which seems pretty dim in a lit room, but it still seems to be at least twice as bright as it will need to be to prevent night blindness in a dark plane. I wish the slider allowed the base setting to be OFF.

So having said all this, I am anxious to get the unit back in the air and use it some more. Just playing around in DEMO mode, I feel like I am beginning to get more comfortable with the amount of the map you can see on the screen. I have to play around a little more to see if there is a way to locate the plane nearer the bottom of the screen so I am getting an effective bump in the size of the screen (at least the area in front of the plane). Again, maybe some of you guys know how to do this from experience with other equipment, but it's going to be some trial and error for me I guess. At this point, my only real wish list items are that they modify the program to allow a lower back light setting, and that they add some additional air space and line options so you can set the boundary of Bravo differently than Charlie, and that you can set all air space boundaries to mirror the look of a sectional chart. I can't see how it would be more than a simple firmware modification that they could put on the Honeywell website.

Just some thoughts. Anybody else?
 
Hi Andy,

Wouldnt it be great to be able to turn the unit sideways and have it go into portrait mode? That would give you a lot of look ahead.

I think your ideas about having a separate color selection for B & C airspace makes a lot of sense.

I would prefer to tap anywhere inside an airspace border to bring up the altitude limits.

Since I dont have a nav radio, I turned the VORs and NDBs off on my map setup.

In the map setup, the miles figure you select are the maximum range setting at which the object will show on the TOPO ON map. So if you select a max range of 20 for tall objects, they will show at 20 mi range and under. If you go to 30 mi range, they are removed from the map.

I have mine set at 30 mi as I have been using the 20 mi and 30 mi range mostly and dont want to miss seeing an obstacle ahead of me on the map.
I dont think any changes you make in the Map Setup page for the Topo On map page will change the settings of the Topo Off or Relative Terrain page. They keep their default settings.

I haven't flown mine at night but might try it tomorrow night. It would be nice to have a night mode on it. The Relative Terrain page might work good for night mode as it has a black background. On my unit, the backlight is off if you move the slider to the far left position.

Have you tried creating a flight plan yet? I really like the virtual keyboard on it. Makes it really easy and fast to enter a flight plan. If you forget the airport identifier, you can enter the city and then a selection list shows that you can pick the airport from.

Thinking of draining out some of gas from my full tanks that I filled at $5 a gallon to buy some of that cheap $3.80 a gallon fuel at Copperstate flyin this weekend.:D
 
Hey Tom, thanks for following along. Sometimes I feel like everyone else knows all these answers and I am just talking to myself about what should be the obvious!!:eek:

You definitely know the product better than me. I am going to adjust the tall objects now that I know what the settings are for. I think I can unclutter the screen a little more again now. And YES it would be nice to have a vertical option!

I have entered a few flight plans and I DO like the touch screen and keyboard a lot. It has been very easy to use in the car and plane. I also like how in the car, it knows all the possible choices for a town or street name and only activates the appropriate letters. It makes the entry a lot easier on some long names.

Yes, please give your AV8OR a try in a dark closet or even at night on a flight. My lowest back light setting was surprisingly dull (low) in my living-room, but when I shut the lights, it still glowed enough to be able to identify all the things in the distant parts of the room. That's no scientific test, just a picture I'm trying to paint, but I felt like I was using a computer or watching TV with the lights out ...my eyes were still sensitive to the light!! Let me know what you think!

I'm hitting the road tomorrow to go back to my other apartment. I'll test drive it again then so to speak. No flying for me this weekend. Enjoy that cheap fuel!!

Andy
 
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AV8OR has labels to differentiate airspace too.

Hi Andy,
Here is another thing you can do to differentiate your class B airspace from class C airspace.
Under the Settings/Map Setup/Topo On Map - Airspace Setup page, set the label for Class A/B/C to 20 miles range. Then a label "B" will show on the border of each class B airspace and a "C" will show on the border of each class C airspace when range is set to 20 miles or less. I limit the label to 20 as the airspace label gets too small at a higher range.
 
Keep the tips coming. I'm gonna use that. I flew mine up to 20N this weekend from CDW. I was able to use it a little better this time. That is, I was able to zoom and go wide as I needed to see the local area a little better. 10NM worked pretty good once I got to the terminal area. I think I used 15NM en-route. I was also happy to be able to figure out everything I needed to do on the fly so to speak. It wasn't a distraction like I thought it might be.

I'm planning my next X-C to Connecticut. That should take me under Bravo and over a couple of Delta airspaces. Should be good to have it. I am also looking forward to getting it in the plane at night now that the time change has happened.
 
I made a phone call with my AV8OR last night ...I think. Not exactly sure what I did. I noticed the bluetooth "area" of the GPS had some phone icons, and I remembered reading someplace in the manual that the headset jack and speaker were for making phone calls. So I started hacking around with the buttons. Eventually, I got my phone to recognize the AV8OR and the AV8OR to recognize my LG phone. Then I just punched in a number and dialed to see what would happen. I had no idea if the GPS had a microphone or not. I knew it had a speaker. Anyway, I called my voicemail at work and just talked when the phone picked up. This morning, I had a message as I left it. I guess I'm still not sure if the GPS did all the work and just used the phone as a wifi of sorts. But my phone was closed at the time, so I guess the GPS did make the call. I'm going to play around with it another time and see how far away I can keep the phone from the GPS and how far I can keep the GPS from my face and still be able to hear the call and leave an audible message.

Pretty cool (novel) aspect of the GPS I hadn't considered using.
 
King/Bendix AV80R

I bought a AV80R and was hoping that it would connect to my Dynon D100, but so far I beloive that that it can not be connect to output GPS info so it can displayed on the HSI of the D100. If anyone has any info on this please let me know.
Tom Belisle
 
tombel99 said:
I bought a AV80R and was hoping that it would connect to my Dynon D100, but so far I beloive that that it can not be connect to output GPS info so it can displayed on the HSI of the D100. If anyone has any info on this please let me know.
Tom Belisle
Click to expand...

Hi Tom,
The NMEA output feature wasn't in the first release. A lot of people are asking for it though. I wouldn't be surprised if it shows up in an upcoming firmware/software update.
 
More fun with the AV8OR

I remembered setting the logging rate for the flight logs in the set-up someplace, so I figured I'd see if I had any flight logs saved. Sure enough, there was my last flight. A trip home from Kingston (20N) to Caldwell (KCDW). I was amazed at how the GPS saved 3 versions of the flight log, and one of them was a Google Earth file. I just double clicked it and it opened right up in GE. Very cool for a GPS newb!!

Google Earth is really great too. It let me capture this JPG to show my friends and family, and it even let me email it right from inside GE. How can you not like that!?:) The quality of the image is a little weak here though. Is that coming from PhotoBucket?? I'll have to check into that.

GoogleEarth_Image.jpg


Anyone know how to get it to save multiple logs? It seems to have only had my last flight available, so it must be overwriting the others each time.
 
Geez Andy,

By the time you are done, you are going to be the expert on this device!
If you copy the files for the flight logs you wanted to save to your hard disk, that would keep AV8OR from overwriting them.

Have you created your checklists yet?
Here are the ones I did.

IMG_0320.jpg


AV8OR on loan from the guys at Bendix King
 
haha, maybe they should give us a free one!!

I haven't done any check lists yet, but I might play around with that soon. I did try to bluetooth my cell phone pics to the AV8OR. It didn't work, but would have been great! I have verizon and refuse to let them steal any more money out of my pocket just to be able to email the pics. It seems like the AV8OR in this case that can't accept the bluetoothed pics.

Do you mean the hard disk in my PC? I DID offload the one in the pic, but I'm not going to be able to do that in the plane. I was hoping it would save a day's flights until I got home. It IS smart enough to know when the flight is over (or begins for that matter). I never shut down at Kingston, I just taxied back and departed, yet the file begins at the end of the runway. Very cool, in my mind!
 
From what Ive read, the unit does not give small airport info. Does anyone know if King is going to change this to include smaller airfields ?
 
rv72004 said:
From what Ive read, the unit does not give small airport info. Does anyone know if King is going to change this to include smaller airfields ?
Click to expand...
It has small fields. What it lacks is private ones (those are usually small ones, but not all small are private). As far as I know they don't plan to add them in near future, but that's a little outdated info I got in Oshkosh so it may have changed since.
 
Finally here.

After countless delays, i have finally had my av80r shipped and it will be delivered today. As a newer pilot, never owning a gps before i felt this was a great deal for my first one. Hopefully with all these delays (was to ship in SEPT) they have fixed a few of the issues. Keep posting about cool features, love to learn how to maximize the use but i am not the best at reading manuals. $639 shipping in. What a good deal. I will manually punch in all small strips in my regular flying areas for safety.
Thanks....its like Christmas morning waiting for the UPS truck.
 
I was using a friends Garmin 196 that he loaned me a while back. I found that one difficult to use trying to navigate page through page. It does have features the King doesn't, but I never used them anyway. I have been using my new AV80R for about 2 months now and absolutely love it for its ease of use. I haven't tried to find every airport listed on my sectional, but it had no problem finding the small private ones I punched in to see if they were there. I love the keyboard feature.
 
Yep, using mine is really becoming second nature now too (after just 3 flights).

I found a good guy at Bendix to listen to my questions and comments. He sent me a response from the tech guys about the Flight Log overwriting. They are aware of the problem and are working on a firmware update to deal with it. So we will all be able to save multiple logs in the near future. It was good to know that someone out there was actually looking into these things. They mentioned some other issue they are patching having to do with entering user way-points. I entered only one in my GPS and didn't have a problem so I can't really comment on it.

Just because I like looking at the pictures, here is my flight back from 47N (Central Jersey Regional) to Caldwell this weekend. The jog in the path is due to my first real engine scare. I had an issue with the cabin air flap on the outside of the cowl coming loose and vibrating very loudly before it settled back top fully open (long story). I could hear and feel it, and I thought it was the engine. Long story short, I was able to look right in front of me and find the closest airport. I just looked at the map, I didn't have time to try to use the "closest" function, but I didn't need to. I knew where I was (just not exactly where the local airports were hiding). On top of getting some more functionality out of the GPS, it was a good learning experience for sure!! Stay focused!! Anyway, here's the pic.:) Oh, and I turned up the logging rate to 5 seconds from 30 seconds in the Kingston log. I also toggled on some timeline function in Google Earth that creates the lighting conditions at the time of the flight. It just looks cool because now, in your snapshots, you can get kind of a time and date stamp automatically at the top of the pic (for posterity).

Andy

47NtoCDW110908.jpg
 
Last edited:
Has anyone managed to import user waypoints into the AV8OR ?

This format allows the importing of basic position data

WPT S xxxx N 33 yy.zz W xxx yy.zz

As the AV8OR does not have private airports in the database, I was trying to add all the local private airports in the Phoenix area but I would let to be able to set the icons and adding runway information etc.

Currently once the basic waypoint is loaded, I can change the icon type 'airport', then it allows me to add additional info like runways, freqs etc.

Any ideas.

Thanks
 
AV8OR

My AV8OR just arrived and I am interested in any information on getting the weather function installed. I have a Garmin 430 in my RV and I also have a J3Cub. I plan on using the AV8OR primarily in the Cub however when traveling in the RV it will also be used to add the weather functionality to the RV. Any tips on the weather installation and potential problems would be appreciated.


Pat Stewart
N184PS
 
Scrabo said:
Has anyone managed to import user waypoints into the AV8OR ?

This format allows the importing of basic position data

WPT S xxxx N 33 yy.zz W xxx yy.zz

As the AV8OR does not have private airports in the database, I was trying to add all the local private airports in the Phoenix area but I would let to be able to set the icons and adding runway information etc.

Currently once the basic waypoint is loaded, I can change the icon type 'airport', then it allows me to add additional info like runways, freqs etc.

Any ideas.

Thanks
Click to expand...
You can enter them one at a time as you noted.
Here is my entry for Stellar.

p19-2.png


What is wrong with doing it this way or are you trying to do all at once with a import list?
 
>> What is wrong with doing it this way or are you trying to do all at once with a import list?

I am trying to do it all with an import list. I can import the basic info like ident and co-ords but wanted to save time by not having to go into each waypoint manually to add the extra info
 
Scrabo said:
>> What is wrong with doing it this way or are you trying to do all at once with a import list?

I am trying to do it all with an import list. I can import the basic info like ident and co-ords but wanted to save time by not having to go into each waypoint manually to add the extra info
Click to expand...

Ok, I understand.
Here is the format for Stellar with all the data from the FPDATA.BK file if that helps .

WPT A P19 N 33 17.56 W 111 54.56 E 1177 S HRD
# P19 R 17 C CTAF 122.900 "12 DEC 2008" "07:12:21 MST" [Airport]

I haven't tried to import it in a list though.

Let us know if you can get it to work!
 
I just figured it out as I posted my last message....

WPT A 41AZ N 32 59.22 W 112 01.15 E 1210 L 3000 S HRD
# 41AZ R 17 "AK CHIN" [Airport]


Thanks for researching it as well .
 
Scrabo said:
I just figured it out as I posted my last message....

WPT A 41AZ N 32 59.22 W 112 01.15 E 1210 L 3000 S HRD
# 41AZ R 17 "AK CHIN" [Airport]


Thanks for researching it as well .
Click to expand...

Great! When you get a list of all of the private airports for AZ, can you share?
 
Hey, do you guys know how to edit a flight log? I can access the log files obviously, but if I open in Excel or Notepad, I can't read it well enough to try to edit it. There is too much info in the log strings to find the beginning and end of a particular log point. I can see the airspeed fall off after landing, but I can't identify the end of that line so I can cut the file. There may also be some header and footer data in the file that is causing a problem when I try to break the log in the middle.

I ask this because for some reason, my GPS went from logging the last leg of a flight, to logging the entire flight. So now I want to be able to split it into legs. We really need an editor program.

On another note, I drove to Myrtle Beach from Manhattan the last two days. I used my GPS instead of a map. It worked out tremendously. It even helped me find a real life general store for fuel when I was on fumes. Not a hint of fuel from the highway, but the GPS had it in the database. Saved me a long walk!

One other thought. I mentioned in here that I was worried that the GPS would be too bright at night to use in a cockpit. But I was driving through some very dark parts of Virginia last night and the GPS dimmed itself to a very comfortable level, which seemed in line with the dashboard lighting. So maybe in the cockpit, the GPS will be better than I thought at first.

Anyway, any ideas on the log editting?
 
AndyRV7 said:
One other thought. I mentioned in here that I was worried that the GPS would be too bright at night to use in a cockpit. But I was driving through some very dark parts of Virginia last night and the GPS dimmed itself to a very comfortable level, which seemed in line with the dashboard lighting. So maybe in the cockpit, the GPS will be better than I thought at first.

Anyway, any ideas on the log editting?
Click to expand...
Hi Andy,

The GoDrive program autodims at night. The GoFly program doesnt autodim yet. I use the TOPO off page at night on mine and its not too bad.

Which log file are you trying to edit?
The Bendix King flight log is just a text file with no header or footer info.
That is the one you can use Excel or Notepad for and it works great.

The Google Earth flight log is in XML format and doesnt display so well unless you have an XML editor.

The other flight log is for import into the Jeppesen FliteStar program and it opens fine in Notepad for me although it does have some header info.
 
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