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phintz
02-15-2013, 09:28 PM
has anyone put a i fly gps in their kitfox? How do you like it? Did you mount it in your panel or on a mount?

Geowitz
02-16-2013, 09:39 PM
Mounted in my panel, but is easily removable. I will try to get pics of the back as it pretty much explains how I did it. I have the 700 version. I can usually see where I am on the screen without problems. It can get a little hard to read at times from glare, but I just shade it with my hand to get the info I need. It's the information like frequencies and words that are a problem in the glare. Your position is usually easily observable. Overall I love it.

Jerrytex
03-08-2013, 11:03 AM
Curious to know how you mounted this? I just got an Ifly and I am using the ram mount but I like the way yours mounts better.

Geowitz
03-08-2013, 05:08 PM
Sorry. Forgot to put up pics.

Basically I removed the ram mount piece that slides into the Ifly and sandwiched a sheet of 1/16" aluminum between it and the Ifly. 1/2 inch aluminum "C" channel on just the sides spaced the depth of the sheet nicely so the bezel stuck out of the panel about 3/16" and is plenty sturdy enough. Everything is just held together with regular panel screws. The GPS antenna connection comes through the hole on the top right and the power chord exits through the top right gap.

Jerrytex
03-09-2013, 08:53 AM
Oh wow. That's pretty clever. I think I might do the same to mine. I think I might surface mount it rather than cutting the panel. The trick you showed with the ram mount is the idea I needed. Thanks

SkyPirate
11-25-2013, 05:17 PM
there is another solution for mounting an Ifly to the panel,.. lol its a toilet bowl bolt,.. no kidding,,its got the same head as the ball mount for the ifly to mount to,..it's what I used for now until I get my new panel built,..after putting a washer and nut on the bolt to hold the ifly,..I put another nut on the bolt,..drilled a hole in panel then a nylock nut on back side,..then I took the nut loose that holds the ifly took it off ,,bent the bolt slightly toward pilot seat,..then put ifly back on,..

Jerrytex
11-25-2013, 05:33 PM
What a good idea! I ended up using a flat head garage carriage bolt and ground two sides flat but the toilet bolt is a better idea. No grinding required. I might swap mine out.

SkyPirate
11-25-2013, 07:23 PM
the toilet bolt is about 2.5" long so it is long enough to put a slight bend and still have the nut turn off,..I have the external antenna hooked up too and had room between the panel and the ifly to plug it in without drilling a hole for it in the panel

SkyPirate
11-25-2013, 07:26 PM
by the way,,your panel looks great George!

Geowitz
11-25-2013, 07:50 PM
Thanks! :)

SkyPirate
11-25-2013, 08:01 PM
George,

when I talked to Eddie and he said he flew with you and see your Ifly or you were getting an Ifly,..he asked me if I had one too,..so he bought a 720 and has it in his model 4 now

SkyPirate
11-25-2013, 08:06 PM
my daughters plane with an Ifly

HighWing
12-03-2013, 02:08 PM
I have the 700. I like it overall, but also found it a bit challenging to read at times. I had it mounted on the suction mount. I decided to see if I could get the screen a bit closer so made a sliding extension mount that mounts to the cross tube under the instrument panel. I rarely take a passenger so its location is fine, but can be easily removed for local passenger flights.

This shows the GPS in its typical location. It still has the gimbal mount so angling the face is still possible.

5782

This shows the mount. The thumb screw under the panel allows for complete removal and the one to the left allows the telescoping support tube to be lengthened or shortened as needed. A short cord plugs into a 12V jack on the panel.

5783

SkyPirate
12-03-2013, 05:29 PM
looks good lowell

Jerrytex
12-04-2013, 05:11 AM
I too have a problem seeing the ifly in sunlight, even though they claim it's sunlight readable. I switched it over to the vector map mode and it's much easier to see and use. It seems like the sectional map mode has just the right colors to get washed out in the sun. I usually use my iPhone or iPad on a swivel to adjust for glare as my primary gps and have the ifly going just in case.

SkyPirate
12-04-2013, 05:31 PM
one of the guys based at my airport has the 720 ifly,..you can read that in direct sunlight,..we tried it right out in front of the hanger not inside of a plane ,..works good

Flybyjim
12-04-2013, 07:00 PM
I hade the first generation I fly, loved it but would completely wash out in sunlight, sold it and bought the 720 at Oshkosh in 2012. It is much better but still not 100% readable in some sunlight. It just depaneds on the angle the light is reflecting thru the cockpit glass. I bought their wrap around shield and that has helped a bit. It they could get the clearity of a Dyna screen they would capture the market.
Jim

SWeidemann
12-04-2013, 09:35 PM
Is anyone using the IFly App on an IPad?

Skot

Pilot4Life
12-05-2013, 02:48 PM
I use the iPad & ForeFlight all the time...works well for me below 10K. No experience with the IFly yet. We also have a Stratus GPS receiver (internal battery powered) that links to the iPad via WiFi and is a great tool when flying above 10K and no 3G service is available.

HighWing
12-05-2013, 04:28 PM
Interesting discussion and helpful to me. As mentioned I have the 700 and essentially watched as Adventure Pilot announced their trade in credit for the 720 upagrade. At the time I had become acquainted with a new neighbor flying a Light Squared who loved his IPad and ForeFlght. It seemed that for about the same money I could go there. Which I likely will do at some point. We'll see.

Slyfox
12-05-2013, 04:46 PM
will the ifly record all your flights so you can download and have an electronic log book like the garmin does.

SkyPirate
12-05-2013, 06:12 PM
Im not sure ,..it does have camera ports,..av in out.. I have both road and aviation gps modes so I can use it land and air,..it has a jack for audible alarms,..touch screen and remote,...that's all I can think of at the moment since it's in the plane and I'm home,.. I'd be surprised if it didnt

Geowitz
12-05-2013, 06:27 PM
It does record your flights for you to review and this can be accessed through the regular menus while it is on. I would bet you could download them from the memory card, but not sure if they would integrate with any logbook software.

SkyPirate
12-05-2013, 06:45 PM
I usually call Ed their tech expert,..great guy always willing to help. the 700 is upgradeable with exception to the pixel screen and wifi connect, so if you have a 700 you can have all options but the 2 fore mentioned,..if you have a 700 they will also take it in trade toward a 720, some guys sell them on barn dreamers etc to try and get more then trade in value

Slyfox
12-06-2013, 08:35 AM
the ability to have recorded flights and move them into a program for a log book is so important to me. put it this way. I fly an average of 300hrs a year. many times I fly for 30min. two aircraft. I currently take the gps 's out of my airplanes and take it to the shop and download my flights. takes seconds. garmin has a program for their gps called flightbook, it's free. it puts everything in the date, ac type, the id where you took off from and where you went. It also has tally's of your night flights and crosscountry flights. remarks are available as well. activation of the recording is when you go over 300ft. and stops when you land. I've been using this sense I started flying in 04 and at the end of the year I copy off the flight and start up another new record at the beginning of the year. the things that I love about my garmin, it's the direct to, the ability to put radio freq's into the radio, airport information and my flightlog.

I would really like one of these units to replace my old garmin in the kitfox, but if it can't record my flights and put it in a nice program for a log book, well, it just ain't gonna happen.

HighWing
12-08-2013, 08:17 AM
I agree with the recorded flights. Much more detail available on the electronic versions, but I began my system in 1999 and just sort of stuck with it.

I made a form on Excel and print copies front and back. I fold it into fourths and do some flight planning with it and then clip it to a knee board so I can make notes as I fly. PDF attached.

Slyfox
12-08-2013, 10:16 AM
I like to just go fly and not think about recorded flights. I got a hold of Ifly and they are working on an update to do just what I want. Look into Flightbook from garmin and you will understand what I'm talking about. The garmin gps will store 30 of your flights. they have a flightbook program that you download into your computer and when you connect your gps to your computer it downloads all your flights into this program. than you delete them off your gps. I, once a year take and print off that years flights and put them with my log books. I also store them in a folder in my computer. I basically do nothing but download once a month off my gps.

I was told by sun and fun they will have something. waiting for it to happen.

mr bill
12-17-2013, 08:09 PM
I have finally reached the point of buying a GPS. Held off till now because things have been changing so quickly. What ever unit I get must have serial output for the Dynon D-10A autopilot. Unfortunately that seems to leave out most of the tablets. I do want weather and ABS-D. Any ideas/suggestions will be appreciated.

henrysamson
12-18-2013, 12:43 PM
Hi,

I have the 720 and it is connected to my Dynon 10A and works almost perfectly as far as having the CDI and the HSI coupled. Every so often I have to restart the GPS but this only happens at initialization. I have never lost the connection in flight. If the master switch is on for about a minute before starting the engine this is not an issue but if I start the engine while the GPS is in the early stages of booting it will occasionally not couple. If the power is disconnected from the iFly for a few seconds it will not shutdown but it does seem to stop sending data out the serial port and will uncouple. So, make sure you have a good connection to power that won't fall out. I don't have an autopilot. I used it this summer when I put almost 200 hours on my Model IV flying around the US. It is difficult to read in the sun but since it is coupled I can use the Dynon HSI and/or CDI to stay on track. The Dynon is always readable.

It does record flights and that came in real handy when I was hit by another airplane earlier this year. I was not flying the Model IV but instructing in a C152, which lost its right main gear from the impact. The NTSB was able to use the file from my iFly to reconstruct the incident. The files can be read by Google Earth. I often pull up tracks, on the iFly, right after a lesson to show students how they are flying in the traffic pattern. Really great for letting them see what I am telling them in the air when they are not flying a proper rectangular pattern. Also great for post flight analysis of S-turns, turns about a point, etc.

Henry

SkySteve
12-18-2013, 05:36 PM
Wow! Henry, can you tells us a little more about this? Maybe start another thread about it. Sounds like we might all be able to learn something from your story.

Jerrytex
12-18-2013, 06:49 PM
http://www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/BREAKING-Plane-Making-Emergency-Landing-at-Easterwood-Airport-189365621.html?device=tablet


When the local pilots here in this area heard it was Henry (Hank) we were very relieved to hear that he was ok. He made an amazing landing. I suggested that he buy a lottery ticket. Sorry Hank if I stepped on your toes posting this but what you did was amazing and you are one hell of a pilot.

SkySteve
12-18-2013, 07:33 PM
So, Henry (Hank), what's the story behind the story (news report).

mr bill
12-20-2013, 04:06 PM
IFly is one of the units I am considering, are there any other units I should take a look at?

Jerrytex
12-23-2013, 03:42 PM
Mr. Bill,

This is just my opinion. (Please don't blast me) I have the ifly 700. A friend of mine graciously gave it to me since he was not using it and I am grateful to have it. However after using it and seeing that its not as sunlight readable as they say, and frankly, nowhere near as user friendly as an iPad, I don't think I would buy one. I have an iPad mini with the cheaper air pro app($15.95) and a GPS transmitter that goes on the dash, and it works great. I use my ifly as a back up but if I didn't have it, I would use my iPhone as a back up and then one of those paper things that they used to use if both GPS quit.

I have my iPad mini in a protective case and then I use a slip grip with ram mount. You can mount anywhere you have a pipe or place to mount a ram mount ball.

Ifly recently came out with an ipad app. I have been thinking about trying it.

Pilot4Life
12-23-2013, 06:27 PM
JerryTex, I'm surprised you don't still use those old paper thing....shocked, really. Flying the King Air 300s, I always use them....they fit great in the windows to block the sunlight so I can better see my iPad without any glare!:D

mr bill
12-23-2013, 07:26 PM
Jerrytex:
There is always more than one way to do anything. There are a host of gps/systems available, I'm trying to find the one that best fits my needs. I am evaluating all the input and suggestions I can get, and yours is also appreciated.

SkyPirate
12-24-2013, 04:24 AM
I like the clean simplicity of the Ifly's it's small yet big enough to see, has a remote control, external antenna,battery back up, touch screen, the 720's with wifi can be uploaded to current without removing it from the plane , i've got mine temp mounted but will have it permanently mounted once i get the new panel, 1 less thing to carry to and from the house, 1 less thing to miss place or forget :)

jrevens
05-22-2015, 04:12 PM
I recently traded my iFly 720 for one of the new 740 models. It's a really a nice unit for me, with a few very big improvements. It has a LOT brighter display, a faster processor, a built-in emergency battery, better GPS receiver, a new operating system that is much improved, etc., etc.

Jesse
05-30-2015, 05:33 PM
I have a ifly 700 gps that i am not longer using if anyone is interested give me a shout. It works great! The kitfox i fly o now has one built in to the panel so i no loner need it. I still have the box it came in but needs an update as it expired about 6 months ago, $10 or $20 update if i recall. For the money these things are great.

Avidfox
05-30-2015, 06:41 PM
Let me know how much you want for it! Maybe the Wife will let me get it for fathers day. I have a panel mounted 396 right now. How is it in the sun?
Thanks,
Dave

kitfox2009
05-30-2015, 09:10 PM
I don't mean to hijack this thread but for the past few days I have been playing around with an app on my Samsung Tab S. The program is called AVARE. Seems quite user friendly and easy to see on this tablet.
Not sure how they do this but it is FREE!
Anyone out there used this and if so would appreciate your comments. I am planning a trip to the Yukon but of course will have a whole batch of paper thingies as well.
Looking forward to comments.
Cheers
Don

Jesse
05-31-2015, 06:44 PM
Its not great in the sun but neither is the ipad. I mounted mine in a way that the sun would not reflect off of it. If you have the money to buy a ipad mini or some other tablet that would be the better option. Down side is just the cost. Foreflight, for example is about $100 a year for the gps program and about $300 + for the tablet and about $100 for the gps antena such as the "bad elf" etc. The ifly gps is about half that cost but it is only a gps and some of the older models require a cigarette lighter for 12v power as they don't have a internal battery.