Butterfy Avionics iPhone Navigation for Glider Pilots

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Are there any users of this APP who could share their experiences?

http://www.butterfly-avionics.com/index.php/en/products/butterfly-apps

[Sean F (F2)]

Been using for 8 months including a couple contest days at the seniors and most of the CC camp following.

Excellent UI. Very strong soaring functionality. Some aspects still missing such as statute miles :-(

Task functions otherwise excellent. Extremely easy to configure and manage tasks.

I have an iPhone 5 but the screen is still a touch small. Could be outstanding on an iPad mini mounted on the panel.

Price is high if you compare to XC Soar but iOS is probably more stable. I have had some issues with android crashing on the dell streak which only able to run android 2.x. Free is free but not perfect.

Sean
F2

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Sean...are you using iGlide stand-a-lone or integrated with a vario to share NEMA info. If integrated, please detail the equipment. Thanks.

[Sean F (F2)]

Not integrated yet but plan on working on that after contest season this year. Currently I'm set up for XC Soar and have a IOIO board (built by Luke in CA) set up to power my Dell Streak as well as pass thru NMEA info. It works very, very well. The only issue is the occasional instability of Android itself. Dell Streak is still using a very old version of Android (2.2 I think).

Both XC Soar and iGlide (full iGlide race app, $250) are surprisingly accurate as stand alone flight computers utilizing their internal GPS receivers. I simply provide an estimated wind direction and strength or allow the software to calculate that estimate in the thermals. I find the final glide quality to be very accurate although I am not one to push final glides ultra hard yet. I typically look for 2.5 MC and 250 over minimum from 10-20 miles. Usually 3-4.

Many others I know who use XC soar are using it stand alone and very happy. Stand alone makes installation incredibly simple and portable. Unless you are doing serious contest flying, I would say that it is more than good enough for either XC Soar on Android or iGlide on iOS.

Hope that helps.

Sean

[SoaringXCellence]

Sean,

I'm interested in the IOIO board, can you provide contact link for Luke?

I'm running XCSoar on a Samsung Note II, very stable and FAST, even has a build-in compass and Barometer. Really great size screen, not too big for a phone and not too small for old eyes to see. Nice and bright in the sunlight. Not too sure about the compass accuracy.

I'd like the IOIO to have an input for dynamic pressure (airspeed). If it has the correct format then XCSoar can process it for me.

Mike

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Thank you for your detailed review. It was quite informative.

[[email protected]]

Mike, I do not know what Luke provided.

Soartronic and Sparkfun sell components to assemble an IOIO unit. It is a combination of two separate electronics. Soartronic http://www.soartronic.net/products provides the IOIO UART interface board in a DIY kit(30.00 euro)and the UART board is available from Sparkfun https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11343 ($40.00). Assembly and an additional enclosure are required.

See Sean's video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgjNm4jw02M for a demo of how it integrates the vario and Dell Streak.

Ben

[Sean F (F2)]

www.silentflight.ca is his website. It is an excellent source of info
on all things XC Soar.

Best,

Sean

On Apr 17, 8:42*pm, SoaringXCellence > wrote:
> Sean,
>
> I'm interested in the IOIO board, can you provide contact link for Luke?
>
> I'm running XCSoar on a Samsung Note II, very stable and FAST, even has a build-in compass and Barometer. Really great size screen, not too big for a phone and not too small for old eyes to see. *Nice and bright in the sunlight. Not too sure about the compass accuracy.
>
> I'd like the IOIO to have an input for dynamic pressure (airspeed). *If it has the correct format then XCSoar can process it for me.
>
> Mike