Re: Controlvision's Anywhere vs Airgator's NavAir

[Andrew Gideon]

Andrew Gideon wrote:

>
> Has anyone compared these "head to head" since Controlvision has shifted
> to
> XM weather? When they still used the older download system, they'd
> certain limits that compared poorly to the Airgator product (ie. the size
> of a
> "pixel" of weather was much larger). But since Controlvision
> converted...?
>
> Back when I did some research (before Controlvision shifted), I liked the
> Airgator. The quality of the weather (ie. that pixel size) was one
> reason,
> and I thought Airgator had done a better UI job. But I liked the option
> to in Controlvision's product to include the gyro backup.
>
> So...has anyone looked at these more recently? Has Airgator found an AI
> product? Has Controlvision improved their weather quality?
>
> Anything else?
>
> Thanks...

Coincidence: Flying has a brief article on the ControlVision product which
claims that the weather "pixel" is 1 mile.

I'd love to play with these side-by-side. Anyone know of an FBO that
provides both somewhere not too far from Northern NJ?

- Andrew

[Bill Hale]

Andrew Gideon > wrote in message e.com>...

I've had the Controlvision for a long time and I use the satphone.

I do not believe the wx pixels are greatly different. The pixels on
the AWM satphone are less than half the length of the typical runway.

They downsample the data to get reasonable size files.

If I were buying now, I'd probably get the wxworx. But I'm not in
a hurry to do so... the satphone gives me several things that are an
advantage: 1) Sat photos... very useful when tryiing to stay on top;
2) cheaper for the kind of flying I do... 3) can call FBOs for gas prices,
& call people in general. And for the most part it works fine.

The Ipaqs, make no mistake about it, are not such a hot platform. There
are differences among them that make the applications creators absolutely
NUTS!

The 4705 is great for the app. And I'm moving from cases of plates to
the pocket plates soluton. On the 4705 they look pretty good.

Donno about Gator, but AWM is constantly improving their app.

Either would be so much better than none. Even with strikefinders, I feel
naked these days without nextrad.

Bill Hale




> Andrew Gideon wrote:
>
> >
> > Has anyone compared these "head to head" since Controlvision has shifted
> > to
> > XM weather? When they still used the older download system, they'd
> > certain limits that compared poorly to the Airgator product (ie. the size
> > of a
> > "pixel" of weather was much larger). But since Controlvision
> > converted...?
> >

[Andrew Gideon]

Bill Hale wrote:

> Andrew Gideon > wrote in message
> e.com>...
>
> I've had the Controlvision for a long time and I use the satphone.

I don't suppose you tried their AnywhereAI product? Can it be
used/displayed concurrently with the navigation information?

> I do not believe the wx pixels are greatly different. The pixels on
> the AWM satphone are less than half the length of the typical runway.
>
> They downsample the data to get reasonable size files.

I'm not sure who controls the sample size being displayed (the satellite
service or Controvision's software), but my understanding was that the
older AnywhereWX system had "pixels" several square miles large. Now, it
seems (based upon what I read in Flying) that they're down to about a mile
(the same as Airgator's 2km).

But that's just one article. I've checked on:

http://www.anywheremap.com/pages/Section_AWX.aspx

and I cannot find this little detail (for either weather technology).

> If I were buying now, I'd probably get the wxworx. But I'm not in
> a hurry to do so... the satphone gives me several things that are an
> advantage: 1) Sat photos... very useful when tryiing to stay on top;
> 2) cheaper for the kind of flying I do... 3) can call FBOs for gas prices,
> & call people in general. And for the most part it works fine.
>
> The Ipaqs, make no mistake about it, are not such a hot platform. There
> are differences among them that make the applications creators absolutely
> NUTS!

Can one run the Anywhere products on machines like Sony's U-70? I don't
know much about it, but these appear to be placed between palmtops and
tablets in terms of size.

Thanks...

- Andrew

[Bill Hale]

Andrew Gideon > wrote in message e.com>...
> Bill Hale wrote:

There is a discussion group you can read at controlvision.com
in the support section. Many of your Qs will be answered.

I believe things like the U70 are supported.

The map pixels have always been about a runway length. Those
who think the resolution needs to be higher are confused about
what these are good for in my opinion.

It's a tiny place. The results on the AI are variable.
I'd not count on it as a backup myself. Too much fiddling. And
for them to support it on every imaginable platform is daunting.

Bill Hale


>
> > Andrew Gideon > wrote in message
> > e.com>...
> >
> > I've had the Controlvision for a long time and I use the satphone.
>
> I don't suppose you tried their AnywhereAI product? Can it be
> used/displayed concurrently with the navigation information?
>
> > I do not believe the wx pixels are greatly different. The pixels on
> > the AWM satphone are less than half the length of the typical runway.
> >
> > They downsample the data to get reasonable size files.
>
> I'm not sure who controls the sample size being displayed (the satellite
> service or Controvision's software), but my understanding was that the
> older AnywhereWX system had "pixels" several square miles large. Now, it
> seems (based upon what I read in Flying) that they're down to about a mile
> (the same as Airgator's 2km).
>
> But that's just one article. I've checked on:
>
> http://www.anywheremap.com/pages/Section_AWX.aspx
>
> and I cannot find this little detail (for either weather technology).
>
> > If I were buying now, I'd probably get the wxworx. But I'm not in
> > a hurry to do so... the satphone gives me several things that are an
> > advantage: 1) Sat photos... very useful when tryiing to stay on top;
> > 2) cheaper for the kind of flying I do... 3) can call FBOs for gas prices,
> > & call people in general. And for the most part it works fine.
> >
> > The Ipaqs, make no mistake about it, are not such a hot platform. There
> > are differences among them that make the applications creators absolutely
> > NUTS!
>
> Can one run the Anywhere products on machines like Sony's U-70? I don't
> know much about it, but these appear to be placed between palmtops and
> tablets in terms of size.
>
> Thanks...
>
> - Andrew

[Andrew Gideon]

Bill Hale wrote:


> It's a tiny place.

Eh? The screen on a palmtop? The discussion groups? The size of a runway?
I'm not sure what you mean.

> The results on the AI are variable.

What do you mean?

> I'd not count on it as a backup myself. Too much fiddling.

What do you mean? I thought that this was the point: being a backup.

By fiddling, do you mean the user interface? That's exactly the type of
detail I'm looking to learn: how easy is it to use this (ie. in IMC with a
vacuum or gyro failure).

> And
> for them to support it on every imaginable platform is daunting.

I've heard this from others building on mobile platforms, but I don't
know/understand it myself. Why doesn't the OS (Palm, Microsoft CE, etc.)
hide hardware differences? That's *their* purpose, after all.

I'll look for the discussion group(s) on the controlvision.com site.

Thanks...

Andrew