eFlyBook

[Travis Marlatte]

OK. Why haven't I seen any discussion of the coolest thing I saw announced
at Oshkosh? The eFlyBook from myairplane.com and ARINC.

Given the current price/technology ratio, it seems like the perfect
near-term solution to having electronic charts in a usable package.

Did anyone play with one? What's the general opinion?

--
-------------------------------
Travis
Lake N3094P
PWK

[Ron Natalie]

Travis Marlatte wrote:
> OK. Why haven't I seen any discussion of the coolest thing I saw announced
> at Oshkosh? The eFlyBook from myairplane.com and ARINC.
>
> Given the current price/technology ratio, it seems like the perfect
> near-term solution to having electronic charts in a usable package.
>
> Did anyone play with one? What's the general opinion?
>
The display is impressive but the underlying processor is lame.
There were a ton of EFB products this year running on a bunch
of different platforms (as opposed to last year where almost
everybody was using the Motion Systems tablets). Most are
PC based which gives you portability between EFB software
(you can switch or even run multiple applications) as well
as being able to migrate to a different platform. As near as
I can tell this is a dead end proprietary solution.

Further, I'm already a JeppView user since I've got chartview up
in the MX20, so it's not so interesting for me. Can't really
comment about the price-performance as MyAirplane.com's store
is busted right now and I can't even see the price.

[Mitty]

Yes, I'd be interested to hear more. Especially about the screen;
from the specs it appears to be too tiny to be useful.

On 8/2/2006 7:50 AM, Travis Marlatte wrote the following:
> OK. Why haven't I seen any discussion of the coolest thing I saw announced
> at Oshkosh? The eFlyBook from myairplane.com and ARINC.
>
> Given the current price/technology ratio, it seems like the perfect
> near-term solution to having electronic charts in a usable package.
>
> Did anyone play with one? What's the general opinion?
>

[Longworth[_1_]]

Mitty wrote:
> Yes, I'd be interested to hear more. Especially about the screen;
> from the specs it appears to be too tiny to be useful.
>
Larger displays and even color displays utilizing electronic ink are
around the corner

http://www.devlib.org/blog/2005/12/04/electronic-paper/

The grayscale Sony reader will be available this fall for something
like $300 or $400 at a Border bookstore near you.

http://www.learningcenter.sony.us/assets/pa/prs/index.html

[john smith]

In article >,
"Travis Marlatte" > wrote:

> OK. Why haven't I seen any discussion of the coolest thing I saw announced
> at Oshkosh? The eFlyBook from myairplane.com and ARINC.
> Given the current price/technology ratio, it seems like the perfect
> near-term solution to having electronic charts in a usable package.
> Did anyone play with one? What's the general opinion?

I looked at it.
I thought the form factor was the right size.
I liked it, but it costs too much.
$500 would be more what I would pay.

[Travis Marlatte]

I'll wait to see what happens. Maybe by Sun n' Fun there will be other
options.

During Oshkosh, their price was $899. Now their sale price is up to $1199.

It just seemed to be a good compromise for $899. Much lighter, smaller, and
cheaper than tablet PCs with good form factor for approach charts. Probably
useless for enroutes or sectionals. I fly a few hundred hours a year and
very little IFR. I spend a lot of time printing charts just in case and
never use them. For $250/year for charts for the whole US in a fairly light
box - just in case - sounded awful tempting.

Of course, since their price went up, that discussion is kind of moot. Even
at $899, since it is new to the market, I would hate to shell out the bucks
and have a color version out in a few months.

Oh well! I'm stuck with Jeppview on my PC at home, printing charts for
planned flights with a subscription that only covers the central part of the
US. AOPA or myairplane for charts outside of my subscription region. I'd
give up JeppView altogether but it is just so darn easy to select a bunch of
airports along a route and print double-sided, side-by-side charts.

--
-------------------------------
Travis
Lake N3094P
PWK
"john smith" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> "Travis Marlatte" > wrote:
>
>> OK. Why haven't I seen any discussion of the coolest thing I saw
>> announced
>> at Oshkosh? The eFlyBook from myairplane.com and ARINC.
>> Given the current price/technology ratio, it seems like the perfect
>> near-term solution to having electronic charts in a usable package.
>> Did anyone play with one? What's the general opinion?
>
> I looked at it.
> I thought the form factor was the right size.
> I liked it, but it costs too much.
> $500 would be more what I would pay.

[Viperdoc[_1_]]

The advantages are the lack of a hard drive, and the associated potential
for crashes at altitude. Also, the screen is much more readable in bright
light, and has outstanding battery life. It hopefully will not be as fragile
as a tablet PC.

I ordered one, since the cost was less than two years of the charts that the
unit should potentially replace. Will post feedback when if arrives.