I think it really depends on your expected usage. If you fly a lot to a
lot of different places, you could save some money with the airchart
system and have a good service to boot. If you are a local yokel it is
certainly overkill.

I subscribed to the VFR topo atlas for two years, and used it for a few
"local long distance" flights as well as a very long round-robin from
California to the midwest and back. Note that my experience is with the
VFR topo atlas (WAC charts) only---someone else will have to do the math
with IFR charts.

Form factor was not a problem. In fact, I preferred having the charts
bound rather than coping with folding and re-folding a full-size
sectional or WAC in a small cockpit. It was also fun having access to
detailed information about the entire country, and going on lots of
mental flights in the living room.

The best part was the continual summarized updates. Every four weeks I
got a card in the mail that had all of the updates for that cycle
summarized. That alone is worth the price of the ticket---I found it
much easier to digest than the same information presented in my local
A/FD, and this was for the whole country.

There were two down-sides, neither of which had to do with their business.

One, I don't much care for the WAC format---identifiers and frequencies
are missing, and the scale is out far enough that the charts are
difficult to use in mountainous country. Sectionals are much preferred
for low-level flying, listening to AWOS reports en route, and
topographical information. I got stuck in a canyon in New Mexico
because it was unclear from the charts how high the ridge was that I was
trying to cross, and it was on a page boundary. Not a big deal in my
case, but I could see it being dangerous---in the future I will always
use sectionals for mountain flying.

My guess is that their new sectional atlases will take care of this problem.

The other problem is one of economics, for me at least. I don't
actually NEED detailed maps of the entire country, or even half of it.
99% of my flying at this point is local, such that one sectional, one
TAC, and one A/FD subscription fulfills all my needs, and at a lower
cost than the Airchart subscription.

Surprisingly, I don't actually save that much---2 sectionals in a year
are $16, 2 TACs are another $8, and 12 A/FDs at $4.50 apiece add up to
$54, for a total of $78. So in reality I am only saving $30, about an
hour's flying in my plane. Although, if I don't buy an A/FD I will need
FlightGuide or something similar for airport information, so add another
$25 to the Airchart side.

If I do gear up (no pun intended) for a long trip in the future I will
very likely purchase a sectional atlas.

I saw an ad in AOPA for www.airchart.com . Does anyone have any experience