On Thursday, February 5, 2015 at 5:24:46 AM UTC-8, ben wrote:
On Tuesday, February 3, 2015 at 2:15:06 PM UTC-5, ben wrote:
If you are an Air Avionics iGlide user, please share your evaluation.
Also interested in knowing if you are happy with the sunlight
readability of your iPhone. Is iPhone 6 brighter than iPhone 5?

Does anyone have experience with both iGlide and WinPilot for iPhone? Please compare.

I have both at current release level, and have used both since they were first offered. Both have a much more advanced user interface than the other offerings available (I also have and have run Winpilot PDA, SYM, XCSoar, LK8000, SN10, GlideNav and some of their predecessors). Both will do stand-alone GPS or external GPS/barometrics (though they must be connected through WiFi). Here is my take:

WinPilot iOS:

Pro:

* Less expensive
* Better choice of graphics/fonts for small screen, improves legibility
* More flexible task editing
* Choice of map overlays/styles
* Integrated airport database similar to Winpilot PDA

Cons:
* Buggier, support often slow responding
* More complicated task editing
* Less configurability/accessibility to "nav box" information

iGlide:

Pro:
* Very slick and fluid full iOS user interface - easily a decade ahead of SYM, XCSoar, etc.
* Very good integration with the Butterfly Vario
* One touch task editing
* Very configurable presentation and style via XML style template
* Beautiful terrain maps
* When used with Butterfly vario, instantaneous wind driven thermal assistant is surprisingly good
* Good support and relatively bug free
* Instant access (finger swipe) to endless fully configurable nav box information

Con:
* More expensive, particularly pro version
* No free try-before-buy version
* Some fonts/graphics too small for small screen and middle aged eyes
* No barometric based thermal assistant
* Some US tasking features not implemented


That is what springs to mind in 10 minutes thought. I will continue to try to use both, a new version of Winpilot was just released (and seems nicely updated) and there is an update to iGlide coming this spring I am told. I would recommend an iPhone 6, and preferably 6 Plus for their larger screens. I have used these on a 5s the last two seasons and you either need young eyes, or bifocals and mount the iPhone closer to you than you would need to with say an Oudie class PDA. I will be getting a 6 Plus for the upcoming season, it has as big a screen as anything out there. The brightness of these is in the 550 nit range, vs. 800 or a bit more for the OudieII/Avier. However the screen resolution is maybe 5 times better which helps. You may want to consider one of the many anti-reflective screen overlays, as reflections are the worst problem. All of the iPads are down below 400 nits, and wash out pretty badly in the sun.

The phone will only run maybe 3 hours on its internal battery, so you need to supply ships power to it. The current draw for an iphone 5s isn't too bad, about 400 ma at full brightness. Another thing to consider is that all iPhones have thermal protection, in the bright sun on a hot day on the ramp at Truckee (80 - 90 deg F) and no air circulation I have had them shut down.. At 18000 ft and 20 deg F ambient it isn't a problem. You need to mount them where they can receive some air circulation and/or are shaded from direct sun.

Do you have any specific questions?