![]() ![]() Of course, at 520 knots it covered a lot of ground much more quickly than the 170 knots I am used to seeing. One of the things that struck me out was how fast the aircraft icon moved over ForeFlight’s moving map. The GNS works equally as well with WingX. It was interesting looking down on the landscape from F元50 and being able to identify landmarks using ForeFlight rasterized VFR or IFR charts. The GPS did take a few minutes to “find itself”, but the error was never more than 10 meters, and the signal never dropped off-line. Out of the box, the Bluetooth paired up with the iPad within seconds. I had an opportunity to try out my recently purchased GNS 5870 MFI while flying “low-class” on some commercial flights between MCO and DFW. The one complaint I keep hearing about the GNS 5870 is the virtual touch sensor on-off switch that you activate by sliding your finger. This does take some getting used to, but once you have the right touch it is fairly easy to use. Although I have not tested it, the manufacturer says it will run about 10 hours between charges. It does not draw on the iPad’s battery power in order to operate as does the Bad Elf. Unlike the Bad Elf, the GNS 5870 has its own built-in LI-ON battery, with a separate charger. ![]() A docking extension cord may help with this. Also the pin connector seemed fairly fragile, and could easily be broken if bumped. But the fact that it must be physically connected to the iPad was a problem for me because I use the RAM iPad yoke mount. For one thing, it has a 66 channel receiver, an advantage over the GNS unit. There are other very good external GPS units on the market, but the remainder require that you jail-break your iPad in order to use them.įrom all accounts, the Bad Elf unit is a fine product. Either of these units will work well for situations where the built-in GPS receiver is not reliable enough, or for adding GPS capabilities to devices without a built-in receiver, like the non 3G version of the iPad. The other external GPS unit is the Bad Elf, which docks directly to the 30-pin connector on the bottom of the iPad. ![]() It is about the size of a credit card and about 1/4 inch thick. This unit is a Bluetooth enabled GPS receiver specifically designed for the iPad and other smart technology devices. One of those approved external GPS units is the compact GNS 5870 MFI, which I recently purchased. Also, the iPad’s internal GPS chip does not seem to work on jet aircraft or commercial airliners.īack in November of 2010, ForeFlight announced that two External iPad GPS Receivers for ForeFlight HD were approved for the iPad and were compatible with their navigation and EFB software. However, there have been other complaints that GPS reception in high-wing aircraft has not been as good. Both GPS accuracy and reliability have been better than expected. In that time there have been no issues with internal iPad GPS reception in my Bonanza. I have been flying since May of 2010 with the 3G/GPS version of the Apple iPad in the A36, using the ForeFlight Mobile HD and WingX 7Pro apps as EFBs. ![]() The iPad and ForeFlight are great tools for that. But occasionally we must fly commercial and find ways to entertain ourselves while enroute. We must be in control of our own destiny rather than be relegated to seat 22-E. ![]()
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