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Better Connext integration
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Melohn View Drop Down
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Points: 140 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Melohn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Better Connext integration
    Posted: 28 Aug 2023 at 8:26pm
I’ve been happily using the IFD 440 as my primary navigator for the last 9 months. It works well, is easy to use, and integrates reasonably with many products, particularly the Stratus 3. Setup was involved but not difficult, other than the traffic display, which is not adequately described in the manual. Avidyne was easy to deal with as usual on this front; thanks Mike. 

The problems I’ve have had, user error mostly, were well addressed on the IFD side, however the two sore thumbs that remain are poor ForeFlight and GTX 345 integration. In particular:

File plan transfer is not reliable between FF and IFD via WiFi. Even if it worked perfectly, it is still much more at arm’s length than the Connext support, which keeps the app and navigator in sync when changes are made on the panel. Changes on the tablet still must be manually transferred, but it transfers to the active flight plan, so it is easier than the route load mechanism on the IFD, where I have to guess which of the saved routes with the same name is the latest update.

The Garmin GTX integration remains a problem. I’ll need rewiring to get functionality that works to a GNS 430W to work properly on an IFD. This appears to be entirely due to the inflexibility of programming for the the serial ports on the GTX, and the use of on-wire proprietary functions that the IFD doesn’t support. Even if I do this wiring work, with the “legacy” support from Garmin I’ll still have less available traffic information than I get from the GTX or Stratus over Bluetooth/WiFi. 

I know that it is a lot to ask for Avidyne to reverse engineer and support the Connext protocols, and that the wireless support for Stratus 3 means that I can get all traffic and weather products displayed properly without a physical connection, but without some improvement, it’s hard to justify the expense of replacing my existing, working GNS 430W/FS 210 combo with another IFD.

I know how difficult it is to get Boeing’s attention on a ForeFlight issue firsthand, and I can’t imagine any useful cooperation from Garmin, but is there anything Avidyne can do to make progress on either issue?
I want to make my panel Vantage ready, but short of completely deGarminizing, I can’t see a practical way to get there.
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Melohn View Drop Down
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Points: 140 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Melohn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Aug 2023 at 7:37pm
One other aspect of difficult integration; the problem with ForeFlight asking each time you open or move to it whether to switch the Stratus into ForeFlight mode. This was particularly unpleasant if you have a second crew member, as unless each person, each time, pushes the cancel button, everything will work just fine on ForeFlight, but the IFD will no longer receive “Open-ADS-B” information. This typically happens at least a dozen times each flight, as I and crew move back and forth between applications. 

I’ve had numerous interactions with team@foreflight.com on this, but they have not yet escalated this into a bug that will be fixed.
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MysticCobra View Drop Down
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Originally posted by Melohn Melohn wrote:

One other aspect of difficult integration; the problem with ForeFlight asking each time you open or move to it whether to switch the Stratus into ForeFlight mode. This was particularly unpleasant if you have a second crew member, as unless each person, each time, pushes the cancel button, everything will work just fine on ForeFlight, but the IFD will no longer receive “Open-ADS-B” information. This typically happens at least a dozen times each flight, as I and crew move back and forth between applications. 

I’ve had numerous interactions with team@foreflight.com on this, but they have not yet escalated this into a bug that will be fixed.
This is strictly a FF / Stratus issue and there is nothing Avidyne can do about that, so it's not relevant to discuss here.  

If it bothers you enough, there are plenty of other EFBs and ADSB-in receivers that do not have such behavior.


Edited by MysticCobra - 30 Aug 2023 at 8:41am
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Melohn View Drop Down
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Points: 140 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Melohn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Aug 2023 at 8:20pm
Originally posted by MysticCobra MysticCobra wrote:

This is strictly a FF / Stratus issue and there is nothing Avidyne can do about that, so it's not relevant to discuss here.  

If it bothers you enough, there are plenty of other EFBs and ADSB-in receivers that do not have such behavior.

Avidyne recommends this configuration, including the cancel workaround, for use with ForeFlight, IFDs, and Stratus. I think it is quite relevant, particularly because Boeing doesn’t seem to have this issue on their list of things to be fixed, at least the list accessible to team@foreflight.com.

This is not a question of “bother”, it’s potentially a safety of flight issue, since if two crew are both using ForeFlight, either one can inadvertently select the wrong mode, with the only noticeable effect that ADS-B In information stops appearing on the IFD. Thats’s not theoretical; it happened to me on a recent flight.
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