Foreflight vs Garmin Pilot in Canada

[AdrianG]

Hi All, I am new to Canada and am getting my PPL conversion. Can anyone give me some advice as to which would be better here in Canada, Garmin Pilot or Foreflight.

Thanks

[ahramin]

Easily Foreflight. Garmin Pilot is an inferior product to Foreflight in any country, but especially in Canada. Weather doesn't work properly, app crashes unless you are using the latest and greatest equipment, can't file flight plans, and even the "Premium" Canada subscription has problems.

But if you're using an android or are updating your Garmin navigator databases, Garmin Pilot is your only choice.

[PeterParker]

If all you’re looking for is a mapping app and nothing more, they are both good. So also is FltPlan Go which happens to be free for now...
ForeFlight is hands down the most feature rich and possibly the most intuitive software experience out there. They also have multiple levels of subscriptions that seem to whet everyone’s appetite.

[rotorspeed]

Looking on their website as far as I understand, Garmin pilot does not have navigation maps like vta's and vnc's. Fltpln does which Garmin now owns. I'm an android guy so I guess it's fltpln for me

[ahramin]

Garmin Pilot has VNCs and VTAs.

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[AirFrame]

Garmin Pilot and Foreflight both have VTA's and VNC's, but you'll pay through the nose for them.

As a PPL starting out, you can save a crapola of money by using FltPlanGo. It's free. It has VNC's and VTA's.

[rotorspeed]

Ok got it. Basic Garmin pilot Canada is 79.00$

[AirDoan]

I fly charters and use fltplan go on my android and iPads. Both have their faults and it takes a bit to figure out how to use it efficiently. But it's free and does the job. Even has geo referenced airport diagrams and whatnot.

[AirFrame]

Ok got it. Basic Garmin pilot Canada is 79.00$

Per year.

[ahramin]

CAD prices: Garmin Pilot Standard (VFR) is $105 / year. Premium (IFR) is $185.

[co-joe]

Garmin Pilot and Foreflight both have VTA's and VNC's, but you'll pay through the nose for them.

As a PPL starting out, you can save a crapola of money by using FltPlanGo. It's free. It has VNC's and VTA's.

It has LO and HE charts as well as all of the CAP and FAA approach plates and Sectionals as well. The link to the CFS page is great, and things like up to date fuel prices are super handy.

[ahramin]

Does FltPlanGo have CFS Gen pages?

[AirDoan]

Does FltPlanGo have CFS Gen pages?

Yeah, it’s on there! All the necessary publications are there.

[AirFrame]

...things like up to date fuel prices are super handy.

Yeah, don't be too reliant on those prices being up-to-date. They don't have dates on them for a reason. But no worse than Foreflight or any other app.

[digits_]

The only downside to fltplango was that it really drained my ipad battery when looking at the "paper" charts. Foreflight lasts much longer on a battery charge.

[co-joe]

Does FltPlanGo have CFS Gen pages?

Yeah, it’s on there! All the necessary publications are there.

I haven't seen them, where do you find them? For most stuff I know how to get the info I need but if I had to look up a pavement classification number or if Cat 7 ARFF is enough, Id have trouble.

[Scuderia]

Does FltPlanGo have CFS Gen pages?

Yeah, it’s on there! All the necessary publications are there.

I haven't seen them, where do you find them? For most stuff I know how to get the info I need but if I had to look up a pavement classification number or if Cat 7 ARFF is enough, Id have trouble.

It's under Downloads -> Documents as "~CFS General Eff MM/DD/YYYY" and gets saved to the Binders page.

[co-joe]

Thanks for that, I hadn't downloaded any of those files since I don't know what AFD Legend means. AFD special notices (EC, NC, NE...)

There's a bunch of good stuff in the Binders\ My Documents\... files, including the user manual that explains all this.

[AirFrame]

Thanks for that, I hadn't downloaded any of those files since I don't know what AFD Legend means. AFD special notices (EC, NC, NE...)

AFD is what the americans call their CFS. AFD stands for Airport Flight Directory or something like that. If it's marked AFD, it's for the US, not Canada. All of the CFS related content is marked CFS.

[NotDirty!]

The largest section of the CFS is officially the “Aerodrome/Facility Directory”... so AFD works too.

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[AirFrame]

The largest section of the CFS is officially the “Aerodrome/Facility Directory”... so AFD works too.

Sure, but not when you're trying to find Canadian content in FltPlanGo, as the Canadian content is all marked CFS in the documents list. Everything with AFD is US.

[AdrianG]

Thanks for all the info. I have decided to go with ForeFlight as it does seem to be more intuitive and will be close to perfect for my needs.

[padair]

Garmin Pilot has major issues. Works on the ground but in the air (away from data signal) app often says you need an appropriate subscription. All items were downloaded locally.

Garmin Pilot also has no support! I submitted a support email. 4+ weeks now, no response. I called the support number 3 weeks ago, waited ~75 minutes for the next rep. I ended up submitting my logs from app as directed. Still no response.

Others at my flight centre reported same issues when discusing Garmin Pilot. Like them, I did not renew, switched to Foreflight. Better app that works! Save yourself the grief and just get ForeFlight.

[CpnCrunch]

I haven't used Garmin Pilot yet. I used to use FltPlan Go, but switched to Foreflight. Foreflight is just so much smoother and more reliable if you're flying IFR. You can knock up a route and send it to the panel in a few seconds, then edit it by dragging it on the map, add or remove waypoints easily, add a departure or approach procedure (or, if you add it to your panel and you have Flightstream, the procedure will just automatically appear in Foreflight without you having to do anything). The route advisor greatly simplifies the task of figuring out the best IFR route that ATC will be happy with. Filing a flight plan is quick and simple. And it has pretty much zero bugs. FltPlan Go has always been somewhat buggy.

Having said that, if you're just flying VFR then Foreflight is probably overkill. FltPlan Go works well enough if you just want a moving map, and is free.