Canadian data

[rickw]

Question for dynon or other Canadian users.
I fly 50% in US, 50% in Canada. Used to use just US free Dynon data, then found I was missing all airport info, airspace stuff etc. So, I would buy Jepp data x1 per year and figure that was within the budget and kept all fairly current.

Now there is another provider I see. Does the free US data have anything that Jeff does not include in their North American data package I will purchase again?

Does the other data provider (cheaper) have any less or any more than Jepp? Just want to get the stuff I need and ensure I get the best most complete offering. I am only VFR, but do love having fairly current stuff so wanted some feedback on which provider. One user bought the can data and apparently switches from Jepp to Dynon if flying in US, and then reloads CAN data from jepp when back here. Not sure why he would do that? What does Jepp not include on the US side that dynon has for US flying? Thanks.

 

[Bruno]

Rickw

As a Canadian, I also fly to the States quite often and for the last 2 years I've been using PocketFMS which is cheaper than Jepps and more complete. It does have more small airport stuff and also have very frequent updates.

Price for a one year subcription last year was $116.00 EURO ( About $160.00 CDN ) but might be slightly more this year due to exchange fluctuation.

For IFR in the States this year, I will be using SEATTLE AVIONICS charts right off the Skyview..

YMMV

Bruno

 

[Dynon]

A generality: PocketFMS - being a provider for the sport aircraft market - tends to have more private airports and other pilot-curated data. Jepp - as a big aviation company - tends to have really solid data on the bigger airports that their mainstream customers (airlines/jets/biger GA) would use. Our sense is that Canadian customers that have tried both tend to prefer PocketFMS. The US free data bleeds into Canada a bit at the border, but it's definitely not complete. It has what the FAA/charting folks think that US pilots need to know about when near the border.

 

[vlittle]

Here's the results of my comparo of Jepp vs Pocket FMS:

I've always been disappointed in the Jepp Canadian data. For example, clicking on airspace information in the Jepp database provides wrong frequency information. When flying in the Vancouver VTA area, which is very complex, the requirement is to contact either Vancouver Terminal or Victoria Terminal on several different frequencies depending on your position. Jepp just provides the Vancouver tower information.

When I evaluated Pocket FMS, they had similar problems, but when I filed a bug report, they worked with me to fix it. Now, when flying in the VTA area, I can pull up accurate frequency information based on position. This is a safety of flight issue and I'm glad Pocket FMS Has fixed it. I carefully checked the entire airspace representation and corrected a couple of bugs, but it should be fine now.

However, apparently Dynon does not display the appropriate data fields from PFMS. I understand that the two parties are working together to fix this, so my fingers are crossed.

One complaint about PFMS is that they display all the water aerodromes and helo pads and there is no way that i have found to declutter this. The 'nearest' function is pretty useless because of this-it's too cluttered.