SA does it again.

[swatson999]

I knew it was too good to last. This is what I get when I hit "Update Now". Guess I'll have to clean everything off the USB stick and start over.

USB flash drive connected.
Update process starting.
Checking for new US Dynon SkyView ChartData.
Preparing to install United States data to E:. Verifying downloaded files.
Verification OK. Preparing to copy United States files to E:
Begin copying United States files to E: ...
Update process complete.

 

[RV6-KPTW]

Take a look at AirMate data to see if it meets your needs. I have been using it for the last year and am pleased.

 

[swatson999]

Sigh. Well, it looks like it finished, but did it? So the stick has Airport Diagrams that expire 6/12, but maybe not? What a POS.

 

[swatson999]

Well, it only took 4 tries and one complete USB formatting. At least twice, it stopped loading the stick before one or the other of the SA charts or Approach Plates/Airport Diagrams was finished loading (one time at 26,500 files done out of 26,800-something. Yeah...really.).

This thing is such a piece of trash...if it weren't for the data, I'd be rid of it ages ago. And Dynon REALLY should invest in their own tool. The data (except the Flight Guide stuff) is ALL FREE from the government (or nominal cost). Why we still have to deal with this crappy thing, I don't know.

 

[Marc_J._Zeitlin]

Why we still have to deal with this crappy thing, I don't know.

Because, sad as it is, it costs Dynon nothing to watch you complain about this POS, which is certainly what it is. There's no incentive for them to do it themselves. Making you (and me) happy isn't their goal - maklng $$$ is. Making us happy is an accidental side effect of making $$$. Capitalism - yay! Whatever resource it would take (and any 15 year old hacker could put together a better web-based application in about 3 hours - sadly, I'm neither 15 nor a hacker - but that 3 hours of labor gives Dynon a better return doing something else.

C'est la vie.

 

[swatson999]

Yep. And it looks like my bet from right after SA got bought is about to turn out...the response to the email I sent to support?

The best option is now Slingshot. We'll give you a 90 day free trial to FlyQ EFB for iPad/iPhone if you want to try it.

So expect ChartData Manager to EOL soon, while they sell you other apps to replace it (and, of course, you'll need that wifi adapter from Dynon, but have I not read that it's been finicky and not alway worked for people?).

 

[Danerazz]

That doesn’t work on the certified systems; the Wi-Fi dongle and database transfer through it is not-authorized per the STC.

 

[swatson999]

That doesn’t work on the certified systems; the Wi-Fi dongle and database transfer through it is not-authorized per the STC.

Yet another reason I'm glad I fly an EAB .

 

[airguy]

Well, it only took 4 tries and one complete USB formatting. At least twice, it stopped loading the stick before one or the other of the SA charts or Approach Plates/Airport Diagrams was finished loading (one time at 26,500 files done out of 26,800-something. Yeah...really.).

This thing is such a piece of trash...if it weren't for the data, I'd be rid of it ages ago. And Dynon REALLY should invest in their own tool. The data (except the Flight Guide stuff) is ALL FREE from the government (or nominal cost). Why we still have to deal with this crappy thing, I don't know.

I've had this before - and with one exception, it was because the USB stick itself was getting so hot it failed to function. In my experience the SanDisk Ultra 32gb 3.0 drives give the best performance, I have very few problems with them.

The very small form factor USB sticks are great for size - they don't protrude from the panel much and look neat - but they also don't have the ability to absorb/dissipate heat on the stick during large file write sessions and are (again, in my experience) more prone to heat failure.

 

[swatson999]

I thought of that...the USB stick is not a small form factor, it's the standard "thumb drive" size, and was not hot (it was not connected until I was ready to download the data).

 

[Raymo]

There is another thread here where someone wrote their own tool/script to pull the files down.

 

[swatson999]

This SO F**KING annoying. A *brand new* set of USB sticks...the first one updated perfectly fine. Put in the second one, and I get this.

Tried twice, and it craps out after the first set of data. But it THINKS and SAYS the update was complete. Guess I'll try formatting the stick AGAIN and trying AGAIN.

I am SO G-D tired of this POS application.

Update process starting.
Checking for new US Dynon SkyView ChartData.
Checking for new Dynon SkyView digital data...
Checking ChartData status...
Update process complete.

The memory card / USB flash drive on E:\ is read-only so files cannot be written to it. Check for a slide switch on the card.
Done copying files to E:
The memory card / USB flash drive on E:\ is read-only so files cannot be written to it. Check for a slide switch on the card.
USB flash drive removed.
USB flash drive connected.
Update process starting.
Checking for new US Dynon SkyView ChartData.
Preparing to install United States data to E:. Verifying downloaded files.
Verification OK. Preparing to copy United States files to E:
Begin copying United States files to E: ...
Checking for new Dynon SkyView digital data...
Checking ChartData status...
Update process complete.

Oh, and you see that bit about the flash drive being locked. Nope.

 

[Danerazz]

Can you update ONE stick and just copy it to the second one?

 

[swatson999]

I suppose so...I reformatted the *brand new stick* that just failed, and started the update again, and it seems to be working. No, I don't normally do multiple sticks with the same data, but I wanted to make sure that all 3 new sticks that I got today were working properly with this turd program. So far, 1 made it through without any issues.

I'd pay twice as much to Dynon if they'd just take over this thing and do it right...

 

[airguy]

I've seen this before, several times. During the second set of updates, for the approach plates and diagrams, sometimes it stops updating the progress of the load on to the USB. The load is still happening - but you can't see the progress - go get a beer and sit on the porch for a bit and come back to it. In my experience it's still going but you just can't see it. It will catch up and start displaying normally during the sectional chart section.

Yeah, it sucks - but it is what it is.

 

[airguy]

Can you update ONE stick and just copy it to the second one?

A very good question - think I'll play with that...

 

[CanardMulti]

I've seen this before, several times. During the second set of updates, for the approach plates and diagrams, sometimes it stops updating the progress of the load on to the USB. The load is still happening - but you can't see the progress - go get a beer and sit on the porch for a bit and come back to it. In my experience it's still going but you just can't see it. It will catch up and start displaying normally during the sectional chart section.

Yeah, it sucks - but it is what it is.

A very simple way to verify that the wright to the USB is indeed happening is to open Task Manager and click on the performance tab. It shows (among other things) all connected drives and their read / wright activity. It also shows connection speeds. I routinely update 2 small thumb drives at once, and since my slow connection is so bandwidth limited I've developed a habit of watching the download / upload speeds. Watching the statistics at the next update (attempt) likely won't solve swatson999's issues, but just might give a bit of insight into where the problem lies with his particular setup.

FWIW, my W10 system has a high performance processor and 32 GB of RAM.

 

[swatson999]

A very simple way to verify that the wright to the USB is indeed happening is to open Task Manager and click on the performance tab. It shows (among other things) all connected drives and their read / wright activity. It also shows connection speeds. I routinely update 2 small thumb drives at once, and since my slow connection is so bandwidth limited I've developed a habit of watching the download / upload speeds. Watching the statistics at the next update (attempt) likely won't solve swatson999's issues, but just might give a bit of insight into where the problem lies with his particular setup.

FWIW, my W10 system has a high performance processor and 32 GB of RAM.

Point being...this is the ONLY program where I have to deal with this kind of stuff. And it's on 3 different computers (5 or 6 now if you count the previous ones I've used), including some of the highest-end workstations one can buy, and several brands of laptop (Dell, HP). It's not my setup. It's the crappy program. And despite the fact that a number of us have complained about it for *years* now, SA does almost nothing to address the issues. As someone else noted, I could hire a college kid to develop a better interface with higher reliability and user friendliness than this junk.

Again, if it weren't for the data, I'd have left SA years ago. And if someone would develop a better solution (the data IS free, after all, except perhaps the Flight Guide stuff), I'd pay twice as much or more just to avoid the irritation.