Adventure Pilot iFly 520 (with Streets)

The receiver arrived with a manufacturing defect. I returned it to the vendor, and have been advised that a replacement is on the way.Reading the online instruction manual and users comments, I am disappointed to learn that the instrument approach charts do not include the profile information that I would like. This is normally included in such charts.

I've only had the unit on a couple flights and have not been happy so far. I fly an RV-8 with a bubble canopy, so reception should not have been a problem. Over the years I have owned several GPS units and none have had reception issues. The iFly lost satellite lock about once every minute. I moved it farther forward (ahead of the steel "roll bar") and it was somewhat better. Perhaps with the optional antenna it will improve. As a 5 inch unit, its too small for regular use for my comfort, but I knew that before I purchased it. When it DID lock, there were still some intermittent issues.1) when external power is removed, it goes into a power saver mode...GPS continues to work but screen goes off to save power. This feature worked most of the time. Sometimes the screen would go blank and the unit would freeze until a power off/on cycle.2) the sectional map would sometimes flash pink and back to normal.3) the included AC adapter failed on day two.Flight planning seemed excellent and intuitive. I haven't used the approach plates or IFR charts, but the sectional charts behaved as expected. AF/D pages were crowded and difficult to read but accurate. As a backup they are great. The main screen is configurable as to which data windows appear...ground speed, altitude, heading, and many others. Nice feature.Perhaps an update will cure the problems. I wish I could replace my Lowrance AirMap.Conclusion...it makes an OK backup GPS.

I fly 2 520's. I could go at length to describe what don't like about these, but i'll just make it simple. Too hard to do simple tasks, split screen ranges near chart borders, and that's REAL bad. Factory techs say that's the way it was deigned...a flaw too late to correct. 60 years in the air, 30 with a major airline, GA acft. owner for last 55 years, 20 types. I am telling it the way it is.Chapter 2: Flying 2 520's, 2 planes, continuous problems, NO customer service, Tech rep EXTREMELY rude !!

So I purchased the with Streets version of this GPS iFly 520.It comes with an AC Adapter, a DC 12/24Volt adapter (actually it seems the adapter is just connecting wire; the input on the GPS can receive 12 or 24 V), mounting hardware, a pouch / carry case, and a Micro SD card to SD card adapter.The important thing is, it did not come with a user manual. Now that can either be very bad, or it is just that the GPS is so intuitive that it does not require a user manual. I found it to be the latter - I did not feel the need for a manual. The software is extremely self explanatory / intuitive to use - I was pleasantly surprised. (If you need manual / training videos, they have them on the iflygps dot com website).The aviation GPS program:The aviation GPS program on it has all the features I could possibly ask for. It shows altitude, ground speed, heading, vertical speed etc etc. It has a very easy to use flight plan interface. The background overlay can be a sectional or a variety of other charts including World Aviation charts, terminal area charts, etc. If you tap the screen somewhere and tap the option button that shows, it can pull up the A/FD details for the airports near where you tapped / the one you tapped on. It contains a variety of information including the areal photo of the airport etc in addition to the regular A/FD page details. It can show a small rectangle towards the bottom which shows the Airspace along the straight line heading you are flying, so you can be forewarned if you're flying into a different class of airspace etc. The GPS can show a simulated instrument panel which may be useful in an emergency where you have an instrument outage. It also has a variety of alarm features to alert you of potential situations. I haven't played around with the IFR functionality since I am not an IFR pilot (yet).Auto GPS:Excellent navigation and again a very intuitive interface. One feature I liked a lot was that it zooms in when an action (like turning) is required imminently, whereas when you are in for a long coast, it zooms.out for a broader view. It seems to have a lot more addresses and points of interest as well. Also, it can render the map in a 3D view, but I haven't tried it out yet. The one thing I couldn't figure out on the streets version was how to make it north up instead of track up (for the aviation version it was very easy).The streets software actually is a separate application, and updates for it is available at naviextras dot com. It looks to be be software that is used even by Garmin?Customer service:I was the dumb user when I got this. I turned it on indoors by my office window, and it wasn't picking up any GPS signal. So I called the customer service. They were real nice, and even offered to quickly replace the unit if it was defective. Also, another plus I felt was that the three times I called, the phone was answered by the same person, who I would guess is an engineer, and knows the device inside out - I didn't feel like talking to the customer service was a miserable experience of communicating with extraterrestrials, but rather was a pleasant experience of talking to someone who knew the device very well, and was willing to go above and beyond to support the customer.GPS Signal reception.The signal issue I had above turned out to be a mix of bad weather with severe winds and snowstorm and overcast skies and strong interference from building structures when turning the unit on the very first time. Once I stepped outside it got the signal immediately, and once it got the signal once and downloaded the almanac, it was able to see the satellite while indoors as well - lesson learned, you may want to turn it on outdoors (or someplace with less interference) the very first time you turn it on.Otherwise, the signal reception is amazing compared to my other GPS; it catches the signal rather quickly, and recognizes a lot more satellites than my previous GPS. (All that with the internal antenna; I didn't buy an external antenna, and I don't think you'll ever need an external antenna).Also, the unit has a system level mute option (I like the GPS on mute) which I found rather handy. There's support for multimedia - music/videos/photos etc.Touch screen is very sensitive and accurate. I did not peel off the plastic lining over the screen, and yet have been able to use the touch screen with immense accuracy outdoors (28F) as well as indoors (72F).On the whole, extremely satisfied with the device as well as the customer service. I highly recommend this GPS.

Once I got use to it, It's great......