[Steevo25]

Hi All,

I have been hovering in this forum for a while but now I have passed my PPL I am beginning to get together the bits I need.

For a while I have been pondering over which GPS system to buy. Browsing articles and looking at opinions, I decided to go for one of the Airbox models. The one that caught my eye was the Airbox Clarity. Off I went and ordered it a few weeks ago and was then asked by the store if I wanted to hold on for a couple of weeks as the Clarity 3 was coming out. I agreed to wait and also ordered the 1:250,000 chart upgrade for it as well.

My GPS unit arrived the day before yesterday and so far I have been really disappointed with it almost to the point of belieivng it is faulty. Before I send it back, perhaps people could tell me if their experiences are similar to mine on the gripes I have.

First things first, a few minutes after I turned it on and it was aquiring the satellite signals, I got a popup box saying something like 'OLE Exception Error' that just gave me an 'Ok' or 'Cancel' button. Upon touching 'Ok', it went back to a screen that had a navigation ICON along with other ICONs such as 'Tools' etc (which contained a calculator etc).

Anyway, I turned it off and then installed the FastPlan software on my PC and updated the SD card whilst leaving it to charge for a few hours.

I put the updated SD card back in the unit and turned it on. This time it powered on ok and aquired the Sattelite signals (not had a crash since). But when in use (just using demo mode at present), the battery gets very hot on the back (I assume it's the battery) and from a full charge doing nothing more than planning a few routes and flying them in demo mode to get used to the unit, I only got about 30 minutes out the battery before it flashed up red.

Plus I find the unit extremely sluggish. When panning the map or selecting options it seems to take forever. Going into preferences and changing something and then selecting to go back to navigation there can be a pause of quite a few seconds. Is this normal?

Even when using it, I was a bit disappointed in the unit just in general. Planning a route and flying it, there doesn't appear to be any ETA times whilst flying and adding Waypoints was a complete nightmare. You have to do them in a very specific order otherwise your route goes all over the place. The touch screen is really non responsive and you have to press really hard to get any response. I cannot see how the window suction mount would cope with it in the aircraft as the pressure you have to put on the screen is quite a lot. Also, my one never came with any type of USB cable for connecting the unit to a PC, just an SD card reader. Surely it would make more sense just to connect the complete unit without having to remove an SD card everytime.

So far, just a really bad experience with the device from the moment of opening the box.

This is my first aviation GPS so it could just be that my expectations are high so I just wondered what other people have experienced with the Clarity. Certainly on my initial experiences, I could never recommend it especially when I compare it to something like SkyDemon on my iPad.

[Liam548]

HI.
I have had the clarity 1 since launch, so over 2 years now. Not sure on what the clarity 3 is like, the clarity 2 has not been out that long.

I agree with the slowness of the operating system, especially when going back to the map from the internal menus however mine got a lot better when it recently updated. I am however surprised you are getting this on the clarity 3, afterall how is it better than my clarity 1 which has all the same features?

I got a cable with mine however I now only update via the sd as they suggest as it is a lot quicker to be honest.

I have never had any issues with it in flight and have been all over the country with it, I have even purchased a french chart for it for a forthcoming trip.

My holder never fails in flight.

If I was you I would ask for a replacement regarding the battery issues and then get it fully updated via fastplan.

The older firmware was a nightmare to plan flights on the unit itself, now it is easier but not a patch on planning them on fastplan and transferring them to the unit.

Tom from airbox is on these forums I am sure he will assist further.

Liam

[Liam548]

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=60458&start=660



on the above thread is lots of useful info on all things airbox and fastplan

[Steevo25]

Thank you very much for your reply. I did find some other threads after posting this that confirmed that the sluggish tendency is normal.

I am not sure at all what the differences are between the Clarity 2 and the Clarity 3, I just held out as the supplier advised me too.

I also see that the manual for the device is also incorrect. The index at least refers to items that have page numbers beyond the end of the document and the items they refer to don't exist anywhere in the document.

I guess I may be unlucky with it but the important thing is to have confidence in the device you are using and as it stands with the battery hot issue and the initial crash, I certainly would not risk using this for real at the moment.

I wasn't aware until after receiving it that SkyDemon had a full blown hardware device with their software on it else I would have probably gone for that. I have only used the trial version of SkyDemon but cetrainly with first impressions of both, SkyDemon just seems far far superior in just about every area.

I know I need to give the Clarity a chance as I paid a lot of money for it (nearly £600 with the additional charts) but my first feelings now I have it in my hands is that of pure disappointment.

[Shoestring Flyer]

Buy Garmin, buy Garmin!!......

I have found that if I buy anything other than Garmin I am always dissapointed with it and end up sending it back for a refund after a few days. Converted chinese satnavs just don't compete in my view with proper aviation stuff.

[stevelup]

Garmin is great if you want to pay an absolute arm and a leg for the hardware, then your other arm or leg each year to keep it up-to date. You will soon run out of limbs...

[peterlondon]

I tried the previous Airbox Clarity at the Transair shop last year and was very disappointed.

It seemed very sluggish and not as intuitive as I would have expected in today's world. I concluded in that the Airbox was quite good at warning of airspace infringements but far from ideal for planning.

I am now happily using sky demon on an iPad for planning and as a second gps in flight with a garmin acting as the main gps, which although not great for entering routes does a very good job of providing enroute guidance.

As a further back up I have Runway HD from Airbox running CAA charts on my iphone velcroed to a small kneeboard. Runway HD has the benefit of Pooleys airfield plates and circuit diagrams.

[Liam548]

I think it is unfair to slate the clarity too much, I am happy with mine. As I said send that one back as the battery does not sound right then get it fully up to date along with fastplan and give it a proper whirl. The caa charts are useful with the airspace warnings along with pooleys plates.

[Steevo25]

I have no intention of slating Airbox in anyway. I am just saying it as a new user and initial experiences.

When I was looking for which GPS system to buy, Airbox came up time and time again. They are obviously a popular range so must be doing something right. Also from my research, it seems they have excellent customer service and do listen to their customer's suggestions. If thats the case then hopefully my experiences will help them in their next version of the product.

This device is not far from being excellent. It just lacks a few finishing touches that really do affect the usability of it. With my battery problem aside (as thats obviously a manufacturing fault out of quite a few they sell), there are a few tweaks they could make that would make this product ideal for me. Maybe I am a bit fussy, but when I am paying £600 for something I do expect it to do what it is supposed to do and not frustrate me along the way.

From the use I have had of it, my observations are as follows:

The device needs to be more responsive. In it's current form it is really annoying to hit the zoon button and nothing happens so you hit it again and then again. Then all of a sudden it zooms in/out by 3 times in one go. You then have to spend ages again getting it back to how you wanted it. If they cannot make it more responsive (lack of processing power etc) then at least put some sort of indication that it is doing something and acknowledge that you actually did press the button correctly. This can be as simple as an hour-glass indicator or something. Although, I don't see why it cannot be made more responsive. Automotive GPS is based on the same hardware and does much the same thing and they do not respond like this.

Secondly, get rid of that awfull touch screen and put one on that is a bit more touch sensitive. I realise you need some resistance, but this screen is just finger aching after using it a while. To be fair here, actually using it in the plane you would not do nearly as many button presses as I have learning it but still, it does not need to be that resistive.

I didn't even think to check that this didn't have time ETA for various waypoints, I just thought that was a given. Whenever I talk to ATC, I always give my ETA to a waypoint. Although I would always take manual plans with me just in case, it would be nice if I could just look in one place for all the information I needed rather than have to look at paper just to find my ETAs when I have a £600 device right in front of me.

The other thing I found really frustrating was the scroll bars. They seem to be combined with the options they are scrolling so you invariably select one of the options when trying to scroll. Then you have to wait ages to backout of it to try again.

Other than that, I find the device does everything I need it to do in the way of features, but the items above really do make it frustrating to use. Fast Plan is excellent and I have no complaints about that.

Also, the manual says that NOTAMs are a subscription service. Why should it be a subscription service when the information is absolutely free from the internet.

[Liam548]

The NOTAMs are free and included via fastplan. In fact recently they have included all of Europe Notams, see my other post in the other thread.

I do agree regarding the menu and waiting times however mine did get a lot better following the firmware upgrade after I had to send it in to them for not displaying any notams they wiped it and updated it FOC.

I am surprised that you have the sluggishness as I would have thought the only reason to bring out a new version would be better hardware that was faster, all this does is make me glad I have stuck with my clarity 1.

Anyway be sure to phone airbox and ensure you are running the latest firmware both on fastplan and clarity 3 as your unit should indeed be displaying NOTAMs.

I will check on mine regarding ETA to waypoints.

Liam

[oxonflyer]

Hi Guys, I'm William - Tom has asked me to post a quick reply as he's on his way to Farnborough right now.

NOTAMs are now a free service for life - this has been implemented in the last week or so.

ETA can be found by tapping on the distance box. The system cycles through: Total distance, distance to next waypoint, total time, time to next waypoint, ETA. It's a good point about ETA to next waypoint as opposed to ETE and that's something we will consider.

I understand the point which Steevo raises about the touchscreen - it's a difficult compromise to make. We actually had two RAF pilots in the office yesterday saying they thought the sensitivity should be reduced. Quite a lot of pilots fly with the system on their knee and they don't want it to react to accidental brushes, but at the same time it obviously has to be sensitive enough to be easy to use. If you are having difficulty with it, then do contact us, because it's something we can probably adjust.

Your point about the scroll bars I think comes down to the same screen sensitivity question, although we are planning to make some changes to the scroll bars to make them easier to pick up.

Obviously it goes without saying that you can always contact the office and we can probably help out with any questions you might have. Today's probably not the best day to do it because of the imminent Olympic switchover, but next week why not give us a call?

[Steevo25]

Wow, what a response from the manufacturer. It is worth having the unit just on that level of customer service alone.

I take your point about the screen and you having said that I can see the benefit of having the screen not too sensitive. As I said, I am noticing it more due to the fact that I am learning how to use the unit so using the screen a lot. In real operation there would probably only be a few screen presses during a complete flight.

Thankyou for letting me know where to find the ETA, it just wasn't that obvious (to me anyway). The manual does seem a little bit out-of-date or it was dervived from a different unit as the index mentions page numbers that go beyond the length of the manual and some of the items mentioned in the index do not exist.

I did get NOTAMs and the only reason I mentioned it above was that the manual states that NOTAMs are a subscription service.

My point about the scrollbars, is a minor one as once the options are set, there is little need to change them.

Would it be best to contact yourselves to get the battery problem looked at/verified or return it to Transair where I purchased it from.

Is it normal for the unit to be a little sluggish or could this be related to the battery problem?

So it seems the only problem I have with the unit is the battery. I left it on charge yesterday for approx. 12 hours and then turned it on and left it on the windowsill. It aquired a signal after a few minutes but after about 25 minutes the red battery warning flashed up and the back was fairly hot (a great hand warmer in the winter).

[Alan_D]

I have a Clarity 1, which I've had for over 2 years now. I've not used the later models.
I agree that planning on the unit itself is a pain, and getting waypoints in the right order can be annoying. Planning via FastPlan is fine however. The unit can be slow, agreed for the money it should be far quicker.
It's very obvious that the hardware is just a cheap Chinese GPS being sold for a premium price because of the software. I've also had the errors from the underlying Windows CE operating system, but typically after synchronising and never in flight.
Battery life isn't great, however I always plug in to the aircraft so hasn't yet been an issue.

More recently I've bought an iPad and have trialled SkyDemon in flight (which was very good) and have the Runway HD trial on it - however I expect the 30 day period to run out before I get to fly with to due to weather cancellations.
I particulally like the 'proper' CAA chart on the Clarity, and hope it's OK on Runway HD, rather than vector charts in SkyDemon. William - if you're reading this is it possible to reset my trial period when needed?

If I was buying again I think there would be no question - for the cost of the Clarity you can buy an iPad AND software - which gives a much bigger screen, better battery life, great interface and useful for lots of other things also. If the rumours of the iPad Mini are true then that may be better still, as an iPad in a small cockpit can be a bit too much sometimes.

[Liam548]

Your battery is completely knackered if it is only lasting 25 mins and getting hot. My clarity 1 gets me 3 hours without the powermonkey and about 4.5 with the powermonkey and does not get hot. Get it swopped over mate.

The original firmware on the clarity units I would go as far as saying it was almost impossible to plan a flight on the unit as the way points never went into the correct order.

However the newer firmware is easier and at least you can move the waypoints up and down the list to get them in the right order now. Still easier on fastplan though.

[alanthomas]

I am a past fan of Airbox and currently own three of them.
I have two aircraft and own an early Clarity unit and also an early Foresight unit and now also own a clarity 3 unit.
Having all three units side by side displaying exactly the same picture and at the same magnification, the Clarity 3 unit is vastly inferior to the other two.
Where the names of the towns are sharp and clear on the others, the clarity 3 is unreadable.
In addition to my disappointment with this unit, I am also very disappointed with the response that I have received from Airbox