If you are including external hardware, then I agree that ADL120 is superb.
But it doesn’t cost 59p in the AppStore!
The ADLConnet app is actually even free on the app store 
If you have a login for Deutscher Wetterdienst you can use it while connected to the internet free of charge. But as Timothy writes the in flight updates unfortunately require the ADL120 hardware and the Iridium subscription.
Unfortunately not (yet?) available in Europe, but ForeFlight is superb.
Unfortunately not (yet?) available in Europe, but ForeFlight is superb.
This summer I was flying in the US and I did also use ForeFlight. While it is an interesting app the magic behind it is the fact that the map data used is basically available from the FAA free of charge. ForeFlight only makes it accessible on the iPad. In Europe the situation is a lot different. There is for example no free source of European VFR chart data, so a product like ForeFlight is hardly possible at a similar price tag.
Besides I prefer a vector based VFR solution. ForeFlight is ok but the sectionals are rather hard to read in flight. The crucial information (where am I not allowed to fly VFR without a clearance) is overlaid with all kind of other stuff.
ForeFlight is ok but the sectionals are rather hard to read in flight
I’d say that depends if you are used to them or not. If you are, that is exactly the depiction you want. Another advantage is that you can seamlessly transition between paper and screen. That said, the ideal solution would of course be vector-based sectionals.
I think the reason why the European VFR planning market has gone to vector based maps right away is because the raster maps (national VFR charts and the recently discontinued Jepp “VFR/.GPS” charts) have not been available to commercial planning software providers, except at silly prices. For example, it has been reported that one European vendor was quoted about €300 for the Jepp VFR chart license, and that would be for every program sold, so even if you didn’t put any markup on that, it makes the end product very expensive.
So vendors like SD generated their own databases from the AIPs and other data. That also avoids the risk of getting sued for copyright breach by some map vendor who can prove you ripped off his raster chart because yours contains some unusual error which he put in…
I have flown with raster charts as a GPS moving map since my earliest long trips in 2003/2004. They were scanned in those days – the bureau ripped me off because they could see the stuff was copyright – and later I got my hands on the various very high quality electronically converted versions which have been floating around as the map formats were cracked by various clever people.
But one needs a decent size screen to see enough of the map info – I would say an Ipad mini is about the minimum. On a phone one cannot see enough of the map to read e.g. the immediately relevant airspace labels.
the ideal solution would of course be vector-based sectionals.
Yet, has anybody done these for the US market? If not, there must be a reason for it e.g. lack of demand.
Yet, has anybody done these for the US market? If not, there must be a reason for it e.g. lack of demand.
I think the Garmin Pilot App is vector based (not sure, though). They also claim it covers Europe, based on Jepp data. Have never tried it, so cannot comment. Might be worth doing a trial subscription.
ForeFlight has possibly become the de-facto standard in the US exactly because they have the rastered sectionals. After all, any US pilot has learned to fly with these things and is used to them. While this may not apply to visiting Europeans, if you learned to fly here, a quick glance at a sectional or TAC will tell you all you need to know.
On “i” things
Garmin Pilot
Jeppesen Flite Deck
WnB Pro
Aeroweather
DeLorme explore (hardware required)
Jeppesen Mobile Flite Deck VFR
Logbook.Aero
SkyDemon
SkyDemon
Aeroweather
MultiConvert
Wind Components
TakeOffCalc
WeatherPro HD
MetOffice for live rainfall radar.
BBC Weather
On the web:
AROweb [Swedish AIS site with NOTAM, MET and flight plan filing]
Flygmet.dk [Danish/Swedish Met Office Weather Site]
EAD
Autorouter/GRAMET
On the tablet/PC:
Skydemon
Jeppesen Mobile TC
JeppView
The ADLConnect app is actually even free on the app store If you have a login for Deutscher Wetterdienst you can use it while connected to the internet free of charge.
OK, let me be clearer. Using the ADL120 App, standalone, on the Internet, even for free, would not be among my top three. While you have a full speed internet connection there are much better ways of getting everything the ADL120 offers.
However, it is the ability to get that information in flight, at relatively low satellite costs, which makes the ADL120 an absolute winner. To have rain radar, strike information, wind at all altitudes, TAFs and METARs and the ability to SMS text in flight is fantastic, and worth every penny.
