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Best Logbook Program

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GVFlyer

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 22, 2002
Posts
1,461
I'm finding that I'm not too siera hotel at maintaining a logbook. In the miltary, Flight Records did it for me. At Gulfstream, Dispatch did it for me. Since I left the Big G, no one has volunteered to maintain my flight records for me and I seem to lack the discipline to regularly log my flights. I'm sort of a techie, so I think I'd be better at doing it with a computer program, but I don't want to waste my time with a poorly written application with a DOS'y interface and limited features. What is the best, most fully featured, program with the slickest interface?

Thanks,

GV
 
I just wrote a three paragraph tome about my dislike of logbook pro. Then the forum wouldn't let me post it. It said that I wasn't logged in, however, I was. Who knows!

Let me try again.

OK, I previewed and it worked this time:erm:

I find the logbookpro program to be too "contented", and the interface is cumbersome. I had twenty years of flying to enter and it just grew waaaay toooo old entering the decimal place, if you know what I mean. I spent a long time as a corporate co-Captain and thus-ly had a lot of "this leg is PIC, the next is SIC" entries to make. Logbookpro was not user friendly to me as I tried to make these type of entries. Maybe the program would work well for someone with a simple career progression, IF they start out early.

If you are a techie, you may well like it. I found it to be a waste of a lot of good money.

Anyone want to buy a MGO leather binder, etc?

In the logbookpro's defense, they do offer (or at least used to offer) a free trial version. I is fully contented, but limited to 50 entrys. And Neal did try to help me convert Avlogpro files over, it just didn't work.

enigma

BTW, I have a copy of AvlogPro on an old P1 laptop. I don't find it nearly as cumbersome as I find logbookpro. Unfortunately, That computer has no working removable media drive, it gets hot and dies after an hour or so,and it only works on dial up, so it dies before I can email myself the program.
 
Safelog has a nice format, is super user friendly and looks great on the screen... but the printing options are ridiculous. If this software could print with more flexability then it would be a great program...but there is no flexibility with moving cells around and absolutely no way to squeeze in any remarks. You can't even change the size of the font so as to squeeze in more for the remarks. One size font is all you get. I was absolutely amazed at how limited this software is when it comes to printing it out. The software is so user freindly and seems all well and good until you try to print it out....which is usually after you have spent countless hours inputing all your flight hours. Their help desk response is also a total joke...they say that there are not really any complaints but if you have a problem with the print out try exporting it into Excell so you can print it out the way you want. Yeah right...I tried that too and the export did not even include my remarks...What a joke! No wonder on their free demo they don't allow you to print. Don't be fooled...until this company deals with flexible print options this software is only going to waste your time. I'm writing this not to diss the company, but for two reasons: 1. to save any future pilots the frustration and $$$ and 2. hopefully to get Dauntless' attention that they need to deal with this limitation and fix it. If this software could print with more flexability then it would be a great program. Lets hope they step up.
 
I've been using LogbookPro for about 4 years and still think it is the best overall electronic logbook. There are some cumbersome interface issues, but with a little bit of time you'll understand how they work.

Its ability to be configured to track other "things" also makes it very user-friendly, in my opinion.
 
If you don't want to spend the money on some software, there is a website that you can log your flights on for free. It also gives you reminders about your currecny and medical.. www.logshare.com
 
Is free or cheap always the best option? I looked at LogShare and it has the same problem as SafeLog, you can enter data but that's it! What do you do with it now? How do you prepare for an interview? You can't print it! I hate to spend all these hours inputting data to only do it again!!!
 
I use FlightLevel 8.2, which I like, but haven't used any others to compare it to. I haven't tried printing from it yet, but it's great for those pesky insurance forms because of it multiple filtering options.
 
Even though it is the only one that I have used, I really like Logbook Pro. There is a bit of a steep leaning curve to take advantage of all of its features but, once you get it down, it is wonderful. Backing up, printing, import/exports, reports etc. have all been very easy. Not to mention that Neal is very helpful whenever there are issues. They're very attentive when it comes to customer service.
 
Even though it is the only one that I have used, I really like Logbook Pro. There is a bit of a steep leaning curve to take advantage of all of its features but, once you get it down, it is wonderful. Backing up, printing, import/exports etc. have all been very easy. Not to mention that Neal is very helpful whenever there are issues. They're very attentive when it comes to customer service.
 
Safelog...If this software could print with more flexability then it would be a great program...but there is no flexibility with moving cells around and absolutely no way to squeeze in any remarks. You can't even change the size of the font so as to squeeze in more for the remarks. One size font is all you get. I was absolutely amazed at how limited this software is when it comes to printing it out. The software is so user freindly and seems all well and good until you try to print it out....which is usually after you have spent countless hours inputing all your flight hours. Their help desk response is also a total joke...they say that there are not really any complaints but if you have a problem with the print out try exporting it into Excell so you can print it out the way you want...
If this software could print with more flexability then it would be a great program. Lets hope they step up.

How long has it been since you used Safelog?

They have already addressed some of the problems you just listed. You can now move flights up or down if they are on the same date (they've had that feature for about a year). You can add or remove cells for printing, but you cannot move them to a different place in the logbook.
You can also choose to make the remarks section from 1" to 3" wide in order to fit more words in the print out before they have to move down a line (a suggestion I submitted to them). This still only allows for about 6 words before the row gets too wide, but it's much better than before if you keep your remarks relatively short.

I agree that they need better printing options, including the ability to type more words in the remarks section, but they have improved it greatly this year. A fixed width of 3" and font that varies it's size automatically based on the length of the remark would be a nice feature.

Safelog is much better than Logbook Pro in every way except for their printing options. It's better looking on screen, it's easier to use, and it has more functionality.

One major detractor against Safelog is that they are now enforcing their 3 year license limits; you purchase the software and it is only good for 3 years. After that, you have to pay to extend the license from 1-10 additional years. I don't know if Logbook Pro has this policy too or not. But Safelog you can put on more than one computer without paying extra if you get another computer.
 
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Logbook Pro. For 6 or so years now the support has been nothing short of superb and I've been able to upgrade to every single version for free.

I also see nothing wrong with buying a product that supports this website that you use to assist in your career.
 
Anyone know of any discounts for Logbook Pro and APDL suite? I would like to convert but $159.90 for the suite seems a little bit pricey seeing I've been using a pen and paper for 20 years and it hasn't cost me a dime.
 

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