Options Pilots - please respond...

[flying_gringo]

Our company is looking at switching from our paper based jepps to an electronic solution - and I've been tasked with addressing the issue...

I know several of you kind folks use EFB's and I'm looking for some good recommendations. I know Options has been using the Fujitsu units and I would love to hear feedback - good bad and indifferent. How are they holding up - when are they breaking - why are they breaking - what are the usual problems with them? Have you heard of any other units that should be looked at? what advice can you give...

Tell me anything you can - as its a fair chunk of change that I'll be on the line for if we purchase these. I appreciate the help - and in exchange - take a look at my post in the corporate section if your looking for a job - as there are a few leads there.

thanks -

fg

 

[learflyer]

Of course the biggest and usual complaint is trying to see them in the day time, but here are some goods and bads of Fujitsu's:

The Bad
1. can't see in daytime all that well.
2. take up alot of room on your lap.(when required)
3. sometimes they "freeze" like a normal computer. (that is why we use two!)


the good:

1. Easy to update(takes less than a minute)
2. makes the cockpit neater without all of the jepps. (more room for crew meals!)
3.easy to see at night !

 

[WileE]

Can't say I use them

But last month's issue of Flying Magazine had a cover article on Option's paperless cockpit. Just in case you missed that one.

 

[ehclark]

EFB's

I have found that the fujitsu units are to bright at night and hard to see in the day also, however they are a lot easier to use in the cockpit than jepp's. the updates are cheaper to, after the initial investment. also Feb '03 AIN has a comparison of EFB's

 

[Dash8]

wasn't that also in Blazing Saddles? Just before:

"oh booys, lookie what I got here"
"Hey, where da white women at?"


I saw the efb's in bingo when i stopped to talk to someone down there, they're pretty cool.

I guess all you Options pilots and others lucky enough to have EFBs can say

"Papers? ... We don't need no stinkin' papers..."

-- Treasure of Sierra Madre -- OK it was badges not papers.

Just don't rub it in and say it to me when you see me on the road. I'll be the guy sweating my cajones off, doing a big stack of Jepps in the Ultra in the summer with no APU....

 

[flyboycpa]

.

 

[ukipilot]

I can say that they are ok, but one thing that I hate about them since I started using them at FO is, that they lock up quite often, especially since they sit in a hot cockpit all day, then when you are trying to open the approach it is locked up and you have to borrow the other guys EFB, or it is a pain in the a$$ when you are looking at an airport diagram or arrival and you have to enlarge it because the whole thing does not show up on the screen, in a readable size, then you have to go up,down,left,right, to get all of the info, when on the paper version, it was all on one page, overall, it is o.k.

 

[hawkercpt]

two years..

using them, 5-7 lockups. Usually at the ,ost inoportune moment, the arrival, on the approach, or airport diagram. Just do like I do, swear, launch the frozen one to the lav, and ask the FO what's next!

Overall, the updates are a breeze, 6 minutes and your done. Get the protective screen or you'll be wishing you did after you accidently use your pen as a stylus pencil.


One to Ten, I give them a 6, I still prefere actually having them in a paper format. Just stuborn I guess.

 

[eightdriver]

Our compay is interested in some of these for our Premier Jet. The cockpit has no storage area at all for Jepps or Nos Charts. How much does one of these units cost? I'm guessing that they are pretty pricey. Thanks

 

[flyboycpa]

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