720

[turnnpoint]

I purchased a plane recently that came with an iFly 720 on the panel. I have an iFly GPS subscription and have the app on my Android phone, Android tablet, and laptop. I also have a Stratux.

I've looked the 720 Manual from the website over several times - it seems sort of sparse.

When I pull up updates it says my subscription is expired. I'm guessing the device is still registered to the previous owner. Can I get it changed and covered under my subscription?

Are there software updates for this device?

Can it be connected to my Stratux and show traffic?

Is it worth the effort or should I remove it and mount my Android tablet in place of it?

TIA for any help!

 

[MDreger]

I don't work for AP/iFly, but I would think you should be able to contact the office and have them transfer the registration to you.

Depending on when it was last updated, there should be one from about a year ago. They are not planning any more software updates for the 7XX units, as they don't have the processor ability to run the new features. If you use iFly Connect ( http://www.iflyefb.com/iFlyConnect ) any pertinent software updates should be there, once you have it registered to you.

I never had a 720, but I'm pretty sure that it's essentially the same as my 740 except the 740 has an internal battery, and the 740 will connect to Stratux, and a host of other ADSB devices, so it's likely the 720 will as well.

Can't answer if it's worth it, only you can. Do you want a dedicated device to run iFly? Do you like the idea of it being (I presume) hard wired into the aircraft? Do you like having a backup on a different OS in case one of them has a glitch?

Be aware that the 7XX devices are running iFly GPS, the new version is, or will be iFly EFB. EFB has several improvements, and will continue to improve. iFly GPS is no longer being updated, although you still will be able to update the map files, transfer/share information between the iFly EFB and iFLY GPS, etc.

 

[Cobra]

MDreger already gave you a pretty good answer, but let me reiterate / reinforce it.

When I pull up updates it says my subscription is expired. I'm guessing the device is still registered to the previous owner. Can I get it changed and covered under my subscription?

Like MDreger suggested, if you call the Adventure Pilot Support line, they can transfer over the subscription.

Are there software updates for this device?

As MDreger mentioned, the software itself is no longer being updated. However, AP has no plan to stop providing data updates anytime soon. (The infrastructure to do that is already in place so there's no real benefit for them to stop doing that.)

Can it be connected to my Stratux and show traffic?

Yes. From the device's boot screen (before launching iFly), go into Settings and connect the device to the Stratux wifi network. Then, launch iFly and tap Menu > About > Connected Devices > Select Wireless Device, and select "Stratux / FlightBox".

Is it worth the effort or should I remove it and mount my Android tablet in place of it?

As MDreger said, that's for you to decide.

Some of the pros: If you fly an experimental plane with an autopilot, the iFly 7xx devices can be wired up to drive the autopilot. The 7xx screens are brighter than most tablets so can be easier to view in bright sun conditions. The 7xx devices are generally more tolerant of high temperatures and will continue to operate just fine at temps that will crump some tablets.

Some of the cons: The 7xx devices are essentially useful only for running iFly. The screen resolution is much lower than most modern tablets. The hardware and OS for the 7xx devices 10+ years old and no longer supported by their vendors, and AP is no longer developing new versions of iFly to run on the 7xx platforms. The 7xx devices require an external power source (depending on model, they have either no internal battery or only a very small one that will keep the device alive as you switch between different external power sources (swap between external battery and ship's power, for example)).

 

[turnnpoint]

Thanks for all the info! I was able to get the device registered to me. Having a few issues getting it updated but hopefully I'll get that sorted out soon.

 

[Cobra]

Thanks for all the info! I was able to get the device registered to me. Having a few issues getting it updated but hopefully I'll get that sorted out soon.

I'm not sure if you're trying to use the built-in wifi to do the update, or if you're using iFly Connect, but I recommend the iFly Connect method.

The 7xx devices are notoriously finicky when moving between different wifi networks. It's best to configure the device's wifi to connect to only one network--usually, the one for the ADSB receiver in the plane--and then never change it.

To update the device, install iFly Connect on a Windows-based machine. You can download iFly Connect here: https://www.iflyefb.com/updateApp/publish.htm

Then, pop out the SD card from the 7xx device and use an SD card reader (like this one) to connect it to the Windows machine. Launch iFly Connect and follow the prompts to select the data you want to update and then give it time to do its thing. When complete, pop the SD card back into the 7xx and you're ready to fire it up and go.

 

[turnnpoint]

Hey thanks again!! The device/card haven't been updated in many years and the previous owner downloaded pretty much everything. The app software itself updated over wifi at the hangar. The 8 GB card only has 264 MB free at this point. The download for updating the data with iFly Connect on my laptop (at home) seems to start and work - I'm only trying to refresh a couple of states. But it always fails and says it couldn't complete and there may be issues with the card. I tried using a blank larger card and the software says it can't find the card. Seems it won't do a complete fresh reload on a blank card (for security purposes I guess)? Suggestions?

 

[turnnpoint]

Hey thanks again!! The device/card haven't been updated in many years and the previous owner downloaded pretty much everything. The app software itself updated over wifi at the hangar. The 8 GB card only has 264 MB free at this point. The download for updating the data with iFly Connect on my laptop (at home) seems to start and work - I'm only trying to refresh a couple of states. But it always fails and says it couldn't complete and there may be issues with the card. I tried using a blank larger card and the software says it can't find the card. Seems it won't do a complete fresh reload on a blank card (for security purposes I guess)? Suggestions?

maybe I can copy the smaller card to a larger one and try updating?

 

[Cobra]

I tried using a blank larger card and the software says it can't find the card. Seems it won't do a complete fresh reload on a blank card (for security purposes I guess)? Suggestions?

maybe I can copy the smaller card to a larger one and try updating?

Yes. iFly Connect looks at the storage available on the Windows system, trying to find something that looks like an iFly SD card to update. It won't offer to populate a blank card from scratch, but if you copy the old card to a new one, then try to update the new one, it should work.

That said, the original iFly SD card should be big enough to hold all the data it's possible to download, so it shouldn't be a size problem. SD cards do sometimes go bad, though.

 

[turnnpoint]

Thanks again for the help. I got it resolved. When I first tried copying files off the card, I got a error indicating there's a problem with the card. Ran the Windows scan and file repair and it found a problem and fixed it. Ran it again to verify. Copied the files off and back to another card and was able to update it. Thanks again for the help! Tomorrow I'll see if I can get it to work with my Statux.