I'm in the market for a good flightplanning tool, maps/charts included.Platform will be NGX, route areas mostly US and Europe. Pricetag must be reasonable, but I'm not on a strict budget. iPad 2 - compatibility is a merit. (At this point I'm not considering expired Jeppessens Packs. Want something electronic.)Which would you prefer: the Aivlasoft Electronic Flight Bag (http://www.aivlasoft.../efb/index.html), or the FSBuild (http://www.fsbuild.com/)?Or something else alltogether?Thx for your advice!

I personally find Aivlasoft EFB very easy and handy as it provides charts for any airport in the world; however I don't think that it can auto-generate flight plans like FSCommander or FSBuild instead you must have one ready (e.g. from route finder).Please someone correct me if I'm wrong!

I personally find Aivlasoft EFB very easy and handy as it provides charts for any airport in the world; however I don't think that it can auto-generate flight plans like FSCommander or FSBuild instead you must have one ready (e.g. from route finder).Please someone correct me if I'm wrong!

Thx for your input. On the EFB HP they state: "Routes may be created from several sources. Either creating a completely new route or getting the route description from internet based services like 'VATroute' or 'RouteFinder'. Reading a predefined FSX-route is just another way to get a route description. All routes (independent from which source they came) can be saved as FSX route and therefore they are immediately available at the FSX integrated GARMIN GPS system."So I suppose they are available to any FMS. Or...?

Thx for your input. On the EFB HP they state: "Routes may be created from several sources. Either creating a completely new route or getting the route description from internet based services like 'VATroute' or 'RouteFinder'. Reading a predefined FSX-route is just another way to get a route description. All routes (independent from which source they came) can be saved as FSX route and therefore they are immediately available at the FSX integrated GARMIN GPS system."So I suppose they are available to any FMS. Or...?

What I like about EFB is that you can generate a route with RouteFinder directly inside the app. You enter departure and arrival airports and a few parameters and it generates a route for you. Then you click OK and EFB will load that route from RouteFinder. Then you can activate that route and you're pretty much ready to fly (on the EFB side). That route you just got from RouteFinder: you can export it to rt2 format and use it as a company route in PMDG planes. You can also export it to FSX flight plan format and load it using the FSX flight planner. I don't know if it is immediately available from the GARMIN GPS, but I'm pretty sure it is.Hope it helps!

I swear by FSBuild. I've been using it for over 5 years and it still hasn't given me a route error or incorrect fuel loadout.A majority of the user interface is customizable too. You can create custom tabs on the side, and these tabs and have sub-tabs that link to various websites.For example:The program comes with it's own default tabs, Route, FlightPlans, OnlineATC, Aircraft, Options.The tabs you see after that (Web, Pre_Flight, Tools_Docs) are able to be edited, as well as child tabs that appear on the bottom.The Route page shows your current route after you've put it into the blue FLIGHT PLAN box on top and hit BUILD to generate all the waypoints. It displays the route both as a list with distances, headings, airway IDs, altitude, LAT, LONG, wind, etc etc etc and graphically on a map of the world that you can zoom in/out pan around.So a string you could put in the blue box could be KORD PLL PLL275065 FOD J94 BFF J157 MTU J148 DTA RUMPS OAL MOD3 KSFO.After putting in KORD the DEPARTURE box on top automatically fills in. The runway and SID can be selected but not necessary. You can even enter ORD5 in the blue box if you wanted to and FSBuild automatically puts all the waypoints associated with that SID in the flightplan.It's smart enough to know that after PLL you have to fly on a heading of 275 for 65nm, and a waypoint is placed on the map to show you the location. Airways like J94 automatically have all the waypoints within it generated since FSBuild can be updated with Navigraph's monthly AIRAC cycles.Say you don't have a route and you want FSBuild to build one for you. Just put in two airport pairs in the blue box, i.e. KORD KSFO and hit AUTO GENERATE. A route is automatically selected for you based on closest VORs, high altitude airways. But wind isn't factored in for fuel conservation.That's why I always get my routes from FlightAware and copy/paste them into the blue box.FSBuild can also download the daily NAT tracks and display them all on a map to show you at a glance the best way to cross the Atlantic. The blue box also accepts any LAT/LON waypoint, such as 54N50, 5570E etc. It also can hook into VATSIM and show you all the current controllers online with active centers highlighted on the graphical map display.You can also connect FSBuild with Active Sky to get winds aloft for enroute and descent planning. Visa versa you can export flightplans from FSBuild into Active Sky to get winds aloft data at various altitudes for each waypoint in your route.You can even export into the default FSX flightplanner if you want your route displayed on the default Garmin GPS too. You can create a performance profile for any aircraft in the world, provided you have the performance data from a website (Boeing/Airbus) or an addon developer's user manual.Most of the popular addon aircraft like LVLD, PMDG, Wilco already have performance profiles created for them. I expect the NGX will be no different. FSBuild allows you to export any flightplan you create to a number of addon aircraft as well, namely all the ones just mentioned plus more. So what I typically do is, I'll choose a departure and arrival airport. One of my custom tabs is labeled Pre_Flight which includes my virtual airline website, a scratchpad for notes (it's basically the default notepad), FlightAware.com, the NOAA ADDS website (Aviation Weather), Fltplan.com weather for specific locational RADAR loops, and TWC.com if I want sunrise/sunset info.I'll go to FlightAware.com within FSBuild (I never have to open another window when I plan flights...everything is customized so that FSBuild is a one stop for flight planning), get a flightplan for my city pair and just copy/paste it into the blue box. I add in the cruise alt, make sure the aircraft I want to export to is selected, and then click BUILD. The flightplan gets exported across my home network from my laptop to my desktop into my LVLD directory as a .rte route file, where I can then select it on the plane's FMC and activate it without inputting a single waypoint (I like this because it simulates an ACARS system which gives most real world commercial pilots company routes).FSBuild also exports flightplans to SquawkBox and FSINN so it's easy to just load them and send them to the server.After the flightplan generates in FSBuild, I can go to the NAVLOG page and see everything I ever wanted to know about my route: This shows you everything. Fuel for various stages of the flight, total time, total distance, zero fuel weight, cargo weight, destination airport elevation, and every waypoint with all sorts of data attached to each one.There's more to FSBuild, but I'll take up several pages talking about it all!Yeah I went a little overboard, but I'm used to writing technical manuals for various projects so this just comes naturally to me.Hope I shed some light on what FSBuild can actually do. I never fly without it.(and no I don't work for FSBuild...I just enjoy the program!)

Thx all for good input. Very impressive. I've just installed the demo-version of EFB to get a grasp of that. Can't see that FSBuild has anything liket it.There's rather a big price difference between the two, with EFB being the more expensive. I wonder what I get for that extra money if I go EFB?

I've just installed the demo-version of EFB to get a grasp of that. Can't see that FSBuild has anything liket it.There's rather a big price difference between the two, with EFB being the more expensive. I wonder what I get for that extra money if I go EFB?

You're basically paying for charts.Why bother? There are many places online you can get free charts from, i.e. http://chartfinder.vatsim.net./ , http://www.airnav.com/ , http://skyvector.com/ , http://www.flightcentral.net/Default.aspx.For international charts I always visit http://charts.vatsim.net/ which lists almost every country that offers free navigational charts.If you look in the right places you can find recent Jeppesen charts that aren't current but provide good references anyway.EFB might be streamlined and look pretty but it can't export flightplans into SB4, FSINN, addon aircraft, Active Sky, FSX, vasFMC, etc.I hate typing in waypoints and airways by hand.

Comparing FSBuild and EFB is comparing apples and oranges. I use both in concert with each other, because each offers something different. FSBuild is great for flight planning, right down to the impact of winds aloft on fuel burn...and I then load my FSBuild flightplan into EFB for the flight itself. EFB takes over as a moving map, a dedicated set of relevant charts for the flight plan, and much, much more. I do not agree that EFB is just about charts. The latest version (1.3) displays in real time the location, speed, and altitude of AI aircraft and, if you're online with VATSIM or IVAO, the same parameters of other online pilots' aircraft. In other words, it also serves as a kind of TCAS...very cool. EFB also provides lots of other information, such as local transition altitudes (by country), radio frequencies for airports and ATC related to your flight plan, and even parking slots and taxiways at your departure and destination airports...and it can even provide you with a highlighted taxi path, a SmartTaxi capability of a sort. EFB will even tune the relevant radio frequency for you during the flight depending on your stage of the flight. It's not just a collection of charts.halcyon, that's great advice regarding FSBuild...thanks!

I suspect this is about to become the new standard when it's released soon:http://www.pfpx.com

I use both for every flight. EFB has a lot of helpful data built into it. I typically will use FSBuild to give me a route in between the airports and then use EFB to help select the SIDs and STARS. Enroute pickup METARs and get airport info, such as elevation of airport, airport diagram, etc... EFB also help you plan your decent in order to hit the designated altitudes in the STAR. If you are flying in remote areas, finding the approach plates can be a challenge, so EFB being able to generate them is worth it.

I suspect this is about to become the new standard when it's released soon:http://www.pfpx.com

I am keen to check this one out, being a TOPCAT user.

I see one objection in the description of this product if I read it correctly. The item I object to is real-world real-time weather. I prefer not use use system time but a time a set in a saved flight to load into FS because of time zone differences. Many of the European routes I use have departure times of six to eight hours ahead of my normal waking hours at my reidence here in the US. In order to get the correct weather effects due to solar influence I down load using Active Sky the current day archive for my FS time of departure.FS build, as described in another post, can do flight planning from the weather snapshot loaded into Active Sky notably winds aloft and surface METARS to aid in fuel planning and airport facility planning plus aircraft performance entries. Maybe there are some others.I get my airport diagrams from sites like Eurocontrol and Flightaware (FAA) and a few others.

I suspect this is about to become the new standard when it's released soon:http://www.pfpx.com

I do not agree that EFB is just about charts. The latest version (1.3) displays in real time the location, speed, and altitude of AI aircraft and, if you're online with VATSIM or IVAO, the same parameters of other online pilots' aircraft. In other words, it also serves as a kind of TCAS...very cool. EFB also provides lots of other information, such as local transition altitudes (by country), radio frequencies for airports and ATC related to your flight plan, and even parking slots and taxiways at your departure and destination airports..........It's not just a collection of charts.

Maybe it's not just charts, but several payware planes offer TCAS, and FSINN has it's own radar display which provides more info then just TCAS. FSBuild also gives you transition levels for international areas. As said before, for charts there are plenty of online resources. For everything else that EFB provides, so does FSBuild. I can't see spending more money on EFB for things I can find free and readily available online.

I suspect this is about to become the new standard when it's released soon:http://www.pfpx.com

I didn't see any export flightplan option in the features list.If it doesn't have that, no go for me.

Very interesting discussion. But isn't there ONE tool that covers the functions of both FSBuild and EFB? I'm lazy so I'm not much for googleing around for maps etc. Would like to have all info I need in one place, readily available.

I didn't see any export flightplan option in the features list.If it doesn't have that, no go for me.

There's an export route mention near the bottom of the list.