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Thread: Flight Log Mobile Apps: What are you using? Reply to Thread

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[QUOTE=Max;1905753]Nowdays, most people  have a smart phone. What a better way than to use your phone as a log book. 
These logs can be entered at the field after every flight, and some can let you log your batteries. What better way to keep tabs of the number of flights on a particular model, flight times, and your total flying time?

I have looked at a few mobile apps and cant decide which is better. Some you have to buy, and I don't want to buy before I know what it can and cannot do.

Lets put to together a list of apps that you guys are using and what you like/don't like about it

One cool feature on an app I was playing with was a log that allowed you to list all your batteries, and would print a unique QR code for each battery. You then stuck/taped the unique QR code to each battery. Then when you flew, you selected the plane, scanned the QR code for the battery, and it would log the flight and tally that battery's usage log. It also had a feature to show "charged" or "empty" for the batteries. When you charged them all, you flagged them as charged, and they appeared charged. When you logged a flight, the battery status was changed to empty. Cool.

The problem I have is I didn't like the backup data. I have been through several phones, each on a different platform; Windows 7, Iphone, and now Android.  I would really like a log that allows you to export (or get at) the data so that it can be backed up or transferred to another device. Multi-platform capability is not likely, but if you can access the data in tabular format, then at least you can export it to excel or other spreadsheet that you can keep as backup. Then maybe in the future when you get a new phone on another platform, you can take the tabular data and find a way to export it to the data table of whatever log you put on the new phone. At least that is my line of thinking. The one I looked at exports in XML. My XML editor doesn't show the data in tabular format, so editing it or converting is is not possible for me (for now).

[B]So; What are you guys using, what do you like about it, and how do you back it up?[/B]

Screenshots would be nice ;)[/QUOTE]

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09-23-2014 07:53 PM

Mike Anderson

Re: Flight Log Mobile Apps: What are you using?

I've been using this for a few years now: http://clevertangerine.com/RCLogbook/
It does everything you asked for in the OP WRT data exports, backups, file sharing and syncing across devices etc.

It's not perfect but I've tried a few others and always come back to this one.

09-23-2014 06:57 PM

4*60

Re: Flight Log Mobile Apps: What are you using?

I tell my wife whatI did at the field and she records it in a spreadsheet. Quite convenient and when you log 300+ flights on an arf you bought for $10 it is an eye opener as far as where value is!

09-23-2014 05:05 PM

Sandy

Re: Flight Log Mobile Apps: What are you using?

LOL, out of my league

09-23-2014 03:38 PM

bcsaltchucker

Re: Flight Log Mobile Apps: What are you using?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jsp

Or just get a Jeti radio that does all of that automatically with out even thinking of it.

I can go into the logs right on the radio and see the dates I flew. Click on the date. Then it shows what models were flown that day and for how long. How many flights And the telemetry for each flight.

Also keeps a running tally. For each plane. Really can't get much better that that. I was playing with it over the weekend and saw that I hit a top speed of 336.5kph on sept 7th at. 4:41 pm on my viper jet lol.

I guess it's just time for a real radio for the non Jeti users. Haha.

oh you can get better than that, yes you can, hehe

if you had gone for the Taranis with Zaggometry module you'd be in this century with not only details like time and speed, but also altitude with a vario, and also with a GPS track of your flight path with altitude, plotted on Google maps. http://www.fpvblog.com/tag/flight-log. The Taranis also keeps a real time log of all your stick and switch positions for the flight, even the individual cell voltages, you name it. All of this stored on the oem micro SD card https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjLut33pKGY

Jeti very nice radio, yes indeed. I had one for a year too. Then I found I was using the Taranis for everything and a lot of things the Jeti could not do, so I sold the Jeti.

09-22-2014 08:43 AM

Jsp

Re: Flight Log Mobile Apps: What are you using?

09-22-2014 07:12 AM

bbbair

Re: Flight Log Mobile Apps: What are you using?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Sebastien

Does anybody log there flights?

I do.

I like to tract the amount of use I get out of each plane as well as the trim settings and any changes that I make, like the engine, fuel, tuning, props and so on.

Also, if I have to do any repairs – they get noted – at the end of the year it makes for some interesting reading.

Although I have never used it as a sales tool, it could be a good sales feature to show the amount of use and repairs to a potential buyer.

All this being said and done I have been known to have problems on different planes that were a mystery and suddenly they form a bigger picture when you realize that several planes have the same concern and you can now track down the REAL problem.

But that is just me.

09-19-2014 01:48 PM

Sandy

Re: Flight Log Mobile Apps: What are you using?

I log my flights (or one flight this year) but do it the old fashioned way, pen and paper in a small book. Have done since i started flying years ago...sometimes I do forget to make the entries.. "beat myself over the head emoticon"

Sigh!!! I have a BlackBerry, super business PHONE, not much for apps....although...it does have a spread sheet pgm. so i might give that a try.... thanks for the idea Max!!!

09-19-2014 11:33 AM

Max

Re: Flight Log Mobile Apps: What are you using?

I decided to start using a log after I realised that I have made what I think is Hundreds of flights on my Align 550 heli. After so many flights, I was wondering about servcing it. But I had no idea EXACTLY how many flights, other than "a lot" ...LOL

So far, the android log app I have been playing with is called "RC log". on Android PlayStore. Its called "RC-Log Lipo & Flightlog" from Stefan Scherrer. Its free.

Like I said in post 1, it keeps the data in XML format, which you can back-up and restore. Possibly to your next phone if you stick with android.

So far I've been playing with it for a week and already I am starting to like it more and more. Once you set up your planes, heli and batteery profiles, logging takes seconds.

I have found its very easy to log immediately after I fly.
After returning to the bench,
I pull out my phone;
Select the model
Select "flight"
Select the battery you used.
Done!

The whole thing takes seconds, though you might take an extra second to set the time you flew. But it remembers your last entry, so if you fly on a timer, like I do with my heli's, the flight times never vary, so there is no need to keep setting the flight time.

So far its been easy.
I have been encouraging my students to use one, and several have started this week. All Iphone users...LOL

One of my friends has been using one on his Iphone since he started in the hobby 2 years ago and he logs every flight. He can produce some pretty good statistics, which is very helpful for determine the status of his model, and the number of cycles on any given battery. Watching him log his flights and the ease he did it is what got me thinking about doing the same.

I found some screen shots (not mine) to show the main screens

There are other screens and other features I am just starting to play with. But so far I am liking it, despite my initial concerns about potential future limitations. I justify it by reminding myself I am testing it to see if its worth it. So far, it is

09-18-2014 03:01 PM

Mike Sebastien

Re: Flight Log Mobile Apps: What are you using?

I can certainly see the value in logging your flights.

09-18-2014 02:38 PM

bcsaltchucker

Re: Flight Log Mobile Apps: What are you using?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Sebastien

Does anybody log there flights?

apparently two people do, LOL

more power to them. But RC flying is more fun for me because it comes without the hassles of flying fullsize planes where tedious logs, plans and radio protocols take up all the time.

Closest I get to a 'log' is keeping video recordings of maybe half of my flights. Something that can be used against me in a court of law, hehe. I bet when I am like 85 years old, the videos might be fun to re-view. The videos contain a host of instrument data.

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