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If you didn't know, I wanted to let everyone know about the Kickstarter campaign for FliteBox. Steve, the founder of the company lives in the KC area and I met him last weekend and looked over his latest test article.
It is an ADS-B box that works with ANY tablet your flight software App runs, i.e. WingX, ForeFlight, etc. Most importantly it is 1/3-1/2 the price of a Stratus or comparable set up.
He is on to something as the unit is built around the RasberryPi and WAAS GPS chip and appears to be a solid build with active cooling. The first units won’t have AHRS chipset; the AHRS functionality is developed and will be available as an upgrade to the first units. Other upgrades are planned over time with possible features like a CO monitor, pressure altitude, etc.… AHRS unit will have a higher price.
It is pretty cool and a rare thing that advances the state of the art for less money. I’m not affiliated with the company but as a fellow entrepreneur offered to help if I can. Maybe I can fly it soon, if so I’ll report back. I was going to get a Stratus but now am reconsidering pending the AHRS availability timeline.
If you are not familiar with Kickstarter. You propose a project and then people can buy in as an investment or advance order product. If you don’t get your target funding goal you don’t get the funds. He is way past his goal and is following the model of taking advance orders on hardware that he is planning on starting to build in March.
All the early discounted quantities are purchased. If you want one you click the Fund button and it will take you to his site and you make a web purchase.
Mark
It is an ADS-B box that works with ANY tablet your flight software App runs, i.e. WingX, ForeFlight, etc. Most importantly it is 1/3-1/2 the price of a Stratus or comparable set up.
He is on to something as the unit is built around the RasberryPi and WAAS GPS chip and appears to be a solid build with active cooling. The first units won’t have AHRS chipset; the AHRS functionality is developed and will be available as an upgrade to the first units. Other upgrades are planned over time with possible features like a CO monitor, pressure altitude, etc.… AHRS unit will have a higher price.
It is pretty cool and a rare thing that advances the state of the art for less money. I’m not affiliated with the company but as a fellow entrepreneur offered to help if I can. Maybe I can fly it soon, if so I’ll report back. I was going to get a Stratus but now am reconsidering pending the AHRS availability timeline.
If you are not familiar with Kickstarter. You propose a project and then people can buy in as an investment or advance order product. If you don’t get your target funding goal you don’t get the funds. He is way past his goal and is following the model of taking advance orders on hardware that he is planning on starting to build in March.
All the early discounted quantities are purchased. If you want one you click the Fund button and it will take you to his site and you make a web purchase.
Mark
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