Jep p or NACO Charts?

Judah wrote:

So what do people here think? Are the Jepp charts worth shelling out
the extra money?

I used to think so. I've been using Jepps since my instrument training, but
I've chucked them after my subscription expired late this year.

As an experiment, I bought one of the NACO DVD's from Sporty's. I already
had an older laptop with a DVD drive and took that along with me on a recent
trip. I printed the approaches I expected (and a couple extra just in case)
and had those ready to go. However, as Murphy could have predicted, as I
neared my destination I heard "change in routing, advise ready to copy". It
involved a plate I hadn't printed, but I was able to quickly look it up on
the laptop (readable even on the sunny day) and accept the clearance.

The DVD includes all approaches for the continental US and costs less than
$14 including standard shipping. The interface of the NACO plates has been
updated to be more in line with Jepp and the quality of the printing is as
good as your printer and paper. The PDF's used on the DVD are far superior
to the scanned images formerly offered by AOPA, et al.

Bottom line, even with the added expense of low altitude charts, I get far
superior chart coverage for much less money than I could ever hope to afford
with Jepp. I still prefer (however slightly) the interface of the Jepp
plate, but that alone isn't enough of a factor for me if I'm the one footing
the bill.

I already had a suitable laptop. If I were to buy a laptop primarily for
this purpose, the cost equation would be somewhat different. As it stands,
I was paying ~$120/year for a Jepp Mid-Atlantic Express subscription. Now I
can get the entire continental US for $50 more per year. No longer do I
have to worry about trip kits or buying NACO charts with different
interfaces.

Of course, it could be argued that I've already paid the taxes that
subsidize the cost of the NACO plates, but that's a discussion for another
forum.

--
John T
http://tknowlogy.com/TknoFlyer
http://www.pocketgear.com/products_s...veloperid=4415
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