Jep p or NACO Charts?

Hi Marco,
According to Jepp, the Northeast Chart Service lists at $330. If you buy
the East and NorthEast Airway Express services separately, they end up
costing about $30 more... I'm not sure where you're getting them for $255,
but that seems more heavily discounted than what I saw, which for example
on MyPilotStore.com was $320.

However, since I can pretty much buy or download any needed plates readily,
I don't subscribe to all 4 NorthEast NOS books. I subscribe to #1 and #2,
which gets me ME, NH, VT, MA, CT, RI, NY, and NJ, and covers 90% of my
flying area (and then some). It also covers me for the Long Island/CT
issue.

I guess this is the biggest reason why it ends up being so much less
expensive for me. I don't need the same coverage in NOS as I would with
Jepp.

If I am planning a trip to PA or DC, I will pick up or order the current #3
or #4 as needed, or maybe even just download my destination plate and a few
nearby alternatives on the route... If I go that far out of NY, it will be
a planned trip, and if I expect to leave early in the AM or late in the PM
when I can't get a chart from my FBO, I can take a ride the day before, or
order it online in advance... My FBO is staffed from 7am until 7pm
(sometimes later), so it's not usually an issue. So far, in the year since
I got my instrument rating, I bought #4 twice.

Jepp's Airway Express service for East has the same LI/CT problem as NOS,
so I'd still have to buy the $330 Northeast Chart Service subscription.

Instead, I am paying $16.50 every 2 months ($99/yr) for updated IFR Enroute
L27/28, TERPS NE Vol 1 & 2, and an A/FD. Seems like a no-brainer as far as
price is concerned... Also, the NOS Plates that I'm getting last 56 days,
not 28.

If you add to that the $10 or $15 to go pick up a #3 or #4 once or twice a
year when I plan a long-distance trip, we're still talking less than half
the Jepp price...



"Marco Leon" mmleon(at)yahoo.com wrote in :

Wow, not one pro for the Jepps. I used to use NOS but switched to Jepps
for the Northeast. Dropping by the pilot shop is not too convenient for
me since I normally get in the air after work, I would get a
subscription to NOS. Let's see, for the same coverage, I would need 4
NOS books @ $4.25 each. That's $17.00 every 28 days which equals
$221/year. If you factor in the shipping for the charts @ $5 per
shipment, that's $65.

So all things being equal (specifically the convenience of delivery
service), we are talking about $286 (NOS) versus $255 (Jepp).

I would start your analysis there according to your situation. Look at:
* if you can easily stop by a pilot shop during business hours every
time you may do an approach
* the possibility of a missed approach to another "NOS book" (e.g.
missed in Long Island, NY with the better weather being in Connecticut)
* preference on the "usability" of the charts. I personally like Jepp
better for their intuitive features
* what your real approach use-profile will be (mostly practice or real
IFR flying, one approach every other month or monthly use, etc.)

NOS is really not a lot cheaper for the same coverage and same service.

Marco Leon
(no affiliation with Jeppesen. Although, even their employees don't get
discounts on charts...)



"Judah" wrote in message
.. .
Last week I finally got checked out in the club's Arrow.

During the training, the instructor noticed that I was using the NACO
charts and plates.

He uses the Jeppeson stuff and excitedly indicated that it is far
superior to the NACO charts. He gave me a few reasons, but when I
looked at it for myself, I just can't figure out how to justify
spending all that extra money for really not all that extra features.

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

Judah,
Well, I was mistaken with the $255 price--that was for my Garmin 430 Navdata
service. HOWEVER, after a check with Jepp's website, I was charged only $244
for the revision service. The $330 is for the initial subscription that
includes a full set of charts. The mistake was in favor of my original
point.

That being said, I was erroneous in my assumption that NOS is every 28 days.
It is every 56 days. Kinda takes the wind out of my financial comparison (I
guess that's why I'm in software development and not finance!). You should
note that since chart changes are on a 28-day cycle, NOS is not without its
own updating hassles if you want the most up-to-date information. You'll
need to obtain either the monthly printed Notices to Airman publication or
the "off-cycle" Change Notice, which is issued every 28 days. Most pilots
don't do this but I don't have enough info to give an opinion on if this has
caused angst among frequent IFR flyers. My guess is that most hardcore IFR
people use Jepps partly because Jepp sends out updated charts every two
weeks.

So again, it's up to your situation. If you do infrequent approaches to only
a handful of airports and cost is an issue, then NOS is good enough. If you
want the "greatest and latest" cost be damned, then the preference out there
is Jeppesen.

Marco Leon

"Judah" wrote in message
. ..
Hi Marco,
According to Jepp, the Northeast Chart Service lists at $330. If you buy
the East and NorthEast Airway Express services separately, they end up
costing about $30 more... I'm not sure where you're getting them for $255,
but that seems more heavily discounted than what I saw, which for example
on MyPilotStore.com was $320.

However, since I can pretty much buy or download any needed plates
readily,
I don't subscribe to all 4 NorthEast NOS books. I subscribe to #1 and #2,
which gets me ME, NH, VT, MA, CT, RI, NY, and NJ, and covers 90% of my
flying area (and then some). It also covers me for the Long Island/CT
issue.

I guess this is the biggest reason why it ends up being so much less
expensive for me. I don't need the same coverage in NOS as I would with
Jepp.

If I am planning a trip to PA or DC, I will pick up or order the current
#3
or #4 as needed, or maybe even just download my destination plate and a
few
nearby alternatives on the route... If I go that far out of NY, it will be
a planned trip, and if I expect to leave early in the AM or late in the PM
when I can't get a chart from my FBO, I can take a ride the day before, or
order it online in advance... My FBO is staffed from 7am until 7pm
(sometimes later), so it's not usually an issue. So far, in the year since
I got my instrument rating, I bought #4 twice.

Jepp's Airway Express service for East has the same LI/CT problem as NOS,
so I'd still have to buy the $330 Northeast Chart Service subscription.

Instead, I am paying $16.50 every 2 months ($99/yr) for updated IFR
Enroute
L27/28, TERPS NE Vol 1 & 2, and an A/FD. Seems like a no-brainer as far as
price is concerned... Also, the NOS Plates that I'm getting last 56 days,
not 28.

If you add to that the $10 or $15 to go pick up a #3 or #4 once or twice
a
year when I plan a long-distance trip, we're still talking less than half
the Jepp price...



"Marco Leon" mmleon(at)yahoo.com wrote in :

Wow, not one pro for the Jepps. I used to use NOS but switched to Jepps
for the Northeast. Dropping by the pilot shop is not too convenient for
me since I normally get in the air after work, I would get a
subscription to NOS. Let's see, for the same coverage, I would need 4
NOS books @ $4.25 each. That's $17.00 every 28 days which equals
$221/year. If you factor in the shipping for the charts @ $5 per
shipment, that's $65.

So all things being equal (specifically the convenience of delivery
service), we are talking about $286 (NOS) versus $255 (Jepp).

I would start your analysis there according to your situation. Look at:
* if you can easily stop by a pilot shop during business hours every
time you may do an approach
* the possibility of a missed approach to another "NOS book" (e.g.
missed in Long Island, NY with the better weather being in Connecticut)
* preference on the "usability" of the charts. I personally like Jepp
better for their intuitive features
* what your real approach use-profile will be (mostly practice or real
IFR flying, one approach every other month or monthly use, etc.)

NOS is really not a lot cheaper for the same coverage and same service.

Marco Leon
(no affiliation with Jeppesen. Although, even their employees don't get
discounts on charts...)



"Judah" wrote in message
.. .
Last week I finally got checked out in the club's Arrow.

During the training, the instructor noticed that I was using the NACO
charts and plates.

He uses the Jeppeson stuff and excitedly indicated that it is far
superior to the NACO charts. He gave me a few reasons, but when I
looked at it for myself, I just can't figure out how to justify
spending all that extra money for really not all that extra features.

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