craggy aero ultimate

I'm considering to buy the Craggy Aero Ultimate flight computer.
Has anyone had any luck running TopHat or XCsoar software on this device?
Richard is very non-committal about anything other than the SeeYou software, but I'm very much used to and like the TopHat or XCsoar programs so hence my dilemma.
I would much appreciate any comment, success or otherwise.

6PK,

The main issue in trying to use XCSoar is that the XCSoar team is no longer updating the Windows CE or Mobile version of the software. You can download an older version of XCSoar and, with a little understanding of Windows CE, get it to install on the Ultimate.

It's not ideal, and Richard doesn't want to support a configuration that you may create. That's understandable and good business practice.

On the other hand, the Naviter folks have been continuing to do bug fixes on the SeeYou Mobile. As long as they support the platform the Ultimate will continue to be a great flight computer.

I had an Ultimate 5.7 in my Libelle which I used for one year. Personally, I was challenged by the set up process and felt in many ways it was difficult to get the specific decision support data I wanted using SeeYou Mobile. I spent many hours studying the manuals and trying different info boxes and map pages, never got everything I wanted.

Full disclosure, Prior to buying the Ultimate, I had used XCSoar for 7 years, on various Android devices. Due to that experience I expected things in a different format/presentation than SeeYou provided.

When I sold the Libelle the Ultimate went with it and the current owner is happy with the unit. I have an OpenVario in my Mini Nimbus, running XCSoar. That works fine for me: I like to tinker and it takes a bit of tinkering to get a fully working unit. As I recently mentioned to Richard, if I didn't already have a functional flight computer, and didn't have so much experience with XCSoar, I'd get the LXNav 90XX in a heart beat. It still has a learning curve, but the LXNav team seems to really have a great product and are very responsive to user input and support requests.

A lot more than $0.02, but my opinion, as you asked.

Mike

I don’t have the exact experience you are looking for, but I have the Craggy Ultimate running LK8000. Works great and no problem setting up the LK8000 PNA program, similar to XC Soar, on the Ultimate. I also experimented with SYM, but found LK to run faster on the Ultimate and I really like the LK layout. Hope this helps …
Mark

On Sunday, October 4, 2020 at 7:29:23 PM UTC-7, wrote:
I don’t have the exact experience you are looking for, but I have the Craggy Ultimate running LK8000. Works great and no problem setting up the LK8000 PNA program, similar to XC Soar, on the Ultimate. I also experimented with SYM, but found LK to run faster on the Ultimate and I really like the LK layout. Hope this helps …
Mark

Thank you both for your responses.