Stratux ADS-B Dual Band Receiver Aviation Weather and Traffic - AHRS, Battery Pack, Suction Mount, Internal WAAS GPS for Skydemon

No problems, just follow instructions. Switch off power saver. Works great.

I’ve been interested in this device for several years and finally decided to purchase it. I'm an American pilot living in the UK, so I was cautious as to how it performed here in the UK. After using the system for a couple of flights, I wanted to share my feedback. 1) Initial Setup: The Admin page is user-friendly. Watching the YouTube video tutorials (some videos could use an update) helped me successfully set up the AHRS and adjust it to the right side of the aircraft, following the video instructions. Beware that we use Skydemon in Europe. And despite a few attempts, I eventually managed to connect it. There isn’t a Strutux option in Skydemon. You choose SkyEcho 2 instead (picture attached). 2) First Flight Attempt: a. ADHRS: I discovered that Skydemon’s synthetic attitude indicator was utilising data from the AHRS of Stratux instead of its own GPS and attitude sensors on my iPad. Whilst I hadn’t originally considered this, it made sense once I thought about it. I originally calibrated the Stratux at home, but after mounting it in the aircraft, on its side, on the right side window, above the luggage door (Piper Arrow IV), I had recalibrated the AHRS while seated in the aircraft before starting up the engine (I performed this calibration on my Skydemon on my iPad as well as the Skydemon on my co-pilot’s mobile phone). At first, it appeared to work well during taxi, but at takeoff and during the flight, I did notice some fluctuations with the synthetic attitude indicator of Skydemon, which occasionally seemed to lose its orientation. On a 30-minute flight, the indicator lost its reference several times. With two Skydemons connected to the Stratux (recalibrated on the ground before engine startup), both devices exhibited the exact same simultaneous behaviour, which raised some concerns about the Stratux AHRS consistency. b. Multiple Aircraft: An unusual occurrence during my flight was seeing eight aircraft in a circle around mine. Initially, I struggled to explain this, but I suspect it relates to how Stratux picks up limited Mode S data. It seems to gather altitude estimates but struggles with directional information. I need to confirm this further (photo attached). c. Weather: I was unable to receive any weather data. This is due to the lack of weather stations outside US territories. This was a bit disappointing, but it's essential to understand the limitations outside the US (ADS-B Weather Tower map attached). 3) Second Flight Attempt: a. AHRS: For my next flight, I repositioned the Stratux from the baggage window to the rear seat window, mounting it upright on the right side of the aircraft. This adjustment seemed to improve performance, as I didn't experience as many issues with the Skydemon attitude indicator – but it wasn’t as flawless as without it, using just Skydemon and the iPad alone. Of course, I recalibrated the AHRS of Stratux before engine startup. b. Multiple Aircraft: I still observed the same pattern with multiple aircraft around my aircraft, reinforcing my earlier theory. 4) Support: After my experiences, I reached out to Crew Dog Electronics to gain further insights. Although I received a prompt response, I was provided links to YouTube videos (which I had already viewed), a Discord group, a GitHub link, and a tower location URL. While I appreciate the prompt response, I was hoping for more specific advice from experience, so I’ll likely consult the Discord community for additional support. Overall Review: If considering this product for use outside the United States, be aware that some capabilities may be limited, particularly regarding weather data. This is largely due to the availability of US-specific technology rather than any shortcomings of the unit itself, I would guess. I will continue to evaluate the Skydemon attitude indicator (connected to Stratux) to see if mounting it upright resolves the orientation issues. On the positive side, I now have visibility of other aircraft, which is beneficial for IFR flying in IMC conditions. I do like the added battery that enables me to power the Stratux and then feed a USB cable to the battery. I do wonder if it's possible to receive traffic information from Stratux, but without receiving AHRS and allowing my iPad GPS and attitude do the lifting there. I rated it 3 stars out of 5 due to the cost vs my experience with the synthetic attitude, its use outside the US and having to refer to a Discord group for support answers. I’m not a programmer, so GitHub isn’t of any use to me.

Combiné avec ForeFlight ça fonctionne vraiment très bien. J’ai mis une antenne 868 MHz qui me permet de recevoir les trafics Flarm avec une modif soft dispo en open source. L’antenne 1090Mhz permet de recevoir les trafics ADS-B d’autant mieux si vous êtes équipés vous même d’un transponder ADS-B out. ForeFlight vous donne un horizon artificiel de secours avec une vue 3D du terrain. Ventousé à la vitre de l’avion je n’ai jamais eu de soucis de chauffe même en plein été. Par contre c’est top de voir les planeurs en arrivant sur un terrain.... même s’il faut surtout continuer à regarder dehors !! Bon vols à tous !!

The stratux ads-b dual band receiver is an excellent piece of equipment and highly recommended. I use Wing X and previously used another ads-b dual band receiver until I started to get a lot of radio interference from it. The old unit was bulkier and was not easy to move around. I decided to try the stratux ads-b dual band receiver and pair it with my Wing X on my ipad and it has worked flawlessly. The battery it comes with will keep the unit working for 4 or more hours before it needs a recharge. I have a Mooney Ovation with a G1000 and I compared the traffic and weather on my Wing X ipad with the stratux to the G1000 and it was almost exactly the same. The ahrs feature is also very, very good and comparing the G1000 synthetic vision to the ipad Wing X synthetic vision with the stratux is very similar. I recently took a trip IFR from South Florida to North Carolina and back and used the stratux during the trips. I found it to be very accurate and very reliable. The traffic, weather, ahrs and gps functionality were all excellent and I found it to be a great back up to my G1000. Having previously used another ads-b receiver, I can tell you that the stratux is actually a better unit and an excellent purchase because of its ease of use, portability, functionality, gps quality and functionality, accuracy, and excellent weather, traffic, gps positioning and ahrs capabilities. This is a must have for pilots whether flying VFR or IFR as a backup to your regular flight instruments. I highly recommend it.

I have used the system already in a flight, and it worked flawlessly, with Wx and traffic information just as expected. Terrific system!

I haven’t flight tested it yet, so i cant speak for the weather function. The traffic function is amazing. Set the unit on my window ledge and sat inside watching airplanes as they flew over. i have spare batteries and there’s an adapter included in case you have your own battery. Assembly was super easy. Took 5 minutes tops, took about 30 seconds to connect and see airplanes. The battery that comes with the unit has a plug attached directly to the battery that unfolds and plug conveniently into the side of the Stratux. It has a “home built” look (with the strap for the battery, two antennas, and the actual unit itself, having to unplug it to turn it off) but it’s got twice as many features at less than half the price. It also had no problems picking up a signal from the middle of my living room so I have a hard time believing it’d have any trouble picking up a signal anywhere in an airplane. The fan kicked on a couple of times and seemed to work well to keep it cool. It’s easy to connect to an iPad and to use with ForeFlight. The video provided on youtube by crewdog was excellent. He explained everything very well. I ran it for two hours with no hiccups. My house is underneath the flight path of a busy airport and it always displayed traffic. Very excited to actually use this and see the weather features, but so far i’m Very very impressed with the product. The cable that comes with it is a little too short for a battery, so i may buy a bigger one...but that’s a minor detail. It comes with a 6000 MAH battery and I bought an extra 8000 MAH. It’s only a back up battery anyway. So far, very impressed.

So first off this little guy works as designed and is a really good value. Foreflight connects right up with my iPad and myself and my CFI both will connect to it for traffic alerts. AHRS works great too... i had a real world vacuum pump failure at night, so I switched on my attitude display in foreflight which was a great safety net. Things to keep in mind though, and I don't want to discourage what you are getting out of this device for the tremendous value that it is, but do keep these in mind on what you give up though by not going with the more expensive alternatives incase you are daily instead of weekly like me: 1. Needs an external battery, and the connector on the raspberry pi in the unit is weak. This isn't the fault of the assembler, the pi's the micro usb connector isn't very robust. I've been using mine for 6 months now and this connector has loosened up and prevented my device from receiving reliable power. I finally pulled it apart thinking i'd have to replace the raspberry pi in it and i was able to bend the connector back into shape and spare it. Thankfully if I do destroy the connector, a replacement PI is cheap and easily swapped. The higher dollar units with their internal batteries do not run into this. 2. The fan has gotten extremely loud when its running...sounds like the bearing is shot in...not sure what the quality is of the fan that comes with it (sleeve bearing perhaps?) but i'm looking for a replacement fan though. Not sure if the higher dollar units even have fans, if they don't then definite ding here. 3. Obnoxious Antennas. They stick out, take up space in my flight back, take up space on the window. Higher dollar units with their integrated antennas don't have this issue. But dollar for dollar, a great value, with these weaknesses I'm only knocking 1 star off because of the great value this device is.