Dear Voyager User,

Whew!  That's pretty much all I can say, whew.   And Wow.

Pictures of the Month

Got plane?  Flying with the all-new GlassView 4.0 module is the easy way to get the glass panel you dream of, with features that will make G1000 users drool.  Just during the beta test, Voyager 4.0 starts at $99.  2D, 3D, scanned charts — it's all there.

Voyager News

Voyager 4.0 Now In Beta.  Download it now.

Now that Voyager 4.0 is in beta (testing), I can describe it in detail but the first thing you should do, if you're interested, is download and install the beta.  It peacefully coexists with Voyager 3.69 so you have little to lose.

You can also run it, as a five day trial, even if you've previously used a trial version.

Download it from:

ftp://seattleavionics.fileburst.com/pub/Voyager4B2Setup.exe

or

http://www.seattleavionics.com/downloads/beta/Voyager4B2Setup.exe

Traffic has been very heavy on our Web site lately.  If you download the file and get a message like "Not a valid Win32 executable" when you run it, it means that the download is corrupted.  Please try the other download link or try again a little later.

What's new?  Well, a quick overview is below but a very detailed document, with all the changes and how to use the new features, is available as a PDF from our Web site.

http://www.seattleavionics.com/documents/WhatsNewVoyager4.pdf

Summary:

• Speed.  The new charting engine is at least 50x faster than the old one because it leverages the power of your computer's video card via a Microsoft technology called DirectX.  This is the same basic technology behind Google Earth, Microsoft Flight Simulator, etc.  Pans, zooms, jumps, etc. are all nearly real-time.

• Scanned Charts Everywhere.  While the Chart Viewer from Voyager 3.6 is still there, you can now display scanned Sectionals, IFR Low, or IFR High charts on any chart then overlay TFRs, fuel prices, radar and satellite images, etc.  View on-screen or print.

• 2D and 3D HITS.  The new charting engine works equally well in either traditional 2D or 3D Highway In The Sky (HITS) mode.  One click of the new 3D button and the system smoothly transitions from 2D to 3D and back again.

• GlassView 4.0.  All new.  Much, much faster.  Larger buttons and text everywhere, easier to use Direct To features, scanned charts, etc.

But there is much, much more.  Take a look at the detailed What's New document for nearly 30 pages of enhancements.

Fixes

During Voyager 4.0's development, our development team was split into two groups.  One worked primarily on adding new features to the Voyager 3.x product (which resulted in Voyager 3.5 and Voyager 3.6) and the other team worked strictly on Voyager 4.0.  We re-combined the teams to work solely on Voyager 4.0 last October. 

During that time, two of our data providers, NOAA and AOPA, changed the format of some of their data just enough to cause us some problems.  In particular, Voyager 3.x could be confused by some NOAA METARs and a new FBO data format from AOPA.  Both of these issues were resolved for Voyager 4.0.  Thus, download the Voyager 4.0 beta to get the fix.

Thanks David!

I'd like to give a personal and very sincere thank you to David Hall.  David is the extremely talented lead developer of the new charting engine who has spent two years working on it.  This involved advanced 3D matrix math, abstract mathematical contrivances called quaternions and a whole host of incomprehensible but critical formulas that I can't even begin to understand.  But I do understand that the result is amazing.  Additionally, he somehow found time to get married during that time but deferred his honeymoon until now.  So, once again, congratulations and thanks David!  Enjoy the vacation; you more than deserve it.  If you're interested in hiring David, please send your requests to NotOnYourLife@SeattleAvionics.com

New Web Site

Not to be outdone by the programmers, the marketing folks here have been hard at work revamping our Web site to coincide with Voyager 4.0.  The new Web site has a look and feel similar to Voyager 4.0's new look.  It should make navigation easier and faster.  Best of all, it looks great (I had very little to do with it so I can say that).  Credit goes to Robert Hamilton and his team.

Try The Beta, Save a Bundle.  Five Days Only.

We've had a Winter sale for the past few months for the obvious reason that people don't fly as much in the Winter as they do in the Spring and Summer.  Now, with Spring approaching and the imminent release of Voyager 4.0, our prices are going back up to their usual prices.

However, you have one last chance to get Voyager 4.0 at an incredible price.  But you'll have to work a little for it: 

Try the Voyager 4.0 beta and, if you buy during your trial period, you get Voyager for an incredible price.  We're offering three packages:

Again, to get these prices you have to put in a little work by trying the Voyager 4.0 beta and purchase during your five day trial period.

Tips and Tricks

For this newsletter, I'm going to keep it short and just offer three tips, all very much related.  In the next newsletter, I'll be back to offer additional tips on Voyager 4.0.

Please send your questions and favorite tips to SteveP@SeattleAvionics.com.

A reminder that past Tips and Tricks are available from our Web site at
http://www.seattleavionics.com/Newsletters

	Read What's New in Voyager 4.0
	Try Voyager 4.0
	Buy Voyager 4.0

Upcoming Events

April 8 - 13, 2008:  Sun 'n Fun Fly-In.  Lakeland, Florida.  Booth C61 (Hangar C, Booth 61)

July 28 - August 4, 2008:  AirVenture 2008.  Oshkosh, WI.

June 7, 2008.  AOPA Fly-In.  Fredrick, MD. 

November 6 - 8, 2008.  AOPA Expo.  San Jose, CA.

Until next time, happy flying.  And be sure to download the beta!

 - Steve Podradchik, CEO (and Editor)
SteveP@SeattleAvionics.com

P.S.  Did I forget to mention that you should download the beta?

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