John,
I ran AnywhereMap on an IPAQ for several years, then upgraded to an AnywhereMap Travel Companion and, finally, added XM weather and MaxNav sectionals. I also bought an iFly at Oshkosh this year. At the moment I am using both units on longer trips and the iFly alone on shorter trips. Here are my impressions:
- Both units can be difficult to see under some conditions, though I have less trouble with the iFly.
- The sectionals on the iFly are superb while the sectionals on the ATC are worthless. They are just too small.
- I much prefer the sectional display on the iFly to the simpler display on the ATC most of the time.
- I really (really, really really...) miss the XM weather when I use the iFly for longer cross country flights. This is why I still use both units for longer flights. We were dodging thunderstorms on the way home from Oshkosh and found the Nexrad on the ATC really useful.
- I also miss the terrain/obstacle stuff on the ATC. When forced to fly low in marginal conditions or where there are really tall towers the sectional display doesn't highlight the potential obstacles as well as the ATC does.
- The biggest issue with the ATC is that it is just too small for me. It is difficult for me to read the airport information, frequencies, etc. on the ATC. The iFly is much better in this respect.
I really have no issues with the iFly at all except for the lack of XM weather and a terrain/obstacle database. When those capabilities arrive on the iFly I will retire the ATC. I live in Oklahoma and it looks like it will be a while before we get ADS-B around here so I suspect I'll be using both units for the foreseeable future, though I really prefer the iFly.
I hope that is helpful,
Mike