Sporty’s Pilot Shop has introduced the first completely wire-free weather receiver for the iPad — and it requires no monthly subscription. Stratus combines an ADS-B and GPS receiver into a single unit that wirelessly streams NEXRAD radar, text weather, TFRs and aircraft position to the popular ForeFlight Mobile app for iOS devices.
“Stratus delivers exactly what pilots have been asking for — a simple, smart and subscription-free way to view in-flight weather on their iPad,” says Sporty’s Vice President John Zimmerman. “It’s incredibly easy to use, with just one button and virtually no setup.”
The totally portable design includes an internal eight-hour battery, a high-gain internal antenna, and a WiFi connection to the iPad, so Stratus can be placed on the glare shield and out of the way. It is easy to move from airplane to airplane, making it ideal for renters, flying clubs and corporate flight departments.
Stratus is a collaboration between Sporty’s, ForeFlight and Appareo Systems.
“ForeFlight, Appareo, and Sporty’s worked closely to ensure that the experience provided by Stratus would be best in class among portable ADS-B weather receivers and iPad applications,” says ForeFlight Co-Founder Tyson Weihs. “Pilots flying with Stratus and ForeFlight Mobile will see ADS-B information integrated throughout the app.”
Stratus wirelessly streams the full suite of available weather products: NEXRAD, METARs, TAFs, SIGMETs, AIRMETs, PIREPs, TFRs, and winds aloft. Stratus also includes a built-in WAAS GPS receiver that provides high-quality position information to ForeFlight Mobile’s moving map, which includes VFR sectional and IFR enroute charts.
The WiFi connection allows multiple iPads to connect to Stratus, making it possible for two-pilot crews to view weather on separate iPads.
Stratus is available for $799 and comes with a wall plug and charging cable.
For more information: Sportys.com or 800-SPORTYS; ForeFlight.com; Appareo.com
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Great stuff. But still too expensive. A similar product has been available and integreted with WingX at about $200 more. Moving in the right direction.
There is no valid technical reason you need the transmitter to get traffic. You need the transmitter to report yourself as traffic and to ATC.  Putting in the tranceiver itself isn’t hard, but getting the FAA to accept an iPad based ADS-B is another story. It’ds a great idea – portable ADS-B using the iPad or similar portable device as the UI could be affordable, leveraging the commondity platform. But I seriously doubt the FAA will allow it.
Note that FAA has indicated they will NOT allow a receive-only device to receive traffic OR weather in the future, only “participating” aircraft, which means those with a certified ADS-B installation. That will make devices such as this useless. It’d be a crying shame, too bad the aviation “advocates” seem to be OK with the FAA plan to obsolete all our simple airplanes and force us out of the ATC system and any airspace where ATC services are provided. Â
This is only a small part of what is needed. How about a transceiver?  Since it already has the WAAS GPS receiver how much more difficult would it be to be an ADS-B out as well. Then if I understand correctly you have the weather and traffic.
Great device! However, it needs to be more affordable!