Garmin Pilot vs Turbulence Forecast
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Garmin Pilot
This app offers comprehensive tools for general aviation and corporate pilots, including flight planning, interactive maps, weather briefings, and navigation. It streamlines pre-flight preparation, filing, inflight navigation, and post-flight logging with an intuitive interface.
- Pre-flight planning with aviation weather data
- Interactive maps with track-up navigation
- Flight plan filing via Leidos Flight Service or DUATS
- En-route navigation with moving map and GPS panel
- Electronic logbook with automatic GPS data generation
- Real-time weather and traffic information (with compatible hardware)
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*30 Days Free Trial on initial download!* Plan. File. Fly. Log. Garmin Pilot is the most comprehensive suite of tools for the iPad designed specifically for general aviation and corporate pilots. Flight planning, charts, interactive maps, weather briefing resources and navigation capabilities; it’s all included. The app’s intuitive interface mirrors those on the newest Garmin touchscreen avionics so you can go seamlessly from preflight to inflight. Plan Garmin Pilot’s powerful capabilities start with pre-flight planning, providing pilots with the most comprehensive aviation weather information to make better-informed flight decisions. Pilots can check NEXRAD radar, visible and infrared cloud imagery, METARs, TAFs, AIRMETs, SIGMETs, PIREPs, NOTAMs, winds and temperature aloft, TFRs and lightning data. With Garmin Pilot, data can be displayed over Garmin’s interactive maps that support track-up navigation, VFR sectional or an IFR low or high en-route chart to visualize the weather for your route. Add text-based weather widgets and use the exclusive NavTrack feature to view weather along the planned route. File With Garmin Pilot, users can easily enter a flight plan and interactively edit it on the map. Pre-loaded forms make it quick to save and reuse data for frequently flown routes. And when the flight plan is ready, Garmin Pilot makes it simple to file, amend or close the flight plan via Leidos Flight Service or DUATS. Fly Garmin Pilot provides full en-route navigation capability on its moving map. Pilots can also navigate with Garmin’s patented panel, a GPS-driven instrument pack with a graphical HSI directional display and indicators for groundspeed, altitude and vertical speed. After takeoff, pilots can continue to view real-time weather in the U.S. and traffic information by wirelessly connecting to Garmin’s GDL 50 series portable ADS-B Receiver (sold separately). Log Garmin Pilot includes a comprehensive electronic logbook that syncs with flyGarmin. The logbook automatically generates entries based upon GPS data collected during the flight, tracks currency, supports manual entries, endorsements and creates reports. Garmin Pilot U.S. Standard: - Rich, interactive maps support Track-Up navigation - Charts: VFR Sectionals, low and high IFR en-route, airport diagrams and approach procedures - Ability to view Jeppesen Terminal Charts (Jeppesen echart subscription required) - Weather Maps: Animated radar, Infrared and Visible Satellite, AIRMETs, SIGMETs, Lightning, TFRs and more! - Extensive text products: METARs, TAFs, Winds Aloft, PIREPs, AIRMETs, SIGMETs, Area Forecasts and NOTAMs - AOPA Airport Directory - Weight and Balance - Checklists - Flight plan filing via Leidos Flight Services - Garmin patented navigation panel - Terrain and Obstacles - Smart Airspace - Fast Find predictive Waypoint Entry - Logbook - Optional VFR Premium: Synthetic Vision (SVX), Terrain and obstacle alerting, and Garmin SafeTaxi® - Optional IFR Premium: VFR Premium plus geo-referenced Garmin FliteCharts® Garmin Pilot has regional offerings for Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe and Latin America. Features include: - Worldwide Jeppesen NavData - Rich, interactive maps support Track-Up navigation - Radar and Satellite imagery for Western Europe, U.S., Canada and Australia - Ability to view Jeppesen Terminal Charts (Jeppesen echart subscription required) - Worldwide METARs, TAFs, AIRMETs, SIGMETs, NOTAMs and winds aloft - VFR Flight Plan Filing - IFR autorouting and Flight plan filing in Europe - Terrain and Obstacles with alerting - Synthetic Vision (SVX) - Smart Airspace - Logbook - Optional VFR charts from DFS, IGN and NATS and IFR enroute charts from EuroControl - Optional Garmin FliteCharts® and SafeTaxi® diagrams available on a country-by-country basis *Note: Use of GPS running in the background may decrease battery life.* *Note: One subscription to Garmin Pilot may be used on three devices.*
Turbulence Forecast
Get real-time and automated forecasts for flight turbulence. Understand potential bumpy rides with an easy-to-read world map and expert-written reports. Stay informed about your flight's conditions.
- World turbulence map
- Automated flight forecasts
- Expert handcrafted forecasts
- Email forecast delivery
- Easy to understand data
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How turbulent will your flight be? With the Turbulence Forecast app, quickly and easily find out with our new and easy to understand world turbulence map, automated turbulence forecasts tailored for your flight, and our original handcrafted forecasts by email - written by turbulence experts with over 20 years of experience. Please wear your seat belt at all times while aboard your flight. Apple Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.turbulenceforecast.com/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
Garmin Pilot and Turbulence Forecast both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 86% of Turbulence Forecast's written reviews are positive against 42% of Garmin Pilot's. Turbulence Forecast also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). Garmin Pilot's advantage is ratings volume (4.1K vs 209) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 5 weeks). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Garmin Pilot sells 18 one-off in-app purchases and Turbulence Forecast sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Garmin Pilot against 4.6 for Turbulence Forecast. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Garmin Pilot has 4.1K ratings behind it against 209, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 42% of Garmin Pilot's written reviews are positive against 86% of Turbulence Forecast's.
Garmin Pilot ships an update fortnightly, Turbulence Forecast every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Garmin Pilot | Turbulence Forecast |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (4.1K ratings) — better | 4.6 (209 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 42.0% of reviews | 85.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4.1K — better | 209 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #37 — better | #44 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 650 MB | 36 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Garmin DCI | PJM Media, LLC |
Customer experience
Garmin Pilot
Turbulence Forecast
User reviews
Garmin Pilot
From 4.1K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Excellent EFB app
- 🚀 Seamless integration with Garmin avionics
- 👍 User-friendly interface
- 👍 Reliable and stable
- 👍 Great features like engine monitoring and data recording
Room to improve
- 🐛 Clunky and multi-step process to view plates
- 🐛 Issues with NOTAM updates and database concierge
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and lockups
- 🐛 Winds aloft data often inaccurate
- 🐛 Lacks support for some aircraft models
Turbulence Forecast
From 209 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ✈️ Highly accurate turbulence predictions
- 😌 Reduces flight anxiety significantly
- 🗺️ Detailed, easy-to-read maps
- ⏰ Provides timing for turbulence occurrence
- 🆓 Free app with optional paid forecasts
Room to improve
- 🔄 Forecast grades change frequently and unpredictably
- 📱 Portrait mode only limitation
- 🔤 Confusing abbreviations and terminology
- 📖 Lacks built-in guidance or help documentation
- 🎨 Dated UI in some versions
Bugs and requests
Garmin Pilot
Reported bugs
5 issues- Crashes when viewing weather data
- Weight and balance profile import/export issues
- Database concierge not working as expected
- Inability to file VFR flight plans in some regions
- Groundspeed and track data not working on certain devices
Requested features
9 requests- Ability to mark up and annotate charts
- Vertical navigation view
- Cabin altitude/hypoxia warning
- Apple Watch app
- Passenger app for flight following
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- Google Maps integration with user waypoints
- Ability to import GPX/CSV waypoints
- Printable logbook reports
- More detailed weather imagery and forecasts
Turbulence Forecast
Reported bugs
4 issues- App stopped working/won't update
- Forecast data inconsistencies (changing retroactively)
- Compatibility issues with older devices
- Portrait mode lock causing usability problems
Requested features
7 requests- Landscape/portrait mode toggle
- In-app guide explaining terminology and abbreviations
- Simplified destination search feature
- Extended altitude selection options
- Expanded coverage for mainland Asia
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- Legend/reference guide for data interpretation
- Dark mode option
In-app purchases
Garmin Pilot
- Canada Premium$74.99
- Latin American Premium Upgrade$74.99
- Europe Premium Upgrade$74.99
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- U.S. Premium Upgrade$99.99
- Africa Standard$109.99
- Pilot Asia Standard$109.99
- Australia Standard$109.99
- Canada Standard$109.99
- Europe Standard$109.99
- Latin American Standard$109.99
- U.S. Standard$109.99
- Garmin Pilot Africa Premium$184.99
- Garmin Pilot Canada Premium$184.99
- Garmin Pilot Asia Premium$184.99
- Garmin Pilot Europe Premium$184.99
- Garmin Pilot Latin America Premium$184.99
- Garmin Pilot U.S. Premium$209.99
- Worldwide Premium$599.99
Turbulence Forecast
- Traveler$8.991 Month
- Explorer$16.991 Month
- Navigator$27.991 Month
- Remove Ads$0.99
- Regional Tip$1.99
- Remove Ads For 3 Months$2.99
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- Narrowbody Tip$4.99
- Widebody Tip$9.99
- Remove Ads 12 Months Patronage$9.99
- 4 Pack Automated Credits$19.99
- 8 Pack Forecast Credits$34.99
Questions
Is Garmin Pilot free?
Is Turbulence Forecast free?
Which has better reviews, Garmin Pilot or Turbulence Forecast?
Do Garmin Pilot or Turbulence Forecast have ads?
Which is updated more often, Garmin Pilot or Turbulence Forecast?
Which is more popular, Garmin Pilot or Turbulence Forecast?
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