Review: Class Echo Desktop and Class Echo Mobile

Review By: John Dale

Having recently added the Class Echo Mobile app onto my IPAD and started to use it, I figured it might be a good time to describe both these aircraft control items.I purchased both of these items and have no affiliation with the company. The designer is Paul Penney of Shakeprint Simulations https://shakeprint.com. The mobile app can be downloaded and is $27.99 Can. and once you go through the installation instructions carefully you are able to use it in flight. It does require SPAD.next software and that can be tested on trial or with a full subscription. The combination is powerful and SPAD.next itself is wide ranging in its applications. For the Class Echo, SPAD.next recognizes both the Desktop version and the mobile.

The Mobile unit is seen here highlighted in blue. You can click on any button and then download the appropriate snippet for the mobile app.Once up and running the IPAD will give the following image on the Flight Info page

The Mobile unit is seen here highlighted in blue. You can click on any button and then download the appropriate snippet for the mobile app. Once up and running the IPAD will give the following image on the Flight Info page. The dials on the right side are easy to use and the 6 pages of data are all well explained on the Shakeprint site. At this point I would like to add a mention of the great Youtube videos by Les O'Reilly and his explanation of snippets amongst other things. For understanding SPAD.next and how it interacts with MSFS and Class Echo he has it all covered. Every single plane can receive its own Profile and you can store your own versions or creations in SPAD.next.

To use the Class Echo mobile you do need to create a profile in SPAD.next but once stored it is there until you need to change it. Les O'Reilly's snippets are a great place to start and he has ideas how to get the maximum out of Class Echo as well as the Logitech Multi-panel and Switch panel. For a demo flight I left them all plugged in and made sure the profile covered all of them and it worked just fine on a test flight in the WT CJ4. Paul, from Shakeprint is most helpful by emails and I troubled him several times before figuring out that I really should read the documentation and watch the youtubes. Creating this fascinating software and desktop device is a part-time evening job for Paul so please try not to trouble him as much as I did. If you end up with both the desktop version and the mobile you can have different pages loaded on the Echo on the two different screens. This makes it even more versatile.Here is an illustration of a test flight on the CJ4

For this flight I used the Honeycomb Alpha and Bravo (they also have snippets if you wish to use them, from SPAD/next) and the two Echo versions and left the Logitech Multi Panel and Switch Panels plugged in and functional. A comment here:- you can spend hours trying to master these SPAD.next profiles but I would suggest starting with a test plane like a 152, make a new profile under your own test name and experiment. Once you are more familiar with the subject you can start creating profiles for all of your favourite planes, at least complex ones. The simpler sightseeing taildraggers, like cubs, really don't need complicating with all this exotic programming. We are into MSFS nerd areas here definitely. At present Shakeprint have not gone beyond twin engine Piston/turbine/jet but it only caused confusion on planes like the lovely BAE146 with 3 Jet engine, so I am hoping Shakeprint can program that into the screens. For planes like 747 well it can be controlled as a twin but you can still run the 4 throttle set up on the HC Bravo if you wish but the Echo does not see all 4 separately. It sounds confusing but it works. But Paul adds new planes with specific software controls so the CJ4 has its own profile in Class Echo already along with some specific GPS profiles like the G1000, G430, G530. Recently Shakeprint upgraded their software to 2.0 and the updates can be done directly via the USB connection with Shakeprints loading software. I did run into some problems with the Upgrade and this concerned the version of the Nextion screen I was using on the desktop Echo model and Paul answered several emails promptly until I sorted it out.Overall once running one can sit back and enjoy IFR flying as this is the primary target of this setup. There has not been a lot of advertising of this powerful software for MSFS2020 so it seemed like time to mention that it seems to have come of age