ASARotating Plotter - Aviation Navigation Tool - 13" Analog Display - Waterproof

the only pilot's plotter I had ever used until now was of the fixed "protractor" type, not rotating. I had occasion to seek out a new plotter recently and thought I'd give the rotating version a try since it was about the same price as the fixed version.This plotter is very well made, printed clearly, and works as it should. The numerals are crisp and easy to read black-on-white while the smaller division marks are finely made.The advantage of this rotating plotter is that after you lay the plottter's edge along your course you can spin the the compass rose part in order to line up any of the orthogonal grid lines printed on it to any convieninet longitude or latitude line. There is usually one nearby so you don't slide the plotter around on the chart as much.... which is a big help in a tight space. The true course is read at the edge of the plotter where it crosses the compass rose instead of off the "protractor part" of a fixed plotter.Now that I'm used to it I might try a compact version.

This plotter works well for me.My instructor didn't care for it at first since it seems ASA flipped the design from wheel on top to wheel on bottom.I quite like wheel on bottom since it lets me bring my plotter down to my course line to measure my TC.

Works great

Not all brands producing a plotter actually bother to match the scale of the printed sectional charts, forcing student pilots to do tedious scale conversions. This ASA plotter matches it EXACTLY, so will get exceptionally accurate results with quick measurements. Buy this one. Images show example plotter measurement of KFFZ to KCHD compared to SkyVector.

easy to use, and has good quality

I’ve always appreciated the easy of use of the rotating plotter and the thickness of this ASA plotter gives it more flexibility and less susceptible to breaking in half, but the accuracy of the compass rose is a degree off either side of the dial. Maybe not a big deal to some, but it does make a difference when manual flight planning.

If you were planning to use a plotter like this for extensive sectional work over the next 20 years, I would recommend getting one of the good metal ones instead. These are just the basic plastic, and will crack/brittle ... eventually.If, like me, you just need a plotter for instruction purposes, and plan to use ForeFlight for your cross-country planning (just like the rest of the world does) after you get your certificate, it’s a good deal.

Used this to plot my first cross country last weekend. Having the rotating section is nice because it circumvents having to write on your sectional. With the plotter on the section you can rotate the compass portion of the plotter aligning it with the sectional's true north and see where it intersects on the ruler portion of the plotter, giving you a course heading. Very handy.