i have just installed a TRX 1500 with airconnect in my aircraft about a month ago and i am extremely happy with the integration into skydemon! this really is the winning team in my oppinion. the trx 1500 can be connected to the intercom where it will sound a noticeable but not disturbing beep whenever there is some critical traffic, a short glance at the tablet will let you know which direction to look in case you haven't seen the other traffic yet. also i noticed how many airplanes i missed in the past!
the fact that you see all the flarm and ads-b traffic on the map now means you don't need to worry anymore that you are missing an important traffic when your old flarm was starting to flash nervously because it has for example detected a couple of gliders waiting to be towed when you approach an airfield. you just see on the chart that it's them it is warning about and you can continue your descent towards the airfield.
all aircraft from our local flying club are equipped with flarms and when i asked among the pilots who fly these machines, most where less than impressed with the added information from the powerflarm. i realized, that this is mainly due to "false alarms" being generated in situations like i mentioned before. the traffic radar is nice to get a quick overview, but it is alot more meaningful to see the planes on the cart as well. the combination of the two as you see it in skydemon is absolutely fantastic. with this combination you see in a glance, that there is another airplane 2nm left of you coming your direction and on a second glance you notice on the map that there is a mountain between the two of you and that's why you can't see it when you look out your window
regarding the singal outages: i have had this problem too, and i could reproduce it quite easily: it happens when i do a long radio transmission, i.e. an initial call on a FIS frequency with a complex routing or a longer request (or to be honest, when i haven't thought it through before starting that transmission). this might have to do with the fact, that in my airplane both the flarm and air connect unit are installed right next to my trig com unit, but as soon as i let go of the ptt button I immediately get my position and traffic back on the screen, so that's something i can live with, we shouldn't occupy the frequency longer than that anyway
for most regular requests and communication the connection won't be interrupted.
while the trx1500 and, i believe, most flarm units as well come with some "indoor" antennas included in the package i strongly recommend that you pay the extra money and get external antennas installed. i noticed that I can locate our flyiing club airplanes first as bearing-less targets and later on as flarm targets when they are flying in front of me in the same direction.. however, as soon as they turn 90° to either side, i see them as flarm targets long before they would appear as bearing-less target. I suspect that's because the flarm antenna on these planes is mounted at the rear window inside the airplane.
i am so happy with that setup , that i already demonstrated it to two other colleges and they are both considering to install the same setup in their airplanes as well. i really feel safer now and also my insurance rate has decreased a bit because i added a traffic information system
also a little tip: when you tap on an airplane and the "what's here" dialog pops up, you can scroll all the way down and click on "aircraft" and you can see the altitude, heading, (Flarm)Identifier and speed of the other aircraft. that's quite useful if you want to fly in a loose formation with some friends and you want to know how much slower or faster they are in order to adjust your speed to keep your distance but not loose sight.
one other added bonus of this setup is, that you don't need your internal gps anymore.. this means your tablets battery will last significantly longer than before.
regarding saving the wireless connection for internet traffic: i find that i don't depend toomuch on an internet connection while flying VFR in my airplane. once i'm on the ground, my flarm is off anyway and i can use my wifi connection again to access the internet and plan my next flight. always remember, see and avoid is still key, and no traffic information system will replace a thorough and continuous look-out. it just helps you to see trafic you haven't seen before and more importantly, to see it earlier, but only when the other guy has similar equipment on board.
also, while you are at it, have the avionics shop connect the flarm to your transponder as a gps source, so that it will send ads-b out to other aircraft as well.
cheers
Pascal