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Perfect
- By Shawn from Coldwater MI USA on Tuesday, November 10, 2015
- Pros: simple and easy to use
- Cons: draining a tank completely to get accurate numbers
- Review: I loved it so much, I ordered three more, one for each of my other airplanes. If you can see fuel standing in the tank when you look in the cap, this should work for your airplane. One word of caution, when handling with gloves in cold Michigan air, if you relax your grip just a little, the FuelHawk slips very quickly completely into the tank and out of sight/reach. Definitely not a product fault, certainly an operator error, hopefully sharing my mistake will help prevent others from the same dilemma.
- Was this review helpful to you? Yes No 6 Other people found this review helpful.
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Perfect
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Wished I had not waited so long to get this.
- By Andrew from Winnsboro TX USA on Friday, January 30, 2009
- Pros: Cost
- Cons: Need to calibrate it.
- Review: Great little gauge, just be sure to calibrate it like the package says. Being used on a C150 but I could use it on any plane. Great value if you fly different aircraft. They do make them for specific models.
- Was this review helpful to you? Yes No 1 Other people found this review helpful.
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No more guessing
- By Jim from fremont CA USA on Monday, October 04, 2010
- Pros: Fast and easy with no error
- Cons: Need a calibration chart for different aircraft available.
- Review: Being a big guy and taking passengers along with me necessitates extra fuel management. Take offs with less than full tanks has advantages. Just using gauges or tank tabs are not a good/safe option for me. A calibrated FuelHawk takes the guesswork out of how much fuel is on board and in each tank.
- Was this review helpful to you? Yes No 1 Other people found this review helpful.
simle calibration
- By Alex Zolot on Wednesday, November 26, 2008
- Review: I successfully use it, but instead of documented calibration procedure I just take a calibrated stick, put it on clear narrow of paper and copy gallon marks instead of inches. Then join it to the stick with a rubber ring. All procedure takes 5 min. Instead of this universal stick you can use any other e.g. C-172 stick with external paper scale copied from C-152.
- Was this review helpful to you? Yes No 1 Other people found this review helpful.
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A must have
- By ALEXANDRE MARTON PIMENTA from BELO HORIZONTE Brazil on Tuesday, January 06, 2009
- Pros: safety , price
- Cons: none
- Review: You got to take the time to calibrate it properly but once you did it pays for himself. Nothing safer and priceless than to know the exactly amount of fuel you have before a take off...
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I would buy this product again
- By Scott the C-182 pilot from Wichita KS USA on Wednesday, September 07, 2011
- Pros: Very easy to calibrate and use.
- Cons: None
- Review: This is a great product to help a pilot determine precisely how much fuel he has in the tank. It is easily calibrated to the make and model of aircraft that you are flying.
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Takes the guess work out of fueling
- By Jud: Piper Tomahawk from Olympia WA USA on Wednesday, September 28, 2011
- Pros: Simple, straight forward operation
- Cons: Can lose in fuel tank if you drop it
- Review: Easy to calibrate and reliable to use. This fuel quantity stick works great.
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very helpful product
- By Mark from Bigfork MT USA on Tuesday, October 16, 2012
- Pros: Easy to calibrate
- Cons: Aluminum plate backing had sharp edges
- Review:
My fuel tanks are of an unorthodox size, which means that standard model specific gauges don't work. The calibration was simple and the handy card provided with the gauge makes it easy to determine fuel levels.
The most challenging part of this calibration process was picking an uncrowded period at the fuel dock where I'd be afforded time to sequentially add increments of fuel without holding up other thirsty planes! - Was this review helpful to you? Yes No 0 Other people found this review helpful.
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product does exactly what I bought it to do
- By Leonard from Dallas TX USA on Monday, June 21, 2010
- Pros: works
- Cons: none
- Review: I fly several different models of single engine airplanes in CAP(C172N/P/R, C182Q/R/T, Gippsland GA8) so wanted a single tool for measuring current fuel load during preflight. The generic stick works well for this purpose.
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Simple, effective
- By Mason from Clovis CA USA on Friday, October 24, 2008
- Pros: Simple, durable, accurate, cheap!
- Cons: None significant. You do need to calibrate it on your own, so be accurate!
- Review: Perhaps no other aspect of flight planning is as important as knowing at all times the amount of fuel you are carrying. Especially in this day of $5+ per gallon AvGas, it does not make financial sense to simply "fill it to the cap" each time we venture off for a cross-country trip, or guesstimate how much fuel we need to add or drain and still be within weight and balance limits. The FuelHawk is a simple, accurate way to know exactly how much fuel you have or need. It's essentially a thick, fluted plastic tube with easy-to-read gradation markings. You place the tube in your tank, put your finger firmly over one end, and pull out a fuel sample, comparing the measured level in the tube to a calibrated card you make using the included instructions. Simple! A word about calibrating: the emptier your tank when beginning the calibration process, the better! Take your time and do it right; you'll be glad you did. Also, those who fly airplanes with smaller tanks (e.g., C150s, PA38s) may wish to calibrate by filling up two or three gallons at a time instead of the recommended five. All in all, this is a great product that goes a long way to maintaining flight safety.
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No More Doubts...
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Works great and is inexpensive
- By Jim from Tucson AZ USA on Monday, April 26, 2010
- Review: This is a nice product and I was able to get a calibration chart for my Grumman AA-5A and it appears to be very accurate. Good product at a reasonable price. Highly recommended.
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I would buy this product again
- By Jake from NAGS HEAD NC USA on Thursday, April 29, 2010
- Review: This universal fuel gauge worked great. I didn't have to calabrate it either. I have a cessna 150L with standard tanks and it showed the gallons in the tank correctly, I only have to remember to subtract the unuseable amount of fuel from the gauge.
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Peace of Mind!
- By A Customer from Fort Worth TX USA on Friday, January 25, 2008
- Pros: Easy to read. No moving parts to wear out.
- Cons: Haven't found any yet
- Review: [This review refers to the FuelHawk Cessna 172 Long Range Fuel Gauge version] Ever looked into that deep, dark hole called a fuel tank and wondered just how much fuel is really in there? I always hated that and now there is no more wondering for me. I have a lot more peace of mind knowing exactly how much fuel is in each tank before take-off. I used the "stick method" in the past and all you really know is that you have 5" of fuel but how many gallons is that? How many inches per hour does your airplane use? I didn't know either. The fuel hawk gives you a readout in gallons which is useful information that you can actually use in calculations without having to guess. Great product!!
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Works great
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Some Guidance on methods to calibrate would help!
- By Scott from Montpelier VT USA on Thursday, August 21, 2014
- Review:
It is fairly easy to read--the hard part is calibrating. I have tried some differnt methods and currently I move the fuel selector valve to off, then read the line, then record the number of gallons added to fill the tank. Then I deduct that number from the usable fuel so I have gallons remaining in the tank. Bladder tanks are not uniform so it isn't like an increment of one equals X number of gallons. I am still building my "data".
The full tank level reads the number 12 on the stick, (30 gallons) but 6 is not half (15 gallons) a tank. It is about 22 gallons. This gives you better cushion in terms of fuel exhaustion, but can put you over max TOW. - Was this review helpful to you? Yes No 2 Other people found this review helpful.
Limited life
- By James L. Freeman from Anderson, SC on Thursday, September 13, 2007
- Pros: Accuracy, ease of use
- Cons: Durability
- Review: For doing the job it was designed to do, it is great--easy to use and accurate. The downside is that I go through a lot of them because, apparently, the auto fuel I use reacts with the plastic and causes it to crack. There is a potential for it to break and drop a piece into the fuel tank. It hasen't happened yet because I replace it as soon as a crack appears bad enough. One Fuelhawk lasts me 6-9 months.
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Lazy approach
- By Christopher Stamp from Rock Stream NY USA on Thursday, May 08, 2014
- Pros: Simple to use
- Cons: Calibration is rather tedious. Also, my previous one crazed so badly it partially drained when I withdrew it from the tank.
- Review: Simple useful item but why the heck doesn't the manufacturer calibrate it for various commonly found tanks tanks rather than giving tedious directions for self calibrating?
- Was this review helpful to you? Yes No 1 Other people found this review helpful.
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Unfortunately, it was the wrong one. Not your fault.
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- By Kayak Jack from East Lansing MI USA on Monday, March 08, 2010
- Pros: High quality materials and simple design.
- Cons: Sample problem sucks. Reconstruct it and FINISH it. A half of a solution leaues users high and dry.
- Review: Actually, I had to refigure the graph several times. The sample problem assumes that a new user knows things that, in fact, only the desigher knows. Reconstruct the sample problem so an 8th grader can do it the first time; then your work will be done.
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I am quite satisfied with this product.
- By Kenneth from Sauble Beach, Ontario, Canada on Monday, July 14, 2008
- Review: It fulfills the purpose of its intended use quite well. The only way it could be improved is if it were calibrated for the specific tank size that I have rather than having to interpolate from the calibrations used. This of course would change it from being a universal gauge and thus I suspect increasing the cost.
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Helps as a double check on fuel levels.
- By Jason from Memphis, TN on Tuesday, March 27, 2012
- Pros: Gives you a good enough gas on fuel levels.
- Cons: Be careful not to drop it in the fuel tank. Needs something to prevent it from falling in.
- Review: The product is as advertised. I ran the calibration process a couple of times, but I wouldn't rely on my it to be 100% accurate. I would rather have a good guess than no clue. This product gives you that good guess.
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It works, if you trust it
- By Harold from San Jose CA USA on Monday, October 24, 2011
- Review: It's just a basic piece of tube with some markings. However, when will the average pilot really use it? First, you have to calibrate it. To be concise, that would require a level surface and the wing level would have to be the same level too when you use it to make the calibration valid. Since this is not likely, I tend not to rely on it 100%. I still fill the tank up before each flight and top it off at my destination if my burn rate deems it. I won't solely go off this gadget. After calibrating it, I haven't used it.
- Was this review helpful to you? Yes No 0 Other people found this review helpful.
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It works
- By Brad from Oklahoma on Saturday, February 28, 2009
- Review: It works well, I still think it is crazy that they can't print these for several different models like my Cherokee 140 instead of having to create your own chart.
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FuelHawk is not the problem
- By A Customer from Washington State on Tuesday, February 13, 2018
- Review: Rated only three stars, but any dipper would be a problem with my tanks. They are 15 gallons, but long and flat, only three inches deep at the filler cap. Any slight difference in leveling makes considerable difference in the FuelHawk reading.
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Needs improvement
- By A Customer from Knoxville TN USA on Tuesday, June 28, 2011
- Pros: Easy to store and use
- Cons: needs calibration charts
- Review: While it works as described, I would hope the manufacturer would have taken the time to develop calibration charts for many of the most common aircraft this would be used on and posted them on the internet.
- Was this review helpful to you? Yes No 1 Other people found this review helpful.
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A dipstick for the fuelish.
- By David from Fenton MI USA on Monday, November 25, 2013
- Pros: Great to be exact on fuel quantities
- Cons: Getting tank empty to start calibration a pain at best
- Review: Once calibrated a good product for your flight planning safety
- Was this review helpful to you? Yes No 1 Other people found this review helpful.
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Without dependable markings, unfortunately
- By Paul from Canyon Lake TX USA on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
- Pros: Has potential if you can somehow "get" the markings right
- Cons: Of questionable accuracy as a "universal" gauge
- Review: I tried this "universal" gauge on my old 1977, out of production Grumman AA5B. I had to make my own markings which are of questionable accuracy without the manufacturer going to the effort to include dependable markings for odd/old aircraft. I went back to using my old black wooden stick. These things are great with current production airplanes that have markings on them for the make and model. I appreciate the attempt to make a "universal" gauge.
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