Stratus 3 Firmware Updates

[Rich]

Once upon a time, when Stratus and ForeFlight were tightly linked, ForeFlight would automatically queue up Stratus firmware updates and let you update it right from within FF. Then came the Stratus 3, where that tight coupling went away, such that Stratus 3 could be used with not-FF apps.

Now one updates using Stratus Horizon Pro (SHP). It doesn’t quite work as smoothly, but it does work. Here are the steps I went through this weekend:
1. Connect to Stratus 3, Open up SHP and download the update using iPhone LTE connection. (Smart WiFi allows this kind of simultaneous connection.)
2. Go to tools>software update in SHP. It shows the Stratus firmware version 1.3…. And the downloaded version as 1.6… But it also says “Stratus is up to date ????? And won’t load it in.
3. When in doubt, reboot, right? Restart the Stratus and reconnect the iPhone. Open SHP and get a splash screen that says “Update available”. Let’s me load it in and shuts down the Stratus.
4. Restart the Stratus. Should be done, right? Not so fast grasshopper. SHP “Settings” has a red “!” Symbol. Go to the update selection. It now shows both the Stratus and the download versions as identical 1.6… BUT also says “Update needed”???? OK I’l bite. Press the “update”,it loads into the Stratus but this time when it’s done the Stratus LEDs are all red.
5. Cycle the Stratus power and finally it all looks good.

Why did I do this? I don’t know. It seemed the thing to do, as in the years since I got this version of the Stratus I never had updated the firmware.