On Wed, 19 Apr 2006 15:10:53 -0400, "Peter Dohm"
wrote:

I think we're being told a lot of digital stuff is "better"
when it really isn't in some ways. Digital stuff is much cheaper to
manufacture, because machines can assemble almost the entire thing,
while analog devices have small moving parts that usually need to be
put together by hand. The profit on digital equipment must be a lot
higher, especially on the cheap stuff.
I can't use digital meters while troubleshooting electrical
problems. The digital VOM I can afford only samples the voltage or
whatever about once a second, making any rapid adjustments or quick
readings impossible. The old analog meter goes immediately to the value
and shows any changes instantly. In cold weather the LCD digital
display gets sleepy but my mechanical needle still works faithfully.

Dan

Good points, one and all. And my experience as well.

Peter


There is one area where an electronic display could offer something
better than a mechanical instrument.

if you are fault finding something a history can be priceless. in
many(most) of the Citect industrial controls environments we provide a
popup graph mechanism which shows the value over the last couple of
minutes.
"how long has that oil pressure been dropping like that?" is something
that is answered immediately by a small trend graph of the value.

btw it is worth noting that most good pilots are long sighted and
quite often have a less than crystal clear view of nearby items so
having large graphical items on the instrument faces makes them easy
to read, especially in turbulence.

my flight watches(timepieces), for instance, I evaluate on the basis
of being able to recognise the time with just a momentary glance.
they are all analog and have very plain faces.

Stealth Pilot