Not true - no-one said you can't use the $100 GPS for all the most useful
functions. (Navigation and flight analysis.) There are just restrictions on
using them for FAI awards where there is a higher standard of proof demanded.
Regrettably this is so because there have been documented cases of fraud in
badge and record claims. Proof that there is scum in every pond I suppose.

Now whether the design of IGC logger security is efective at preventing that is
another question.

Bruce

Jim Beckman wrote:
What a nonsense, Ian. In the ancient times, people

wanting to get a badge needed to buy a barograph and

a camera, and if I recall correctly, they weren't
cheap -
typically more expensive than a logger today.
So, what changed is the technology, not the price
tag.

But the comparison ought to be between the cost of
a logger that's approved, and one that isn't. To produce
a flight log, it isn't necessary to spend more than
a hundred dollars. The technology is available, and
it's cheap, but we aren't allowed to use it.

Jim Beckman (NJ)