On Sep 14, 1:17*pm, "Jeffrey \"PT\" Smith"
wrote:
I've been seeing some of the small Zaon traffic avoidance units
(http://www.zaon.aero) and they look pretty slick.

I've been using the MRX unit this season and find a real help. I agree
with the other posters that the XRX unit is too big for most gliders.
The MRX is far from perfect, but so is a human's ability to spot
traffic unaided. As the instruction manual points out the MRX is an
aid, not a cure-all. In addition to occasionally missing traffic, it
has an annoying tendency to pick up my own transponder. There is an
adjustment to minimize this, but even that is not perfect. Still, much
better to be alerted unnecessarily than vice versa. And I can usually
tell when it's my transponder that's being seen because the target
appear suddenly at a mile or less range and approximately at my
altitude.

Aside from its obvious use, I used it just last Sunday to find another
glider (transponder equipped of course) that I almost surely would
have missed otherwise. The MRX showed a target at 2 miles (too far
away to be seen by eye -- though I should mention that the distance
estimate is also far from perfect), but I kept scanning. Sure enough
about a minute later I spotted a glider in a thermal and joined him.
So the MRX also serves as an occasional "thermal finder."

Overall, I highly recommend it.

Martin