On Sep 12, 2:55*pm, John Cochrane
wrote:
On Sep 12, 12:30*pm, ryanglover1969 wrote:

Looking for some consensus of opinion on what is the best combination
of flight computer, logger and PDA. / soaring software.

Recently sold my glider with LX 1600, Colibri and 3800 series Ipaq
running SeeYou Mobile. I liked the set up ok, but there were some
minor glitches, as I'm sure there are with any set up. What do you
think is the best? And cost is a factor.

1) My current favorite: Clearnav, NK vario (hopefully coming soon!),
flarm as backup logger.

The clearnav works great, and presents the information you need,
quickly, with a minimum of fussing and fiddling.

Until the NK vario / flarm are available a 302 is a great vario and
backup GPS.

2) SN10. I used to have one. Great instrument, very accurate, very
solid and dependable. The downside is a smaller display, usually
needing an extra moving map, the need to page through lots of
numerical information. For pilots who don't really drool over the huge
map on the clearnav the downside is an upside.

3) LX. I don't have one, but buddies who do swear by them.

Avoid:

-PDAs! *For the few thousand you spend on good instruments like the
above, say goodbye to batteries that die from age, batteries that die
if you leave it unplugged for 20 minutes, batteries that die over the
winter even though you left it plugged in all the time, rushing to
walmart to find backup batteries, *batteries that swell up and blow
out the back of the pda and won't go back in; rebooting in flight,
hard rebooting in flight (Lost the stylus again! Now what can I find
in the cockpit to stick in the reboot hole?) , hard rebooting in
flight 5 minutes before the start gate opens, hard rebooting in flight
while driving down the ridge 10 miles from the next MAT turnpoint,
reentering the entire task in flight after the above, SD cards that
die, squinting to see what it actually says, making cheesy shades to
keep the sun at Uvalde from overheating the darn thing, and so on.
(All of the above are true stories). *PDA lifespan is also less than
real instruments, so you'll buy 2 or 3 before you're done.

-Legacy instruments. The new ones are better.

Pay attention to:

-Support, especially for US pilots. I know first hand that NK and SN10
are both excellent at this. If there's a rule change or a bug, they
fix it fast.

Cost? *Don't be cheap on vario/av! This is by far the most important
piece of your glider for doing well in competition and cross country.
Buy a glider that costs $4000 less, or forego the new winglets or
wingrigger or some other glider doodad somesuch, but don't be cheap
about vario and nav if you want to do well and avoid endless
frustration.

Be sure to cost out an entire system including GPS, speed to fly
vario, display, moving map, extra wires, brackets, connection gear,
backup GPS, backup vario if you want one. The integrated computers
seem expensive, but once you add up the parts it's a better deal than
it seems.

John Cochrane

I loved my LX 1600 and the colibri was alright, but man I could not
stand the PDA. You're right about the rebooting in flight and all the
other issues. I keep telling myself it was just the model PDA I had,
3600 then 3800. I wonder if the Oudie in more reliable?