Ted Wagner wrote:

If anyone has recently been through this process of finding out what all the
options are in a nicely distilled format, or where I might find some good
Internet resource on the subject, I would greatly appreciate it.

-Ted in Tempe

www.sailplanedirectory.com

www.goldengate.net/~tmrent/soar/docs/compare.htm

www.wingsandwheels.com/want_ads.htm

Really though, different people can come up with VERY
different conclusions.

There are tons of differences. If you are retired with
lots of extra time on your hands, 6'2", 210#, have a
SUV for towing and a big space for a trailer, and you
fly somewhere with very strong thermals or wave, noplace
to hangar or tie down, and you want to spend hours in
a sturdy $20k+ sailplane, then you'll make one choice.

If you're 5'4", 150#, have a Mazda Protege with a tow hitch,
fly in a very open, flat area, have a tiny hangar that a
15m won't fit in, fly less than 50 hours a year, and
have a helpful tow-pilot that you prefer not to offend
by asking him to assemble a 650# glider, you'll make another
choice.

For me, renting for a little while was great, then
getting into a 1/7th partnership/syndicate was the
best way to get just enough availability and fairly
low monthly cost. Personally, I'm in three partnerships
(boat, airplane, glider) and am MUCH happier than
owning anything outright. There's no way I could afford
or use these things fully otherwise.

I found the assembly/disassembly choice to be important
(are you gonna assemble for every flight? Do you have
a hangar? Do you have people to help? Do you have
wingstands/a great trailer?). I also really like
very light ground handling.

I chose a PW-5 over a pegasus and a pik-20. Part of it
was cost and opportunity, part was my low skill level,
but part was really the ease of assembly and ground
handling. The 1-26, russia, and PW-5 are easy to
move about and handle with one person, and clear
runway lights and taxiways very well with the short
wings. I've towed out of landouts without a wingrunner
where the 5-10 feet of wingspan made a difference.

But the PW-5 and Russia performance don't seem to compare
to a grob 102 or pegasus or pik. I don't know if the
AC-4c (Russia retract) is better enough to consider,
but I'd look at the one for $16k on wings and wheels
if I were in the market. Two russia owners at my
gliderport realize the sturdiness and construction
quality are a little lower for these aircraft, reflected
in the price.

I'd say the number one thing is to see if you actually
fit in the glider (for a few hours). Then work out
the assembly/disassembly and trailer or tie down.
Then push it around for about a mile.
Then figure out the initial and continuing expense.
Then compare insurance rates, including for retract.

And then, since you will have selected a 1-26, go back
and decide what you're willing to sacrifice in those
areas for a flatter polar (a glider that will fly
faster with relatively little sink).

Your list will probably look like...

1-26
Russia
PW-5
..
grob 102
..
pegasus
pik
LS-4

It's always a balance between what you want and
what you're willing to do to make it happen...