Udo,

I concur with Noel. It is subjective. The PDA's I like are Aero1550
(like yours) and iPaq 3850. The latter is somewhat more "modern" than
3660, but still has a reflective display. I find it quite visible in
sunlight (better than any other color PDA I've seen). I have not seen
ClearNav, but all other LED based TRANSMISSIVE displays I've looked
at, were pretty much invisible in full sunlight.

What I'd like to know is what is current draw of ClearNav at full
brightness (I'll assume visibility)?

Cheers,
Henryk Birecki

"noel.wade" wrote:

On May 7, 4:53*pm, Udo wrote:
I am thinking of upgrading my PDA for my GNII.
The display should be readable in sun light. Presently I use a1550 as
primary with a 302 and the 39xx as a back up with a 302A. Maybe I
should get a CAI Nav display and one good PDA. Which one? Please make
recomendations.
Udo

Udo -

This is not the answer you're looking for, but in my experience
people's opinion/reaction to various PDA displays is a HIGHLY
subjective thing.

If you can, try to find a few different PDAs being used by local
pilots and check them out (in the sunlight or under a glider canopy).
Check them with the backlight turned on and turned off. Different
PDAs do better with different brightness and backlight settings (and
backlighting can severely impact the battery life or run-time).

Also note the viewing angles that work with a given PDA. Gooseneck-
type mounts make this far easier to deal with than a knee-strap or
hard-mounting to the instrument panel.

Good luck!

--Noel
(Who uses an HP iPAQ hx4700 hooked up to an ewMicroRecorder, with the
backlight turned off in sunlight and running XCSoar)