On Thursday, December 20, 2012 8:23:20 AM UTC-6, kirk.stant wrote:
On Wednesday, December 19, 2012 8:54:58 AM UTC-6, John Cochrane wrote:

Don't. Buy a vario with automatic cruise/climb switching. Otherwise you will spend a lot of time with the switch in the wrong position.



I have to respectfully disagree with John - I've tried automatic cruise/climb switching (SN10) and hate it with a passion - I don't even like having it connected to the flap switch. There are times when I want TE and I'm not in thermalling flaps (under a cloudstreet perhaps), and if turning is used, I may not be turning enough to trigger the climbing mode while sniffing around for a core.



Then again, I don't use any audio during cruise, so the difference is immediately obvious to me. I use a switch on the stick - forward for cruise, back for climb.



With the SN10, switching cruise/climb also changes what is shown on my custom page, and resets thermal averages, acts I like being able to control.



Try it both ways, a lot depends on your vario and computer setup. With what John is running, he may be totally right having it done automatically, and he is definitely right that with a manual switch you can get it wrong - kinda like flaps ;^).



Cheers,



Kirk

66

I think the ideal is automatic switching with a manual override. Then, if you want to hear one vs. another temporarily you can do so. But you won't find yourself boring a hole in the sky at 120 knots in "sink" because you forgot to turn the regular vario back to speed to fly.

I set my audio up for regular vario in climb, and speed to fly in cruise with fast response and tight deadbands. My needle in cruse shows relative netto (netto - 200 fpm).

This setup has the advantage of no big changes as you move from climb to cruise. At about 60 knots, you get about the same indication in either mode. The 302 also has a "lift alarm" feature which switches to regular vario if the lift is above the Mc setting when flying straight(or similar -- not sure of the algorithm) making the transition even more seamless.

The overall result in the 302 was that I am not even aware of what mode it's in and just fly the glider. Up tones mean gently slow down, look at the needle briefly to evaluate the lift strength for deciding to stop or not, down tones mean get out and speed up. The new clearnav vario is still working on the cruise/climb algorithm so there is more of a noticeable change (still small), but I expect that to be smoothed out.

John Cochrane