Jfitch, I just acquired another restoration project which still has one of the old pellet varios lol. I always wondered how immediate the response time was with them.

As to flying ships with the higher wing loading and faster cruise/thermal speeds, yep, thats an entirely different situation. Electronics become more vital for efficient flying. I still made a point of flying occassionaly with just my mechanical vario when I had my ventus just to train my a.s.s. as to how my ship felt when plowing thru lift and how to center up a thermal without accurate aids. I remember one flight trying to get home from hawthorne late in the day when my battery pooped out. I got home using the mechanical winter, and watching when the airspeed would slightly jump when entering mild lift. That little jump in airspeed told me what I needed to know ling before the winter said anything lol.