FLARM Technology for the US Gliding Community

On Sep 14, 8:50*am, Mike the Strike wrote:
On Sep 14, 7:52*am, Darryl Ramm wrote:

I tried to follow your links, but there was nothing there.

http://www.GliderPilot.org/FLARM

Sigh. (again)

Darryl

From a recent discussion at our ASA racing group, I think you are now
preaching to the choir on the benefits of FLARM.

The problem we have is that pilots in the USA are not going to have
the availability of an inexpensive unit, such as those used in Europe,
Australia and Africa. *PowerFLARM appears to be a wonderful unit with
many more benefits and I can see one in my future, but the cost is
three to four times that of the regular unit and will have a much
harder time reaching the same levels of adoption as in other
countries. *I predict that there will be a lot of push-back if the
rules committee attempts to mandate the use of a $2,000 unit in
contests.

Mike

(It wasn't me "preaching", I assume Mike meant the OP but I'll reply
anyhow).

Where does "three to four times" come from?

The advertised price of a Flarm Classic unit in the UK looks like £495
(US$770) or £587 (US$913) with IGC recorder. Neither price including
VAT. (see http://www.lxavionics.co.uk/flarm.htm)

In Australia the advertised price of a miniOzFLarm black box is AU$769
plus likely a display like the Artronic for AU$239. That is a total of
AU$1008 (US$951). We could argue about the possibility of using this
with a PDA only display, but I think you really want the hardwired
display/controller in addition to a PDA. (see http://www.swiftavionics.com.au)

In Germany the advertised price of a Flarm Classic unit (with IGC
recorder) is EUR685 (US$891).
See http://shop.segelflugbedarf24.de/ind...and-ADS-B.html.

The introductory price for PowerFLARM in the USA was US$1495 (with
PCAS, 1090ES and IGC up to three diamonds). The USA list price
mentioned was $1695. I hear that the initial allocation at the
introductory price has sold out.... (maybe time to start asking for an
extension or bulk buy program etc.)

Am I missing something? I'm not disputing the new generation
PowerFLARM is more expensive than older Flarm units available
overseas, but I just want people to be careful making pricing
comparisons (and be clear what features like IGC recorders are in
different products - yes not everybody may want that feature, but lets
just be clear on any comparisons). BTW I've seen some people confuse
the pricing on a Flarm display to that of a full Flarm unit, so again
a good idea to be clear exactly what is in any price comparison.

Darryl