LX Era 80 vs S80/S100

At 06:44 02 October 2019, Senna Van den Bosch wrote:
I'm thinking of upgrading my SDI C4 e-vario this winter in my DG-100.
With
=
limited space, I would be going for an 80mm one.

I've seen some different options, like the LX S80/S100 and Era 80, but
fail=
to see many differences.

For what I do know from the cumulus-soaring.com comparison page is that
the=
Era 80 has GPS built in, is IGC approved and has a built in backup
battery=
.. Also, the Era seems to support 1 needle at a time, while the S80/S100
can=
do netto/relative/McCready needles at the same time.

Would you suggest one above the other? Any other features to compare that
I=
'm missing?

Help would be appreciated!


I have flown with both - Era 80 in a club owned Discus, and S80 (with AHRS)
in private Cirrus/Nimbus/ASW20. Much more time in the S80 equipped
gliders.

Both are good varios, personally I prefer the S80/S100 (with the LX remote
Stick). The Era 80 has a 'fancier' display/UI, as I think it has a higher
resolution but I found the S80 much easier to get started with visually and
while quickly scanning the instruments. Once you understand the multiple
'needles' (also includes thermal average) they are very useful indeed.

I have also heard good things about the ClearNav Vario (with the square LCD
display), but this lacks some all round functionality of the Era/S80 (which
may need additional licences anyway to enable).

If you are borderline on which to choose, go with the one which is more
common at your club- these are niche products and you may well find you
need support at the most inconvenient of moments!

Cheers,
Shaun

They are both valid. I use S100 and I'm very satisfied. The S100 also has GPS, is IGC certificated and has an internal backup battery that lasts for 3 hours. I would definetly reccomend the remote stick.
It is very precise in Wind calculations.
Cheers

Senna
I think you should fix what you have first before spending any money.
What Christop and Krasw said is correct and I agree.
It sounds like you have a incorrect polar installed in your computor or a pneumatic tubing leak.
Your Netto function should work much better than you describe.
Double and triple check you have the correct polar data entered.
Mike Borgelt on his website has a tubing leak repair and test guide.
Lee Kuhlke also wrote a excellent article on testing in Soaring a few years back.
You only need a few dollars in tools and an less than an hour to do this.
You can't just look at the tubing; you Have to check it for leaks with a gauge, likely your airspeed indicator. This plumbing leak test is easy to do, finding and fixing the leak, if you have one, could take more time, but you have to have a leak free system before anything is going to work well.
These gliding computers function off of very low pressure's and suction.
Ask someone who knows if your TE probe is adequate.
Fix what you got and save that money for tows, or chocolates for your girlfriend the next time you leave her for a soaring trip!

Not only you should be able to select your favorite method for switching from Speed-Command to Vario, but you should probably be able to select what is actually being indicated by the needle. In the Zander which I'm more familiar with, you have many options, doubled for SC and Vario.

My preferred setting is:
SC = needle indicates netto, or relative netto.
Va = needle indicates vario

I prefer to have the "push or pull" indication elsewhere, maybe an arrow in the repeater or main computer unit. Or I can easily live without it.

The C4 is a honest vario. I'd try to keep it there.

Aldo Cernezzi.

I've been seeing some pilots prefer the Borgelt variometers as well, how would the modern ones (B600/B800/dynamis) compare to the modern LX variometers?

I have a B800, and I’m very happy with it, only the vario, no GCD or Borgelt GPS, just use flight computer to set mcready and ballast.
Dynamis certainly sounds great, but at over $5000 aud + extra on top of the B800, It is very costly.
The basic B800 was much cheaper than the LXs, both kinds.
I’m wondering the same question, looking at an S80 that is for sale here.

I have a B800, though just the vario, without the Borgelt GPS, GCD and Dynamis. I control the settings on the B800 via the flight computer, bugs, ballast and Mcready,
Dynamis sounds great, but at $5000aud + is not cheap, maybe one day.
I’ve been wondering the same thing myself, though my recent flights with the new B800 have been satisfyingly fast, so there’s that.

On Sun, 03 Nov 2019 23:33:54 -0800, Senna Van den Bosch wrote:

I've been seeing some pilots prefer the Borgelt variometers as well, how
would the modern ones (B600/B800/dynamis) compare to the modern LX
variometers?

Most of the LX units I've seen strike me as cramming too much information
into the centre of the display, but of course ymmv.

Currently I'm very happy with an SDI C4 (with cruise/climb switching
controlled by airspeed) and a 3.5" PNA running LK8000 (3.5" because of
panel size limitation) and a Borgelt B.40 as secondary vario.

Back when I used a Garmin GPS II for navigation I had that connected to
the C4, which let it calculate arrival heights etc. That doesn't work now
because the PNA/LK8000 doesn't have a suitable data out connection and,
even if it did, it doesn't output the GPS sentences the C4 needs. So, I'm
considering using a port of LK8000 to a Raspberry Pi with a touch screen
and writing a custom module to generate the data feed to the C4.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

On Tuesday, November 5, 2019 at 1:25:06 PM UTC+1, Martin Gregorie wrote:
On Sun, 03 Nov 2019 23:33:54 -0800, Senna Van den Bosch wrote:

I've been seeing some pilots prefer the Borgelt variometers as well, how
would the modern ones (B600/B800/dynamis) compare to the modern LX
variometers?

Most of the LX units I've seen strike me as cramming too much information
into the centre of the display, but of course ymmv.

Currently I'm very happy with an SDI C4 (with cruise/climb switching
controlled by airspeed) and a 3.5" PNA running LK8000 (3.5" because of
panel size limitation) and a Borgelt B.40 as secondary vario.

Back when I used a Garmin GPS II for navigation I had that connected to
the C4, which let it calculate arrival heights etc. That doesn't work now
because the PNA/LK8000 doesn't have a suitable data out connection and,
even if it did, it doesn't output the GPS sentences the C4 needs. So, I'm
considering using a port of LK8000 to a Raspberry Pi with a touch screen
and writing a custom module to generate the data feed to the C4.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

Hi Martin,

you can adjust the layout as you wish. You can have only one NAVBOX and no other data. At LXNAV we indeed have many options and many information, but the most important is that you can totally adjust the screen as you wish.

More you can read he
https://gliding.lxnav.com/wp-content...er710rev29.pdf

page: 25

Best regards, Toni

On Wednesday, October 2, 2019 at 12:44:55 AM UTC-6, Senna Van den Bosch wrote:
I'm thinking of upgrading my SDI C4 e-vario this winter in my DG-100. With limited space, I would be going for an 80mm one.

I've seen some different options, like the LX S80/S100 and Era 80, but fail to see many differences.

For what I do know from the cumulus-soaring.com comparison page is that the Era 80 has GPS built in, is IGC approved and has a built in backup battery. Also, the Era seems to support 1 needle at a time, while the S80/S100 can do netto/relative/McCready needles at the same time.

Would you suggest one above the other? Any other features to compare that I'm missing?

Help would be appreciated!

I have also been considering trading out my trusty CAI302 for an S80 or Era.. One question I have is the CAI302 makes a giddy-up sound if I get to slow while thermalling. Does either of these instruments do that? I think it is an important safety feature.