LX Era 80 vs S80/S100

On Wednesday, May 6, 2020 at 6:59:44 AM UTC-7, Jonathan Foster wrote:
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!

Not familiar with the Era, but have used LXNAV gear for many years now. Very impressed with their responsive factory answers to any questions I've had.

I have the LX9000 with V9 vario, which does have a voice-type stall warning.. On occasion, she's reminded me of my sometimes erratic thermaling technique. According to the user manual (available on LXNAV website), the S80 has similar.

Sounds like nagging. I fly to get away from that!

I have my S100 set to GPS auto-mode w/ the initial gyro sensing your pull up and turn to lift. It beats my PDA in switching every time. It switches within the first 1/4 turn of the circle to "climb" mode and quickly switches back to "cruise" mode when leaving the circle.

I have the Netto displayed in numeric form in "cruise". It works very well and the 4-second averager setting feels about right.
Netto displayed on your primary vario is a wonderful tool for XC flight.


I never touch the unit or switch anything during flight and have not felt like I needed to. It's completely in tune and switches between flight modes quickly.

Nonetheless, you guys have me considering the dedicated control stick. I'm not in love with my stock grip. The stock grip seems like it's welded on there. Is removal difficult?

I have the S100 set to my TE probe (no electronic compensation) and it's now a very true and reliable device. I highly recommend the S100. It's a great do-everything vario and will improve your efficiency in flight.

A newby here.

Can anyone explain WHY LX NAV and LX Navigation split up? Just what caused this situation of two nearly identical product lines by two different companies from the same nation?

I found this post from 2012 ...

“As I heard complete story:
First was LX Navigation company and they developed all instuments
Colibri lx16, lx166,lx7000, lx7007 itc.. and also lx8000.
Then some developers left the company and start new bussines with
LXNav company.
Mr. Rojnik gave them rights to sell LX8000 product + also the get
market, NAME and dealers.
At first they were working friendly companies, but if you sell similar
products it can cause that happened here.
They become biggest competitors.�

But there seems ti be more to it than that. The LX1000 was a Dittel. The LX4000 was a Filser. These were German companies that changed ownership and evolved over time to new entities. It seems that LX Navigation (and later LX Nav) may have been offshoots of some sort. I’m just as confused about it as you though.