ZAON PCAS MRX

Are these units reliable and worth having in your glider?
Are they consistent enough to trust in a real threat situation?
Nick

On Wednesday, December 11, 2013 5:54:05 PM UTC-8, Nick Kennedy wrote:
Are these units reliable and worth having in your glider?

Are they consistent enough to trust in a real threat situation?

Nick

It is very reliable BUT has major limitations;
It will tell you that there is a possible threat(s), the distance and if it is above or below and the respective number of feet. What it does not indicate is the direction. I find my head turning more vigorously than normal when it goes off which is a good thing.

On 12/11/2013 8:54 PM, Nick Kennedy wrote:
Are these units reliable

No present collision avoidance technology should be considered
"reliable". It's just there as a backup to your MK1 eyeball.

and worth having in your glider?

I own one, and I consider it "worth having", meaning that it beats
having nothing. Since I own it, I don't fly without it.

Are they consistent enough to trust in a real threat situation?

Again, you should only trust your eyes. The MRX is there to nudge you
if your scan misses something. (When you get one, you will be surprised
and embarrassed at how unreliable your scan is.)


Vaughn

What they both said...

Besides the fact that it alerts you to pick up your scan, you can quickly
interpret whether an aircraft might be a threat by observing whether it's
closing with you. Just because range or altitude are closing does not mean
that it's a threat, but I'm more concerned with a closing aircraft than one
that's opening the gap.

What nobody has said is that it's a battery hog. A pair of AA batteries may
not last for a single flight so I've hooked mine up to ship's power.

"Vaughn" wrote in message
...
On 12/11/2013 8:54 PM, Nick Kennedy wrote:
Are these units reliable

No present collision avoidance technology should be considered "reliable".
It's just there as a backup to your MK1 eyeball.

and worth having in your glider?

I own one, and I consider it "worth having", meaning that it beats having
nothing. Since I own it, I don't fly without it.

Are they consistent enough to trust in a real threat situation?

Again, you should only trust your eyes. The MRX is there to nudge you if
your scan misses something. (When you get one, you will be surprised and
embarrassed at how unreliable your scan is.)


Vaughn

In article ,
Nick Kennedy wrote:

Are these units reliable and worth having in your glider?
Are they consistent enough to trust in a real threat situation?
Nick

Mine seems to be reliable. Seems to pick up relevant traffic. Ignores
airliners way up in the flight levels and I have had it ignore aircraft
passing at very low altitudes such as powerline patrols. Maybe the
software ignores them or they were too low for their transponders to be
interrogated. Can be annoying at during the launch at contest sites as
the towplanes are continually causing it to bleep.

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

On Wednesday, December 11, 2013 6:54:05 PM UTC-7, Nick Kennedy wrote:
Are these units reliable and worth having in your glider?

Are they consistent enough to trust in a real threat situation?

Nick

No! I had to send back my MRX to Zaon 3 times because a "filter" kept going out. The problem was the unit would not tell me there was any problem. It just acted like everything was fine but it would just stop picking up any other aircraft. I knew it was bad when a jet or two would get too close and it didn't pick it up. Very frustrating!

Also, please be aware that Zaon is now out of business so when that filter on yours goes out you might not have anywhere to send it to. Here is a link about them going Tango Uniform. http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news...n220938-1.html

The best solution is get a PowerFlarm, but then again, I know you don't like to be told what to do... Looking forward to flying with you next year..

Bruno - B4

On Wednesday, December 11, 2013 5:54:05 PM UTC-8, Nick Kennedy wrote:
Are these units reliable and worth having in your glider?

Are they consistent enough to trust in a real threat situation?

Nick

I have had the same experience as Bruno. The MRX works well when it works, but mine has been back to the manufacturer 3 times for repair, and it's ready for it's fourth repair. This time, there's no manufacturer to send it back to. If I could get it fixed again, I'd do it. Is the unit reliable? No.
Russ

On Thursday, December 12, 2013 8:46:17 AM UTC-8, wrote:

Also, please be aware that Zaon is now out of business so when that filter on yours goes out you might not have anywhere to send it to. Here is a link about them going Tango Uniform. http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news...n220938-1.html


Does that mean that the only way to get PCAS functionality now is via PowerFlarm? I did a search and it seems that Zaon was the only other company making PCAS (it's their term so I'm wondering if the same capability is available under another name). True?

9B

On Wednesday, December 11, 2013 6:54:05 PM UTC-7, Nick Kennedy wrote:
Hi Gents
Thanks for the good information on the MRX, I appreciate the time you guys took to write about it.
It sounds like when it is working and connected to the ships power it is a good thing to have on board.
I got mine in my extra's box of stuff when I purchased glider T and it seems to work at the present.
I set it on the dash of my F150 truck looking at the turns from downwind to base to final here in Telluride yesterday at it worked as advertised, and I could read the screen in bright sunlight
I like how simple it is to use and how easy it is to interpret the display. To bad they went Tango Uniform as Bruno so delicately put it :]
Happy Holidays
Nick
T

Are these units reliable and worth having in your glider?

Are they consistent enough to trust in a real threat situation?

Nick

I've had mine for less than a year and, so far, it has not failed.

As to extremely high or low aircraft alerting - during setup the pilot
chooses maximum range and altitude difference to report.

"Nick Kennedy" wrote in message
...
On Wednesday, December 11, 2013 6:54:05 PM UTC-7, Nick Kennedy wrote:
Hi Gents
Thanks for the good information on the MRX, I appreciate the time you guys
took to write about it.
It sounds like when it is working and connected to the ships power it is
a good thing to have on board.
I got mine in my extra's box of stuff when I purchased glider T and it
seems to work at the present.
I set it on the dash of my F150 truck looking at the turns from downwind
to base to final here in Telluride yesterday at it worked as advertised,
and I could read the screen in bright sunlight
I like how simple it is to use and how easy it is to interpret the
display. To bad they went Tango Uniform as Bruno so delicately put it :]
Happy Holidays
Nick
T

Are these units reliable and worth having in your glider?

Are they consistent enough to trust in a real threat situation?

Nick