Where is the LX S80?

If you go to Cumulus Soarings website and read the information on the S80 it makes a short mention of the compass module.
Then if you go to the compass module section of his catalog it says it is for the S80.

There has been soooooooo much time from the initial announcement of the S80 and the now just released manual that they may have changed the design perameters of the unit.

I want to hear from LX how the winds are computed.

On Wednesday, October 8, 2014 9:24:51 PM UTC-4, wrote:
There has been soooooooo much time from the initial announcement of the S80 and the now just released manual that they may have changed the design perameters of the unit.



I want to hear from LX how the winds are computed.

Reading through the manual, there is no mention of wind at all. Also no mention of being able to connect a compass module, which is referenced on their S80 page in the second to last line of the paragraph directly below the picture of the unit. It states: "fast wind calculation with external compass"

http://www.lxnav.com/products/lxnav-varios/s80.html

The same web page mentions under "Hardware": integrated synthesized speech output. Yet in the manual, it states on page 45 under "stall speed", that the voice module is _not_ integrated in the S80. Confusing.

Interesting feature is ability to set the battery chemistry and battery warnings.

Thank you for reading the S80 manual so closely. The internal conflicts are important.

I am trying to decide on the Butterfly vario vs the S80. The sophistication of the Butterfly ICU really draws me in but then I get confused when the company that makes the FLARM unit has such a poor FLARM display and funtionality in their Butterfly Vario.

Then the S80 release is delayed and delayed and delayed and the manual does not clear the air on some fundamental questions.

On Wednesday, October 8, 2014 7:47:11 PM UTC-7, wrote:
On Wednesday, October 8, 2014 9:24:51 PM UTC-4, wrote:

There has been soooooooo much time from the initial announcement of the S80 and the now just released manual that they may have changed the design perameters of the unit.







I want to hear from LX how the winds are computed.



Reading through the manual, there is no mention of wind at all. Also no mention of being able to connect a compass module, which is referenced on their S80 page in the second to last line of the paragraph directly below the picture of the unit. It states: "fast wind calculation with external compass"



http://www.lxnav.com/products/lxnav-varios/s80.html



The same web page mentions under "Hardware": integrated synthesized speech output. Yet in the manual, it states on page 45 under "stall speed", that the voice module is _not_ integrated in the S80. Confusing.



Interesting feature is ability to set the battery chemistry and battery warnings.

It is curious that it has no magnetometer and no GPS. I wonder how they stabilize the AHRS? AHRS hardware included in every unit but it costs $1120 to turn it on? No GPS so no flight recorder function? S80 + Nano + AHRS option seems quite a bit more $$ than the Butterfly which includes all those functions and more? And you still need an external compass?

There must be more to the story than we know, because right now it doesn't seem to add up.

The Butterfly lacks a good Flarm display (by design, they claim), but gives excellent Flarm voice warnings which are quite a bit more useful. Still, I would like to see a good Flarm display.

Le vendredi 19 septembre 2014 13:06:34 UTC-4, a écrit*:
Supposed to be released in March 2014.

Looks like a direct competitor to the Butterfly vario.

Anyone actually have one?

There is a new inertial vario on the market from Australia called Vaulter

at; WharingtonSmith.com

Bad address.

Le vendredi 19 septembre 2014 13:06:34 UTC-4, a écrit*:
Supposed to be released in March 2014.

Looks like a direct competitor to the Butterfly vario.

Anyone actually have one?

This one works;

rbe-avionik.de

On Wednesday, October 8, 2014 7:47:11 PM UTC-7, wrote:
On Wednesday, October 8, 2014 9:24:51 PM UTC-4, wrote:

There has been soooooooo much time from the initial announcement of the S80 and the now just released manual that they may have changed the design perameters of the unit.







I want to hear from LX how the winds are computed.



Reading through the manual, there is no mention of wind at all. Also no mention of being able to connect a compass module, which is referenced on their S80 page in the second to last line of the paragraph directly below the picture of the unit. It states: "fast wind calculation with external compass"



http://www.lxnav.com/products/lxnav-varios/s80.html



The same web page mentions under "Hardware": integrated synthesized speech output. Yet in the manual, it states on page 45 under "stall speed", that the voice module is _not_ integrated in the S80. Confusing.



Interesting feature is ability to set the battery chemistry and battery warnings.

I heard from LXNAV

Compass can be connected via can bus. In the moment compass is not available.
Maybe some sounds are not implemented , but will be in future releases.

Concerning Winds: I have both the PowerFlarm-V7-Ultimate Le system and the Butterfly Vario in my glider. I do not see a significant difference in the wind calculation between the systems. Approx 400 hours of flying comparing the systems.

Richard
www.craggyaero.com

On Thursday, October 9, 2014 7:31:08 AM UTC-7, Richard wrote:
On Wednesday, October 8, 2014 7:47:11 PM UTC-7, wrote:

On Wednesday, October 8, 2014 9:24:51 PM UTC-4, wrote:



There has been soooooooo much time from the initial announcement of the S80 and the now just released manual that they may have changed the design perameters of the unit.















I want to hear from LX how the winds are computed.







Reading through the manual, there is no mention of wind at all. Also no mention of being able to connect a compass module, which is referenced on their S80 page in the second to last line of the paragraph directly below the picture of the unit. It states: "fast wind calculation with external compass"







http://www.lxnav.com/products/lxnav-varios/s80.html







The same web page mentions under "Hardware": integrated synthesized speech output. Yet in the manual, it states on page 45 under "stall speed", that the voice module is _not_ integrated in the S80. Confusing.







Interesting feature is ability to set the battery chemistry and battery warnings.



I heard from LXNAV



Compass can be connected via can bus. In the moment compass is not available.

Maybe some sounds are not implemented , but will be in future releases.



Concerning Winds: I have both the PowerFlarm-V7-Ultimate Le system and the Butterfly Vario in my glider. I do not see a significant difference in the wind calculation between the systems. Approx 400 hours of flying comparing the systems.



Richard

www.craggyaero.com

Richard, how do the winds compare in instantaneous changes? Also what to you have the wind filter set to?

I don't have a V7 (never seen one) but it appears to calculate winds by the traditional schemes: either thermal drift or GPS track velocity compared to heading and airspeed. On my Butterfly, in steady state conditions the inertial wind compares with the traditionally derived schemes as seen on PDA, Cambridge, etc. However the Butterfly reports momentary abrupt changes in wind in and around thermals, and sometimes during glides, that these traditional methods miss entirely. Based on other available data, I believe the Butterfly is correct.

If you fly with iGlide, Butterfly uses the rapid instantaneous wind changes in thermals for their thermalling assistant, which presents a wind direction arrow in each lift dot each second. At least in well organized thermals, the instantaneous wind reliably points towards the center of lift, and can be used to center.

At other times (notably on final glides over the Carson valley heading back to Truckee) there will be a sudden increase in wind that lasts for many minutes (or perhaps an altitude band, or geographic location) before reverting the the prevailing wind. For example it will go from 8 knots southwest to 28 knots south for 5 minutes, then back - as reported by the Butterfly. This can be confirmed by comparing GPS to TAS. After some time, the traditional methods will agree. When the strong wind is cross, the traditional method may never show it, while the Butterfly does.

My conclusion is that in steady state, and particularly for headwind/tailwind components, averaged over some time, the traditional and inertial methods agree well. But the traditional methods miss a lot of rapid changes and there are times when this is significant.

One problem with observing every change in wind is that if final glide calculations are based on them, you see it varying rapidly as wind gradients are encountered. As far as I know, the Butterfly itself has no way to set the averaging filters differently for final glide calcs, which would be desirable.

A curiosity (but proof of Butterfly's method) is that while the engine in my ASH26e is running, traditional wind calculation is off by a huge amount since the tail pneumatics are in the prop wash. However the Butterfly correctly calculates the wind during engine runs.