Speed of a vario

Which vario has lowest latency? (Least delay to indicate thermal we pass)

Anyone has done side by side tests?

S

Schuemann CV “taught band instrument, if you are talking about mechanical units. Too fast to use, without a restrictor installed.

Most modern electronic vario’s can be set too fast to use as well.

I’ve never understood how a vario can be “too fast to use.� I would rather know I just flew into the lift/sink 1 second ago than 3 seconds ago. At the extreme, I want to know the moment I hit lift/sink. How I react to that information is another thing but I see nothing wrong with precise information.

Thermals are turbulent, and a 1 sec time constant means that the vario would be all over the place and completely useless. Use your butt instead.

On Sat, 08 Aug 2020 23:58:05 -0700, Tango Whisky wrote:

Thermals are turbulent, and a 1 sec time constant means that the vario
would be all over the place and completely useless. Use your butt
instead.

Best fast electronic I've used is the (now quite ancient) Borgelt B.40.
Somehow it manages to be both fast and adequately damped: the needle
never jitters about, but I agree with Tango Whisky - never ignore what
your butt is telling you.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

On Sunday, August 9, 2020 at 7:07:42 AM UTC-4, Martin Gregorie wrote:
On Sat, 08 Aug 2020 23:58:05 -0700, Tango Whisky wrote:

Thermals are turbulent, and a 1 sec time constant means that the vario
would be all over the place and completely useless. Use your butt
instead.
Best fast electronic I've used is the (now quite ancient) Borgelt B.40.
Somehow it manages to be both fast and adequately damped: the needle
never jitters about, but I agree with Tango Whisky - never ignore what
your butt is telling you.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

I agree. There's something about the damping that seems to just work across multiple gliders, some with questionable pneumatic systems. If someone said I could have one and only one vario, it would be the B40 with the 9 volt battery strapped to the back.

I always found it funny that my sage was almost "too good". The reality, at least for those of us who fly in turbulent environments like mountains and ridges is that you need to do a lot of "soft averaging" to achieve decent climbs, and I have found with multiple varios from different manufacturers (Cambridge, Clearnav, Butterfly, LX) that I always end up configuring them for something like a 2 second or slightly more response time. Anything else makes it hard for me to integrate the information to form a picture. In other words, seat of the pants says we just flew into lift; old-fashioned pneumatic Winter Vario and the latest electronic gadget start to confirm a second or two later; trend seems to be continuing; now did one side feel better than the other; start the turn and keep the bank moderate at long as the trend is getting better...

With faster response, I usually found myself making a "panic bank" too early and having to take more turns to get centered.

But that's just how my brain is wired.

P3

To (mis)quote Obi-wan Kenobi - "Use the butt, Luke".

You'll feel it before the vario says anything.

On 8/8/2020 9:39 PM, Stephen Szikora wrote:
I’ve never understood how a vario can be “too fast to use.� I would rather know I just flew into the lift/sink 1 second ago than 3 seconds ago. At the extreme, I want to know the moment I hit lift/sink. How I react to that information is another thing but I see nothing wrong with precise information.

--
Dan, 5J

I like to open the window in order to hear what the air mass around the glider is doing. Works great when flying tight and weak thermals.

On Saturday, August 8, 2020 at 7:49:02 PM UTC-7, wrote:
Which vario has lowest latency? (Least delay to indicate thermal we pass)

Anyone has done side by side tests?

S
The Air Avionics (Butterfly) vario has inertially derived vertical air mass movement. This is nearly instant, the indicator moves perhaps 1/10 of a second after your butt. It leads the barometric needle (both it's own, and the two other variometers in my panel) by over a second, and I have them set to the lowest time constant.

On Saturday, August 8, 2020 at 7:49:02 PM UTC-7, wrote:
Which vario has lowest latency? (Least delay to indicate thermal we pass)

Anyone has done side by side tests?

S

Sage Vario's are the fastest mechanical I know, however the seat of your pants is be far the most accurate if you fly well. Our typical TE systems have flaw that would prevent even the fast electrical or mechanical from giving good information. Have you ever glanced at your TE on take roll? Any horizontal wind gust shows as lift and sink, a typical take off roll shows 4-5 FPM lift!!. Using the seat of pants combined with a averager works for most of us.

BG