Thanks to everyone who commented. I especially appreciated Ron's
comments from the "other side" of soaring.

Cats mentioned the need for TE, etc. Yes, that is true. I envision
that the manufacturers would create a glider specific version of their
product that would deal with our specific needs and form factors.

Simon wanted to know about features. What triggered this whole thread
was after looking at the http://www.ascentvario.com/ variometer. Here
are some of its features all packed into a case
1.75"x2.36"x0.63" (44mmx60mmx16mm) and weighing 1.4oz (40g). Solid
state digital, LCD display, Audio variometer, altimeter, VSI in m/s or
ft/min, averager, temperature, max alt, sink alarm, max climb, timers,
flight data recorder*, USB, car or AC charging. $299 with a car
charger. Even the site is much slicker than our glider variometers'
sites.

Could this and other non-glider manufacturers create something for our
market? Sure they could. But we have to ask why aren't they? Is our
market too small? Is it unknown? Is the grown of our market (and the
number of devices to be sold) too slow?

My $0.02.

- John DeRosa

* Flight number, date, time, duration, altitude (start/max/end), max
lift, max ave lift, max sink, temp (min/max). There is no GPS in this
model but there other manufacturers with GPS models. A few are FAI
certified flight recorders.