On Dec 7, 4:27*pm, Dave Nadler wrote:
Different strokes, however some logical problems in the
above post, explained below...

On Dec 7, 1:02*pm, "noel.wade" wrote:

Alright, I'll be the heretic in the group:

I find that a well-set-up PDA is much better than most of the flight
computers out there!

And you have extensive experience with which ?

Many of the panel-mounted computers use text and/or point-and-line
graphics; which, while visible in sunlight, don't give you nearly as
good of an idea where you are as a moving map does. *Maybe its because
I'm younger than the average US glider pilot (sorry, not my fault) and
I've grown up around computers and graphics, but I find moving-map
symbology (with a couple of choice text items) MUCH easier to
interpret at a glance, compared to the "screen full of text" approach
of many glide computers. *And some brain studies have proven that
simple colors and shapes can be interpreted faster than text (letters
are shapes as well; but shapes that need to get shuffled off to the
linguistic part of the brain, IIRC).

I've focused design on being able to QUICKLY SCAN the panel
and get the info you need. Otherwise you spend too much time
heads down. Things that prevent scanning a
- poor screen clarity (contrast, resolution, size, fonts) requiring
squint time
- too much stuff (why you can't scan a sectional) !
- poor organization

ALL our flight screens are tested for scanability - can you look
at the image for = one second, look away, and have got what you
need ?
If it takes more time than that, what exactly is going to happen
in a thermal or on the ridge at mach speed ?
That's why our moving map is SIMPLE.
You can scan it !

Some user feedback Dave - don't taze me, bro!. While the SN-10 screen
gets high marks for contrast, I find the text display too crammed to
scan easily. The fonts are pretty blocky for easy readability too - at
least for me. I suspect this is due to the display technology selected
by Ilec rather than a software design choice, but you're the expert. I
found the LX 7000 to have a much easier to scan display for an
instrument in this class because of the clearer placement of the
various display elements, sharper characters, use of different text
sizes, etc.

Different strokes to be sure, but people should really take a live
look at some operating units and twiddle the knobs before they buy if
at all possible. The features and functionality also matter and the
SN-10 does pretty well here. I suspect it is the share leader among US
competition pilots.

9B