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Old October 1st 12, 08:49 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Martin Gregorie[_5_]
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Default Best performing Vario?

On Mon, 01 Oct 2012 07:47:31 -0700, Evan Ludeman wrote:

On Oct 1, 10:36Â*am, wrote:

This does seem to be a work in progress however. Â*I'm hoping for a
circling detector at some point.


Yes, and it's coming, respectively. Probably GPS track based (like 302,
which works great).

I have an SDI C4 which offers the choice of circling detection (off the
GPS) and speed switching. Circling detection isn't tweakable - it
switched after 90 or 270 degrees depending on (amongst other things) how
tight you turn. Speed switching is highly customisable: you have separate
settings for the speed to switch from cruise-climb and climb-cruise,
which is great as I prefer the climb-cruise to be set a bit higher than
the cruise-climb transition. I prefer speed switching to circle
detection because it allows me to stay in climb mode along a weak street.

The SDI C3 also has a three position switch (up=climb, centre=auto,
down=cruise) which overrides automatic mode selection but this was
deleted from the C4 (actually, the C4 offers a choice of manual, circle
or speed switching but these are all mutually exclusive: it has no
equivalent of the C3's manual override). IMO the C3 setup was better, but
with tuning the C4's speed switching is very good: the vario is in the
appropriate mode 95% of the time.

IME a good move would be to consider using the C3 type setup for the CN:
the ability to adjust the two switching speeds to suit the glider type
and your flying style is an essential feature.

The C3/C4 also operates as a standard TE vario in climb mode and as a
super-netto type in cruise. This also works well for me.

T8 for ClearNav


HTH



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