On Monday, July 29, 2013 7:48:05 PM UTC-7, Tim Taylor wrote:
On Monday, July 29, 2013 7:44:44 PM UTC-6, Richard wrote:

On Monday, July 29, 2013 9:00:11 AM UTC-7, son_of_flubber wrote:



I'm starting to think that the textbook circular thermal is primarily a flatland phenomena.







I find that the SeeYou Thermal assistant works very well. Why don't you think it works. The manual on page 30-31 of the Oudie manual explains how it works







Richard



www.craggyaero.com



Jon, I was flying in Northern UT, Idaho and Wyoming but it sounds like the same air mass. I did get a good OLC score on 7/26 but it had nothing to do with my thermalling ability.



Richard,



SYM just doesn't seem to work well. I have read the manuals and tried many different settings. Here are a few observations:



1. The interface is not as intuitive and easy to understand as WP. I have tried both type of displays in STM and neither is great. I use the circle system most of the time now. I wish the circle diameter was constant rather than relative to each other. WP graphic is so much better on a 1 to 10 scale the WP is a 9 and the SYM is about a 4.



2. The timing appear to be off by about 30 or more degrees with SYM. Very often if you open up in the direction of what should be stronger it is not correct.



3. The timing of it turning on and off is random at best and frustrating at worst. It usually takes two or three full turns to come on and sometimes longer. Those first few turns are when you need it the most. WP would come on about 90 to 120 degrees into a turn. SYM tends to come on when you are finally cored and don't need it as much. It also comes and goes randomly when still in a thermal.



4. You can not toggle it on and off easily. With WP I had a button to push to turn it off if I was thermalling and wanted to see other information. With SYM I added the button to the menu bar but is does not work well. It will turn off the Thermal circles graphic but leave you in the thermal window.



5. SYM lacks the thermal strength versus time graph. This is extremely useful to determine how you are doing over time and the shape of the curve helps to determine if you need to adjust the circle.



6. In weak conditions where you are looking for very small amounts of lift SYM is correct on the direction about 50% of the time, WP was more like 90%.



SYM has many strengths but the Thermal Assistant is not one of them. I wish they would listen to users and improve it to something close to what WP has. Just offer a WP like TM page for those that want it. On the flipside I wish WP would listen to users and fix the known issues rather than chasing iPhone apps that can not be seen in a cockpit. Too bad neither seem to care about making the best possible product. No real hard things to fix for either company.



TT

Pretty much what he said. I would add that the depiction of all Flarm contacts, with associated information on the Thermal Assistant page is at the very least entertaining and very good for situational awareness.