I'll throw $.02 into this first world debate. I fly with a LX90XX and V80. I also have iGlide and iPad mini, butterfly. I only use the mini for sectionals via foreflight. While iGlide is nice, it just plain and simple is not an integrated flight computer, end of story! The computer is part of the ship and knows what is happing in the ship. The position of landing gear, airbrake, it knows when I dump water and for how long and automatically adjust flight computer to my new ballasted weight, it also controls my radio. I can push a button on stick which flips to the "Near" page, see all close landing areas, scroll through them from stick, pick an airport push a button on the stick, the radio freq is automatically loaded to radio and navigation page displayed to this new airport. I can then scroll down the various pages I have custom created to view photos of airport/waypoint/... read any notes associated with point, all without taking hand off stick. I can control all operations of the computer/radio/transponder/V80 from the stick. The computer knows my flap position and displays it on screen along with suggested flap position. I have multiple custom created pages for Navigation, Airport, Waypoint, task, as noted above some pages have photographs of the waypoint or airport. I have notes regarding waypoints below photos of waypoints. I can display a vertical card compass on display or as part of display (helps in figuring out the runway). I have pages for check lists, pages for data.... I have high definition maps loaded to the computer, I get voice warning of everything from "traffic 3 o'clock" to "overspeed", it calls out approaching airspace, hell I even get the vario value read out to me every 30 seconds while thermaling in addition to the audio tone, "three knots" says a pleasant woman's voice. I can display a horizon on computer and V80. I can even display a 3D maps behind the horizon on computer so I get a virtual screen to fly if stuck above clouds. The computer has PDF of POH and maintenance manual, and all important papers, always in aircraft. The last fricken thing I want to do from my glider or from my flight computer is to make a phone call, holly hell!!! I have never had a cell phone last more than 3 years, and the iPhoneX is $1150 before tax, then add another $230 for iGlide. My computer has an accurate flux compass, frankly the list of comparisons is so off the scale in favor of a real flight computer. The flight computer has many functions I have not listed, if interested read the manual. I am sure this flight computer will stay with this bird for the next 20 or more years, while in that time you will have had to purchase about 7 iPhones if you actually get three years service life. As I said iGlide is fine, but don't mistake it for a flight computer, and yes, I have used connect stick on butterfly to feed iPad, again fine, but for me the economics and benefits seriously weight in favor of a real flight computer. Anyone that says a feature comparison between iGlide and a full mounted computer is just not telling the truth.


On Monday, December 4, 2017 at 9:06:08 AM UTC-8, jfitch wrote:
On Monday, December 4, 2017 at 5:42:54 AM UTC-8, krasw wrote:
perjantai 1. joulukuuta 2017 19.09.54 UTC+2 jfitch kirjoitti:
On Thursday, November 30, 2017 at 10:30:28 PM UTC-8, krasw wrote:
perjantai 1. joulukuuta 2017 0.17.44 UTC+2 kirjoitti:
If you really want to go big, try iPad mini 4. It works well with iGlide. Easy to read, and has more info boxes than on IPhone.

I would but iPads do not have same display as X. Pure gliding use X is total overkill, with iGlide licence package is close to 1500 euros.

1500 euros makes it about 25-50% cheaper than a dedicated glider display.....

For example the Air Display L is 3200 euro. And you can't make phone calls on it. Alternatively an LX9000 is US$5500 (about 4600 euro), quite a bit more than an Air Vario and an iPhone X with iGlide (around US$4300). And you still can't make phone calls on it.

You just can't compete with the economics of mass produced consumer electronics. Apple is currently making 500,000 iPhone Xs per DAY. They expect to sell over 50 million phones this quarter. LX probably will sell 100 in a year.

You are comparing apples and oranges. LX9000/Air L is fullblown gliding computer, Iphone is basically a display when put to cockpit use. I do not recognize Oudie2/IGC display from your images (it seems that unit is a clone that might use different display). In my experience Oudie2/IGC has extremely bright and sunlight-readable display. If iphone x comes close to this and glossy display does not reflect everything, good. But it still 1000 euros more expensive than basic tablet that has all the features iGlide or XCSoar needs (basically display and wifi or BT), and does not run SeeYou mobile (huge handicap for me).

Sorry, but iGlide/iPhone IS a complete full blown gliding computer with a comparable feature set to the Air Display L, LX9000, or Oudie IGC. You are clearly unfamiliar with these systems. The iPhone, Display L and LX9000 are all displays coupled to a computer. All require an additional vario system to function as a full glide computer (the Air Display L requires a Display S and ISU, the LX9000 requires an S80, the iPhoneX/iGlide requires an S80 or Air Display S and ISU). When not coupled to a vario, the iPhone/iGlide has more functionality than either the Display L or the LX9000 (like the Oudie IGC it is a glide computer without vario function). The functions of these pieces are directly comparable. The prices I quoted are for complete systems, at retail, here in the USA*.

As stated in the OP, that is an Avier/V2 running XCSoar in the pictures (I should have started up SYM instead I guess). It is a clone PDA, as is the Oudie II - these are all cheap clone Chinese PDAs. The Avier/V2 has an identical display to the Oudie II (I can't say I have seen an Oudie IGC but it is said to have the same display). The Avier looks the same held next to an Oudie II. Both claim 1000 nits brightness. This clone hardware is available for less than $200 at retail. It cannot possibly compete in performance with a high end cell phone - the bill of materials alone on these is $300 or more, a lot of that in the display.

If you are married to SYM, then the Oudie or clones (or perhaps Craggy Ultimate) are your only choices. Since I consider SYM to be the weakest of the 4 or 5 offerings, this is of no handicap at all to me. The only software available for the iPhone is iGlide and WinPilot Live, but I currently like iGlide the best. As I have said before, I own the hardware and I have equipment, mounts, and wiring in my glider to run iGlide, SYM, XCSoar, original WinPilot, and WinPilot Live as well as a few others. I have run them all, sometimes two at once. What I say here is not due to unfamiliarity with these products.

* In the post above I quoted the Display L as $3200, this is as a replacement for the $1000 iPhone in a system. A complete Air Display L system requires also a Display S and ISU, so call it $6200.