wrote on 5/13/2020 7:16 AM:
On Wednesday, May 13, 2020 at 8:08:18 AM UTC-4, waremark wrote:
On Wednesday, 13 May 2020 09:02:28 UTC+1, Kenz Dale wrote:
On Friday, October 4, 2019 at 9:17:12 AM UTC-4, Turkey Vulture wrote:
I have actually used the s100 in my DG 100 for 1 season. I popped for the
AHRS as well. 80mm is the way to go.

This is a huge difference between the two brands. LX Nav does not let you
revoke the AHRS key, which translated into normal human speak means that
you can't take your AHRS with you. So if you sell your unit to someone else
because you want LX Nav's latest and greatest, or just your unit conks out,
you're SOL for the $$$ you spent. Every time you get a new model you have
to spend $800.

LX Navigation has a separate AHRS module which is portable to new
installations.

Frankly, and this is speaking as an embedded guy who's been doing drone
autopilot firmware since 2010, LX Nav has destroyed a lot of the value of
their product for peeps who want an AHRS. Unless their internal software
is a dumpster fire, which is its own problem, fixing this lack of
portability is a perfect first task for an intern/junior engineer.

This is a commercial issue not an engineering issue. I believe all these
devices have the necessary sensors to provide an AHRS - the payment is for
the license to switch it on.

I have just upgraded my LX 9000 - I traded in the previous one to LX and paid
an upgrade price. Who knows how the cost to upgrade would have compared if I
had had an LX Navigation device instead?

I know two people who bought LX Navigation LX 10k's. Neither could be got to
work and they eventually had to change to something different. This makes me
dubious about the product development quality at LX Navigation, whereas I
have not heard of problems like that with LX Nav equipment in the last few
years.

You are right that all units have an AHRS built in, but it can only be unlocked
with a $800 software unlock code which you punch into your LX Nav. This key
code cannot be revoked or transferred, so you cannot take your AHRS with you.

I don't intend to comment as to LX Nav's general reliability or usefulness.
AFAICT they have an excellent reputation. And we honestly don't know enough
about the problem to state where it's coming from. But from the optic of my
experience I only see three possibilities, all of which require a boneheaded
situation:

1.) Their internal software is so horrible and made with such copy-pasta
spaghetti code that the cost of a fix, no matter how small, is unacceptable 2.)
It's a boneheaded product decision that customers don't care about
upgradability 3.) It's a boneheaded commercial decision to try to milk
customers for every last euro

None of those speak to good management decisions on this part of the product.
In fact, they'd be better off to reissue a code to a client for free rather
than make them upset that they lost $800 in value because they upgraded to a
bigger screen or a better vario. At least that buys them time to fix it,
without eating away at the admittedly small market of glider pilots who want an
AHRS.

When I wander down the ramp at soaring meccas like Ephrata, Parowan, and Ely, I
see mostly LXNav equipment. The pilots typically say they "love the equipment" and
think the company is responsive to their requests, so I have to believe the
company is making good choices.

I am puzzled by your complaint, however. Do you prefer the LXNav vario, and are
just disappointed it might cost more at some unknown time in future to change to
different vario of the same brand?


--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1