On Friday, December 14, 2018 at 6:28:16 PM UTC-5, WaltWX wrote:
As a meteorologist contest pilot flying in the Western U.S., accurate winds for locating convergence zones are quite important. I'm looking to upgrade my small Discus 2a panel and would like get some reviews on the performance of these two vario/sensor families.

* If winds seem to be better in one over another.. how did you determine this?
* What kind of update rate do they generate? What's optimum ?
* How difficult is it to install both units in a "tight" panel area?
* Have there been any studies/reviews comparing these two families?
* Do either of these families require a flux gate compass mounted somewhere?

Interested in hearing your comments.

My impression from listening on r.a.s and other XC pilots... the Butterfly Air Glide family does a better job with winds. But, there may have been improvements with the LXNAV family in recent models or firmware upgrades. Perhaps the winds are "...good enough". I do know that placing the Air Glide sensor (IMU unit) is very sensitive, probably due to there being a compass in there.

Walt Rogers "WX"

The Air Glide gives the best real time wind information by a good margin. Proper installation is possible, but it needs to be considered at all times while building a new panel. For example in my panel all high power consumption instruments are on the left side of the panel as far back as possible while the Air Glide sensor is as far to the front and right as possible. Same with wires very carefully routed away from the sensor, especially power wires, and the higher the current the more attention one needs to pay. There is always a possibility to mount the sensor somewhere else, e.g. in the front of the fuselage or in a turtle deck (although usually speakers are there).