Please write book

Solution: (drumroll......) Get a smartphone (used on eBay). Tadaaaah!

This conversation is akin to saying I want to go bicycle riding...but don't want to buy a bike???? XCSoar software is (of course)free. A used android smartphone is $50-$250 bucks.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item...alID=EB AY-US

"You can lead a horse to the water but can't make it drink..."

A fully functional, outstanding soaring flight computer for $125. Nice phone too if you can bear to bring yourself into the 21st century.

Complaining about flight computers, books and manuals with this kind of high performance and extremely low cost solution available is unnecessary. All you really get with a $6000 spend on the "fancy stuff" is a brighter in panel display, airspeed and temp integration (wind, higher accuracy) and stick controllers. You can always mount the smart phone on the panel with industrial Velcro or a accessory mount...

Take a look at the Nexus 7 WiFi - less that 100 bucks - great in sun light - running XCSOAR (I actually run TopHat by Rob Dunning - a new interface for XCSOAR - which makes the display and loading the site files simple even better)

you will not be disappointed and you can reach out to a bunch of people to ask questions. It is an powerful setup - and take 10 minutes form install to using it in your glider, promise

WH1

To Sean and the others~
I wish you would quit pushing smart phones on us. I spent all my money on an ASW-28, and iPad, plus clear nav. I have two dogs in obedience school, my mother only gives me a little allowance. I thought you were smart enough to know that all flight technology should be adjusted downward for the most fixed thinker in the group. How dare you suggest the ubiquitous smartphone and free software! You have devalued the resale of my JSW wiz wheel and made flying less safe for all pilots in the east as i am so ****ed off I cannot even see straight!
I dod not use eBay, so there is no way for me to purchase a smart phone. I only use Facebook during a contest, please please let's stop this non-sence.

On Thursday, July 16, 2015 at 5:23:25 AM UTC-7, Sean Fidler wrote:
Solution: (drumroll......) Get a smartphone (used on eBay). Tadaaaah!

This conversation is akin to saying I want to go bicycle riding...but don't want to buy a bike???? XCSoar software is (of course)free. A used android smartphone is $50-$250 bucks.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item...alID=EB AY-US

"You can lead a horse to the water but can't make it drink..."

A fully functional, outstanding soaring flight computer for $125. Nice phone too if you can bear to bring yourself into the 21st century.

Complaining about flight computers, books and manuals with this kind of high performance and extremely low cost solution available is unnecessary. All you really get with a $6000 spend on the "fancy stuff" is a brighter in panel display, airspeed and temp integration (wind, higher accuracy) and stick controllers. You can always mount the smart phone on the panel with industrial Velcro or a accessory mount...

Now that is funny. Years ago before I left soaring and the news group ("I am back") there was a poster that went by the handle "Soarpoint" and he was a gifted writer who understood satire. Not sure what happened to him but he did write a few entertaining posts.

On Thursday, July 16, 2015 at 12:24:48 PM UTC-7, wrote:
To Sean and the others~
I wish you would quit pushing smart phones on us. I spent all my money on an ASW-28, and iPad, plus clear nav. I have two dogs in obedience school, my mother only gives me a little allowance. I thought you were smart enough to know that all flight technology should be adjusted downward for the most fixed thinker in the group. How dare you suggest the ubiquitous smartphone and free software! You have devalued the resale of my JSW wiz wheel and made flying less safe for all pilots in the east as i am so ****ed off I cannot even see straight!
I dod not use eBay, so there is no way for me to purchase a smart phone. I only use Facebook during a contest, please please let's stop this non-sence.

On Thursday, July 16, 2015 at 5:23:25 AM UTC-7, Sean Fidler wrote:
Solution: (drumroll......) Get a smartphone (used on eBay). Tadaaaah!

This conversation is akin to saying I want to go bicycle riding...but don't want to buy a bike???? XCSoar software is (of course)free. A used android smartphone is $50-$250 bucks.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item...alID=EB AY-US

"You can lead a horse to the water but can't make it drink..."

A fully functional, outstanding soaring flight computer for $125. Nice phone too if you can bear to bring yourself into the 21st century.

Complaining about flight computers, books and manuals with this kind of high performance and extremely low cost solution available is unnecessary. All you really get with a $6000 spend on the "fancy stuff" is a brighter in panel display, airspeed and temp integration (wind, higher accuracy) and stick controllers. You can always mount the smart phone on the panel with industrial Velcro or a accessory mount...

On Thursday, July 16, 2015 at 8:23:25 AM UTC-4, Sean Fidler wrote:
Solution: (drumroll......) Get a smartphone (used on eBay). Tadaaaah!

This conversation is akin to saying I want to go bicycle riding...but don't want to buy a bike???? XCSoar software is (of course)free. A used android smartphone is $50-$250 bucks.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item...alID=EB AY-US

"You can lead a horse to the water but can't make it drink..."

A fully functional, outstanding soaring flight computer for $125. Nice phone too if you can bear to bring yourself into the 21st century.

Complaining about flight computers, books and manuals with this kind of high performance and extremely low cost solution available is unnecessary. All you really get with a $6000 spend on the "fancy stuff" is a brighter in panel display, airspeed and temp integration (wind, higher accuracy) and stick controllers. You can always mount the smart phone on the panel with industrial Velcro or a accessory mount...

Hi Sean,

Not trying to start anything.

In this thread & others (sorta related to the same vein..... "Get a Smartphone" with comments from you & others...), I guess I didn't understand the comment was, "Buy a used Smartphone for cheap, then use it as a display..... not to use it as a phone and pay for a dataplan".

Maybe it's "Exceedingly obvious" to you & others that made the same comment, but it wasn't obvious to me.... possibly others.

Not disagreeing, just commenting that maybe a few more words like, "Buy an outdated Smartphone and use it as a display with free soaring software for your glide computing needs" would limit/eliminate questions/issues.

I am NOT in a position to buy 4 Smartphones, get dataplans and THEN use my phone as a glide computer interface, but that is sorta what I gathered from comments in a number of threads.

Do you see my view?

Regardless, someone I know (that uses these threads) mentioned what you & others were likely driving at, I had not considered that as an alternate. Sorta makes sense.

Carry on.
Have a nice day.

I do. Your absolutely right. Point taken. Not enough description. I have an old Android phone with no data or service as a backup now. For my first 3 years of soaring (01-04) this with XC Soar was my primary and was excellent for contests and cross country about $150 dollars. For the money it's almost unbeatable.

Top hat is great too.

The Kindle has outstanding sunlight readability.

Oudie is also good, and integrates easily with varios, SN10s etc for wind and NMEA sentences but with cables your looking at $750+. I still have trouble reading my sunlight Oudie in the sun so I kinda feel like I wasted money "upgrading" from the XC-Soar.

Sean

What about small tablets, anyone using those as a flight computer?

Say the GalaxyTab4. http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_gala...4_7_0-6251.php

It has GPS. I went into Office Depot and downloaded TopHat / XCSoar on it using the stores wifi and then cut the wifi off and the GPS picked up my position inside the store. The screen seemed to look nice and all functions seem to work. Don't know about direct sunlight though, but could a sunscreen be used for this or any other device. After all the panel is somewhat of a sunscreen to panel instruments.

I did the same with a Galaxy III. It looked great in the store so I
bought it and was very disappointed with it in the cockpit. See if you
can take it outside into the direct sunlight before buying it.

I've found the Dell Streak 5 to have the best sunlight readable
display. They can still be found on eBay pretty inexpensively. I have
three of them...

On 2/25/2016 3:00 AM, Casey wrote:
What about small tablets, anyone using those as a flight computer?

Say the GalaxyTab4. http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_gala...4_7_0-6251.php

It has GPS. I went into Office Depot and downloaded TopHat / XCSoar on it using the stores wifi and then cut the wifi off and the GPS picked up my position inside the store. The screen seemed to look nice and all functions seem to work. Don't know about direct sunlight though, but could a sunscreen be used for this or any other device. After all the panel is somewhat of a sunscreen to panel instruments.

--
Dan, 5J

Running thru this thread and many others of like ilk, I wonder if half of the responders could even make a gold distance flight on a booming day if their batteries quit. Whats so dang hard about reading a sectional, working a manual mcready ring and spinning a whiz wheel? Geesh! Ya all got better than 40/1 ships now so quit whinning, learn to fly effeciently with your eyes looking outside and go for it.
Ps. If you havent had an outlanding in awhile then your not flying to the limits of your skill level yet.

On Friday, 26 February 2016 03:39:12 UTC+2, wrote:
Running thru this thread and many others of like ilk, I wonder if half of the responders could even make a gold distance flight on a booming day if their batteries quit. Whats so dang hard about reading a sectional, working a manual mcready ring and spinning a whiz wheel? Geesh! Ya all got better than 40/1 ships now so quit whinning, learn to fly effeciently with your eyes looking outside and go for it.

Yes, I agree and while we're on that point I suggest that all the airline pilots switch off their glass cockpits use a map, sextant and compass to navigate.