ClearVav vs. LXNav

I flew with a ClearNAV for the last few years I owned my previous glider and loved it. I fell in love with it when it first came out and convinced a friend to install it in his glider.

BUT.... From day one I asked for FAI task support. When planning to buy my new glider in early 2016, i had decided that it will have a LX9000 after talking to Chip about the lack of this feature and not getting a good feeling that it would happen. Apparently, it is now a feature??

The issue is that when flying a FAI task, the finish altitude is determined at time of crossing the start line. With the CN, I had to watch the screen and make an immediate mental note of the altitude as I crossed the line. After starting, then computer only provided a time, not altitude.

The LX has a glide amoeba, but just one, not the much more useful two of the CN. On the LX instead of a line, it shades the unreachable area using a configurable color.

The LX does real time OLC distance calculation, but doesn't do a FAI triangle - it just finds the biggest triangle regardless it's dimensions.

Overall, the LX9000 is not as user friendly as the CN, which really is a set and forget instrument. But in the end, the LX has fewer negatives, and I feel they will address user issues.

The ClearNAV has a user forum which is lacking for the LX, but it was very frustrating that there really wasn't a two-way dialog between users and developers. Evan did a great job moderating and responding, but he's just the messenger and it never seemed like the developers got involved. His typical response was "that's a good idea, I'll pass it on", but nothing ever happened.