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Integrated GPS+Vario 2002.
Review by Jérôme Daoust. Created 2002/3/11, revised
2002/5/29.
I’m choosing an integrated GPS+Vario unit for myself, so I
made the following table to help highlight the differences (Conclusion). A
United States perspective is taken.
Also check out this discussion
and Getting used to
an Aircotec / Top Navigator 2002.
|
Bräuniger / Galileo |
|
Availability
|
2002/3/22 |
2002/3/22 |
Compe-GPS compatible (2002 US PG
Nationals) |
Yes. |
Expected |
Check’in compatible |
Expected. |
Expected |
SeeYou compatible |
Yes |
|
Previous model
comments |
From
a reliable source (not me) : Low
performance GPS (8 channels), battery hungry. |
No
previous model offering Vario+GPS in a single unit. |
On-line
discussion |
||
Documentation |
||
Protection
(replaceable plastic cover) |
Can
be done by pilot. |
We
will do this later this summer. |
Picture |
|
|
For more
information |
Achim Hagemann (E-mail) of Aircotec USA. |
Wolf Willershausen (E-mail) of Bräuniger
Germany. |
Price |
1298
$US. Includes airspeed, clamp,
software, bag and all cables. |
1298
$US. Includes pitot type airspeed for
HG, PG can connect vane type speed probe, clamp (arm clamp for HG or velcro
for PG), software PC-GRAPH 2000 free from our homepage, C-cable, 12 charging
cable and AC adapter. |
Update policy |
Free replacement E-prom that can be installed by the user. To be confirmed. |
Rumor
: 100 $US for firmware updates and
requires the unit to be sent to Germany by parcel post uninsured. They do not
trust Wills Wing to do the update in the US even though they can do repairs. Explanation of the rumor : The rumor was based on the update for an IQ-COMPETITION instrument. This unit has NO flash EPROM and needs for an update a change of the EPROM. As EPROM are soldered it must be done in the factory. Please understand, that this work must be done here from us as you need special equipment to do the job correct. The update price here in our lab is 40 $US + postage. Fact : The pilot himself can do the update. We will support updates for download from our homepage and the first 4 updates are free. Later the price will depend of functions, which will be added. The unit will be delivered complete with connection cable to serial port (COM). The download works as you are used from a GARMIN GPS. |
Position
accuracy |
5
m (15’), and can use UTM data. |
Theoretically
5 m (15’), depending of satellites received (will be displayed). |
Switch to next
waypoint |
Yes
(manual or automatic ?) |
Manual
or automatic. |
Battery type |
NiMH
quick carge without memory effect. Charge by AC/car. |
4500
mAh NiMh. Batteries are quick charge
types without memory effect. They can be charged from a wide range AC power
outlet or directly from the car or directly by different solar panels. |
Battery life |
Double
the life of previous model. 10
hours with GPS 1sec update rate. With 3 Ah batteries : 20 hours. |
Theoretically
32 hours battery live time. Knowing that capacity will decrease if
temperatures goes very cold we say : 25 hours for save use, battery time is
displayed all time |
Mounting |
|
All
our clamps used at the IQ-series may also be used here. Brauniger will be making a specially
adapted instrument panel/bag. |
US Road Maps |
No |
No |
Choice of
units : 1)
Metric (km/h,
m, m/s, °C) 2)
Imperial
(mph, ft, fpm, °F) |
Yes. All Aircotec instruments have been able to
switch from metric to imperial for many years. |
Possible
through the basic settings of the unit.
Maybe we will add the possibility to set one of the customer available
field to height in feet while main field is in meter ( for example ). |
GPS channels |
12
(8 in previous model). |
12 |
Thermal
tracker map |
Yes |
No |
Navigation to
the last best lift |
Yes. Special “thermal tracker” map. 2D map shows the shape of the lift area
and relative strength. |
Yes. It shows inside the compass circle the
direction of the maximum rising during the last minutes. |
FAI sector
notification |
Visual
+ Audio. |
Visual
+ Audio |
Flight information
stored |
All
+ temperature (every second). |
Longitude,
latitude, altitude (pressure + GPS based), true airspeed, speed over the
ground, wind direction, event marker. Flight
track logged : usual flight track for
PC-GRAPH 2000 + IGC file with digital signature (no fake possible). |
Polar curve
definition. |
4
pre-defined paraglider polar curves.
Can also be user-defined (3 points). |
No
pre-established curves, since they are never correct. 2 curves can be stored,
self-defined (very easy to set).
Curve definition : It is the
same as at the IQ-COMP. instrument, you enter 2 points : minimum sink +
speed, and sink at 2/3 of max speed. |
Display size. |
64
x 64 mm. |
60
x 80 mm. |
Display
resolution. |
128
x 128, full graphic. |
320
x 240. |
Start cylinder |
Yes |
Yes |
Adjustable
volume |
2
steps. |
Yes |
Indicates
airspeed for best glide. |
Yes. |
Yes |
Wind speed. |
Yes. 2D graph of speed versus orientation. |
Yes
(max of 6 user-selected displays). |
Wind
direction. |
Yes. 2D graph of speed versus orientation. |
Yes
(max of 6 user-selected displays). |
Time. |
Yes |
Yes
(max of 6 user-selected displays). |
Flight
duration. |
Yes |
Yes
(max of 6 user-selected displays). |
Ground speed |
Yes |
Yes
(max of 6 user-selected displays). |
Air speed |
Yes |
Yes
(max of 6 user-selected displays). |
Diff speed |
Expected |
Yes
(max of 6 user-selected displays). |
Height over
destination |
Yes |
Yes
(max of 6 user-selected displays). |
Relative time to
destination |
Yes |
Yes
(max of 6 user-selected displays). |
Absolute time
to destination |
Yes |
Yes
(max of 6 user-selected displays). |
Distance to
destination |
Yes |
Yes
(max of 6 user-selected displays). |
Bearing |
Yes |
Yes
(max of 6 user-selected displays). |
Track |
Yes |
Yes
(max of 6 user-selected displays). |
Distance to
best climbing |
No |
Yes
(max of 6 user-selected displays). |
Temperature |
Yes |
Yes
(max of 6 user-selected displays). |
Cumulated
altitude gain |
Yes |
Yes
(max of 6 user-selected displays). |
Altitude |
Yes |
Yes
(max of 6 user-selected displays). |
Pressure |
Yes |
Yes
(max of 6 user-selected displays). |
L/D ratio
(reference to air) |
Expected |
Yes
(max of 6 user-selected displays). |
Glide ratio
(reference to ground) |
Expected |
Yes
(max of 6 user-selected displays). |
Final glide |
|
The
Galileo is able to store 100 Waypoints and you can choose one of them by the
selecting with the "goto" button. During flight to this selected
waypoint the Galileo is simultaneously calculating the data ( distance and
height ) to the next 5 nearest waypoints. This is a very important strategic
information for the pilot in a competition. |
Voltage |
Yes |
Yes
(max of 6 user-selected displays). |
Communication |
TN
to TN. TN to PC. |
Between
Galileos (Infra red). Galileo to PC. |
·
Top
Navigator (my favorite).
The thermal map is a good feature.
The unit has been around for a while (debugged).
·
Galileo. Higher resolution screen than the Top navigator. Polar curve definition is poor (2 points).