[Willmrx]

This will most likely do to vario's, what cell phones have done to stand alone GPS units.
http://www.infowars.com/new-microchip-knows-your-location-to-within-centimeters/

[old newbie]

I can't imagine ever giving up something that works as good as my Flytec 6030 with ease of use, reliability, durability, battery life and great customer support. If phone companies gave as much back to the flying community(based on percentage of business) as Steve Kroop then maybe I might think about it.

We need to support our own,

Steve Forslund

[axo]

Flytec would make good use of the chip into their devices. Not die

[Manta_Dreaming]

Exactly. Knowing what my position is within centimeters will certainly help flying my 10 meter wide wing.

[peanuts]

do them there chips got speed to fly and when to go on glide to target???

[Mavi Gogun]

[old newbie]

Have you priced a smart phone lately? Sure you can get them with a contract. When they break, which is often, they are expensive. You can use your phone or build a vario if you want. I know how much value and how long my Flytecs have lasted.

Steve

[davisstraub]

Ignorance reigns. Do you think they don't know or think about these things?

Colored screens (like on all smartphones) can't be seen in the sunlight.

Batteries die very quickly on these phones when all these chips are doing their work because the phone batteries are too small for our continuous use in flight.

It is not the hardware that counts, but the software/firmware. What counts as lift?

[davisstraub]

http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/40075/?p1=A1

"It can receive signals from global navigation satellites, cell-phone towers, and Wi-Fi hot spots, and also input from gyroscopes, accelerometers, step counters, and altimeters."

I would suggest that a couple of those aren't going to do us any good.

Read the rest of the article and see how it doesn't apply to us.

[Mavi Gogun]

[davisstraub]

Perhaps Mavi you didn't read the subject line.

[davisstraub]

[Willmrx]

I did say (most likely). This weekend a pilot had a vario app that he paid a $1.00 for, that he was going to try and used to fly with. Whether it will work, time will tell. If you are going to pay $500 dollars for a phone that is all so a good vario, I think that's a good deal.

[davisstraub]

And if it isn't. it's a bad deal. :-)

[Willmrx]

[Paul H]

What I find very curious is the seeming attitude of some that Flytec is some kind of bad company that should be put out of business. Hey, nobody makes you buy their product so, what's your beef?

[davisstraub]

Perhaps they think that some of their products cost too much.

[Paul H]

Kind of like when there used to be the occasional letter in the magazine complaining about the price of hang gliders, but the gliders they complained about were always the top of the line. It's like most things, the more you want from it, the more it will cost you.

[jjcote]

Centimeter positioning is clearly overkill for hang gliding, and won't work when flying anyway. But some of these developments will be good for places (like urban environments, or indoors), where GPS alone is notoriously bad.

I think there is a niche, maybe a pretty big one, for smartphone based varios. You might need an external battery if you expect to be flying for very long, and some screens may be tough to read, but for pilots just starting out, an inexpensive vario app may be good enough for a while, at least, and if they already own the phone, it can be a lot cheaper than springing for a separate piece of equipment. Then later on, they may decide to get a dedicated vario for XC or comp flying. Will this shrink the total vario market? Perhaps. But maybe that vario app will come from somebody who really knows varios, like Flytec.

[davisstraub]

And who counts the extra $50/month for data service on your "free" phone?