Zaon PCAS XRX

[Lagentium]

Ladies and gents,
I have been looking at buying a Zaon PCAS XRX unit, the reviews look decent online. I was just wondering if any of you have or do use them??

Cheers in advance, Jim:ok:

[patowalker]

Do the reviews tell you about all those aircraft flying around without a transponder and which the Zaon PCAS XRX cannot see?

[Lagentium]

No, but reading between the lines I understand the things that it wont be able to see, I was worried about becoming subconsciously at ease and relying on the piece of kit way too much, rather than scanning for aircraft.

[piperarcher]

I have it's smaller brother, the MRX. It's OK, I quite like it, but it either doesnt pick up certain kind of other transponding devices, or theres a fair few aircraft whizzing around without their transponders on. I dont think it hasnt picked up anything I, or my passengers havent picked up, but there just might be one day when something is coming at me from a blind spot and I havent seen him, or her. I would only spend the money on the XRX if I was going to try and hook it up to a Garmin GNS430 or some other kind of GPS device or iPAD.

[patowalker]

..., I was worried about becoming subconsciously at ease and relying on the piece of kit way too much, rather than scanning for aircraft.

I have the same worries about getting a TruTrak Gemini ADI. It is a neat piece of kit, but I wonder if it will encourage me to take risks that I would normally avoid.

[chrisN]

May I suggest having a think about PowerFlarm or Funkwerk TM250 as alternatives? Then you could pick up Flarm equipped gliders too, which the Zaon units won’t.


As for reliance upon them, my experience and almost all others with PCAS and/or Flarm is that it improves your lookout, not giving a false sense of security. It shows how many things you miss with unaided lookout.

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From an AAIB report: Alerted see-and-avoid

‘ . . . tests determined that one second of alerted visual search is as effective as eight seconds of unalerted search . .’
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Those who deny their utility are wrong in fact and advice. These things help to keep your eyes out, and definitely improve the number of things you see. They do not aid you to see everything, but they improve the percentage that you are aware of. One day the one that was going to get you might be in that improved proportion.


Chris N

[piperboy84]

I have one and it is the dogs bollox, Ok it aint gonna catch everything but it certainly catches more traffic than I pick up on, and it is deadly accurate when it comes to low flying military jets.

Money well spent as an additional traffic spotting tool, but it in no way replaces the Number 1 tool, namely the square plastic thingy in front of you

[bookworm]

‘ . . . tests determined that one second of alerted visual search is as effective as eight seconds of unalerted search . .’

While I strongly support Chris's view on the utility of such devices, it's worth pointing out that the "alerted visual search" was TCAS, not the rather coarse azimuthal resolution of the PCAS unit. The original report is here (http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA243806).

May I suggest having a think about PowerFlarm or Funkwerk TM250 as alternatives? Then you could pick up Flarm equipped gliders too, which the Zaon units won’t.

Though the PowerFlarm and Funkwerk TM250 won't offer any azimuthal info on Mode S targets, which the PCAS does.

[Malt]

FWIW I have one in my Rv9 connected to a Flymap L & it's excellent! I have done around 100+ hours with it fitted & it really does help.... On those days when the viz is legal but crap...so a lot of times. Helped me out seriously twice and both of those times it was serious "ring twitch"... As already advised it doesn't replace a MK 1 eyeball but can help you look in the right direction when your doing 150knots... Only negatives are it can sometimes give you ground reflection when your low & it bounces off some hills and it it's loud in a busy circuit.. So you turn the volume down then :O
If it broke tomorrow I would buy another..
Atb
Mal

[2high2fastagain]

Very happy with mine. Doesn't catch everything but is a very useful addition to the mk1 eyeball. Wouldn't fly without it. Also if you connect it up through your headphones an American woman warns you if it picks anything up. Impresses the hell out of your passengers when you ask them if they can see the contact 3km to the right. The only slight irritation I have is the frequent warnings when you are in a busy circuit. Small price to pay on balance.