Seat of Pants vs. Vario / VSI
You generally feel a thermal bump before the instrument shows it. I remember flying for an hour and a half with a dead vario.
With a working vario the needle is rarely steady in a thermal. The averager is your friend.
A spamcan VSI works off an orifice and will yield a rate over the last several seconds. It's major use is monitoring the descent rate on an ILS. Secondary is monitoring descent from cruise to be at a desired level at a fix for vectors or approach procedure. Until you are doing an instrument rating, a VSI doesn't offer much utility.
Edit: GtW has corrected me on glassy water landings.
Flying straight and level VFR, set your power and trim - and wait. Then see what the altimeter has done. It takes a while to get the knack.
Looking out for other traffic is the major priority. Very little time should be spent glancing at instruments. That's why glider varios have audio.
Last edited by RatherBeFlying; 15th Feb 2018 at 14:04.