Originally Posted by
BabyBear
As another who has thought about and taken up gliding I am currently considering the purchase of a GPS unit. Is there a unit that fits well with power (VFR) and gliding, that is compatible with recorders? Would rather not have to buy 2.
If you want something that's acceptable for all gliding badge flights you need an IGC approved logger. These have a pressure sensor for altitude (GPS altitude isn't accurate enough), produce a secure trace (it has a checksum included) and are also secure devices - if you open them up that is recorded in the trace, they have to go back to the maker to be resealed.
http://www.fai.org/gliding/system/fi...proved_frs.pdf
The EW Microrecorder is popular amongst those of us buying new now - it will run for a long time on it's own batteries and can supply the NMEA and 5v out to drive a moving map on a PDA.
An IGC Flarm is also popular, but it requires an external power supply and stops without one.
Neither of these have a built-in display - you have to use something else for that. If you look round glider cockpits you will find all manner of devices and software used.
If you aren't interested in badge flights or can borrow an IGC logger for those then the new Aware thingie might be what you are looking for, though when I took one outside on a bright day I wasn't that impressed with how easy to read the screen is. I gather it also gives rather a lot of alarms if you are thermalling!
However you might wear your welcome a bit thin if you have to keep borrowing an IGC logger for your Gold distance flight (300 km). It takes most people several attempts to do this.