Gliding - QSTARZ BT1000X GPS recorder

[MartinCh]

This low cost recorder (http://www.afeonline.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=2886) caught my attention in the latest S&G issue. When having look for it online, people use it for all sorts of things. Since it's not IGC approved (obviously), is it of any use as logger for Bronze and Silver badges later on?

I don't aspire to do top gliding comps anytime soon (read next decade at least) so don't need Colibri or Volkslogger. It'd be nice to have something I could stick in a club glider to be able to record heights/times/distances over next year or two.
I don't want to miss a chance to record stuff that'd be good to have proof of.

Any (glider) pilot had the opportunity to use it or give me more knowledgeable opinion on this? Since it's also bluetooth enabled, it would be handy for mobile/PDA screen output for casual non-flying use as well.

What about flyWithCE (http://www.paramountaero.co.uk/index.php?com=com_ecom&type=spf&prodId=1071) recorder?
Thanks

[oversteer]

What about an old iPAQ with external GPS and free XCsoar? Probably get the lot for £30 on ebay.

The biggest downside I find with GPS is the altitude accuracy is pretty bad and so climb/sink data is lost. However as a moving map and data logger it is fine. Battery lasts 3-5hrs and external power can be rigged up. Put Tomtom on it too for the car!

For badge claims something approved is required but you can certainly do Bronze on observation and Silver badge does not require GPS hookup. Can you borrow one or loan one from a club etc? It often is the case that a badge claim happens on the day you least expect it so you should always take a logger with you..

[tinpilot]

According to a reply (http://uras.gliderpilot.net/?op=s2&id=29444&vt=) to a similar question on another forum, both would be acceptable for badges up to Gold but only if it has been approved by the BGA and you carry a barograph to record pressure altitude.

[IO540]

I know nothing about gliding but a GPS receiver which picks up EGNOS is going to be accurate to about 1m or better in altitude.

You can pick them up for £50 or less on Ebay.

[Fitter2]

GPS only recorders (like the QSTARZ BT1000X, actualy it's now the BT1000XT with more memory at the same price) may soon be approved type by type for IGC 'position recorders' for up to Gold distance. The BGA are thinking about it.

But because they don't measure pressure altitude, and airspace is pressure defined, you still need a barograph. An old EW model A that you can pick up for low cost plus a BT1000XT would then be OK for up to Gold and probably Competitions, but that's currently under discussion.

They are self contained with useful internal battery life, and useful for all sorts of other things; you can use them to analyse your flights after the event.

[oversteer]

Do the BGA / FAI allow you to send in two traces for the same flight? One with GPS coords and one with pressure altitude only ?

[VC10 Rib22]

MartinCH,

I have had the pleasure of experiencing one glider flight so I guess I very loosely fall under your intended glider pilot respondees.

I have been using the Qstarz BT-Q1000X for over a year now. On the ground I use it to view times, routes and distances of various runs, on both the included software and when exported into Google Earth. I ran up Ben Lomond the other day and for this I bluetoothed it to an HP Ipaq 214 which had digitized Memory Map 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey on an SDHC card, and it is always amazing to see how accurate the Q1000X is - as I was standing on a path on the mountain, I looked at my Ipaq and could see the pink icon flashing on top of the very same path. I also looked at varying features in the distance and with a few taps on the screen I was informed exactly what magnetic radial they were from me and how many nautical miles away they were. When I think back to the three 55-mile Ten Tors Challenge (2010's is taking place this weekend) I have completed and all the training to prepare for them (and the times when the team were 'temporarily unaware of exact position'), I do wonder whether or not the marshallers enforce the non-use of GPS. Whilst it certainly isn't within the spirit of the competion nor useful for honing map and compass skills, the litigious society that now exists may prove too stong to resist.

For use in the air I use the Q1000X bluetoothed to my Ipaq 214 running Memory Map's digitized CAA 1:250k and 1:500k charts, although I am now preparing a Samsung Q1 Ultra to run these, allowing the Ipaq 214 to run the OS charts alongside. After landing and returning home I can view the aircraft track using the integrated software or exporting to Google Earth - same goes for all flights as pax on commercial aircraft (nice to see SID/STAR, airway and radar heading utilization). See an unusual building, bridge, waterway or feature from the air? Just press the red button on the Q1000X and you can investigate further on Google Earth - geeky for some, fascinating for me.

The integrated software offers a playback programme where you can see what height you were at and where, but, as others have said, the rules you wish to operate under will probably necessitate purchasing/obtaining a barograph.

Lastly I bluetooth the Q1000X to my Ipaq 214 and use IGo8 car navigation software when I need navigation in my car. This funky software offers too many features to list but I do quite like driving past Trafalgar Square and seeing Nelson's Column on my Ipaq's screen in 3D, same for Admiralty Arch and Buckingham Palace. I have RAM mounts for in-car and in-aircraft use.

Hope this is helpful.

VC10 Rib22 :E

[Fitter2]

Do the BGA / FAI allow you to send in two traces for the same flight? One with GPS coords and one with pressure altitude only ?

In the countries where 'position recorders' are already approved (Australia and France, I am not aware of others but there may be) a GPS only record must be accompanied by a pressure one (a paper old fashioned barograph will do). I imagine the BGA, if it approves them, will do the same.

[mary meagher]

Don't really understand all this latest gear, but for my diamond height over Aboyne, I carried TWO dataloggers. One was electronic. The other one was a tick tock wind up barograph with a smoked paper to trace the climb.

The electronic device failed to record the moment I released from the tow!
(I was so excited I forgot to do the recommended short descent.)
But the good old tick tock traced it all to the entire satisfaction of the BGA authorities, hurrah!

Always carry a data logger. Two is better. And don't forget to turn it on.

[cats_five]

I had two for my Gold Height flight, and one of them failed to record the first 10 minutes or so of the flight and therefore showed insufficient height gain as I materialised at somewhere over 2,000' and stopped my climb just below FL120. I had to get the second, older one recalibrated. You can never have too many loggers so long as you don't have different declarations in them!