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Where are you Butterfly vario?

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beens...@gmail.com

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Jun 5, 2012, 10:50:04 AM6/5/12
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So what is the latest on the availability of the Butterfly vario? Wonder if it will "fly" in any Uvalde WGC sailplanes?

Also, will it deliver full featured or will the featurs dribble in over time?

Sure would like to see something on YouTube including a sampling of the audio. How about it Butterfly Avionics?

Richard

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Jun 5, 2012, 12:16:03 PM6/5/12
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I was told today that I will have my order of Butterfly Varios shipped
at the end of next week.

http://www.craggyaero.com/butterfly.htm



Richard
www.craggyaero.com

Bruno

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Jun 5, 2012, 12:52:32 PM6/5/12
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I have one of the early positions for receiving a Butterfly vario
(from Craggy) and plan on doing a full youtube video review on it. As
a side note, I took delivery of a V7 vario at this year's SSA
convention and have completely loved it! The V7 is beautiful, has a
fast and accurate response to lift, amazingly configurable, beautiful,
has tons of info available in such a compact package, and did I
mention enough that it is the most beautiful vario currently on the
market? :) It will be fun to have both varios in the cockpit to
compare and contrast. Hopefully I will have some inflight video
reviews within the next month...if the Butterfly really ends up
shipping...I thought I was going to be getting mine in April...

Bruno - B4

David Reitter

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Jun 5, 2012, 1:30:27 PM6/5/12
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On Tuesday, June 5, 2012 12:52:32 PM UTC-4, Bruno wrote:

> I took delivery of a V7 vario at this year's SSA
> convention and have completely loved it! The V7 is beautiful, has a
> fast and accurate response to lift, amazingly configurable, beautiful,
> has tons of info available in such a compact package, and did I
> mention enough that it is the most beautiful vario currently on the
> market? :)

I can only second that. I've only done a few flights with my new V7, but so far, it seems great. The backup navigation function and the FLARM display are nice to have.

In addition to the above, it is an ideal hub to take in GPS data from a PowerFlarm or a logger and to distribute it to a PDA. It delivers airspeed, altitude and compensated vertical speed to my PDA running XCSoar and syncs the MC setting. For those flying with an upgradable, reliable and cost-effective PDA, the V7 seems like an ideal instrument that avoids feature duplication.

RAS56

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Jun 5, 2012, 2:24:19 PM6/5/12
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And I will second your second. Installed my V7 in the off season and have about 5 flights on it so I'm still learning, but I really like it. I really like the way it was fairly easy to install and the data sharing between my Nano, the V7 and my Oudie has worked great. Had a little problem with a recent firmware update until I figured out I had to go into one of the submenus of the Oudie (hardware) and "tell" the Oudie to look at the V7... Once I'd done that, the update was a snap.

Question for my fellow V7 users..I'm interested in how you've set up the speed/vario displays...what info are you having it show you in the various modes, especially speed mode...arrival altitude? Also, I have left the default sound profile as the setup, but am not too keen on it. Anyone changed this to one they like better?

If I had a wish list, it would be that I wish I could "temporarily" access some of the other wealth of data buried inside the vario...battery voltage, for example. I would not want to take up a display spot on the vario permanently showing that value, but it would be nice to have a user-selectable "sub-menu" of say...4 or 5 items that pushing a button the pilot could easily and rapidly cycle thru to check it as I fly. Now, it's a long period of heads-down cycling thru menus to pull that out of the V7...not the safest thing to do inflight. But if I could rapidly do it, that would be neat to have...but not a "need" by any measure...definitely a "want"!

Good product, good company, happy camper!

Tony

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Jun 5, 2012, 3:49:43 PM6/5/12
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you guys are killing me with your positive reviews of the V7!!! I already wanted one bad enough...

David Reitter

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Jun 5, 2012, 4:39:56 PM6/5/12
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On Tuesday, June 5, 2012 2:24:19 PM UTC-4, RAS56 wrote:

> If I had a wish list, it would be that I wish I could "temporarily" access some of the other
> wealth of data buried inside the vario...battery voltage, for example. I would not want to take up a display spot on the vario permanently showing that value, but it would be nice to have a user-selectable "sub-menu" of say...4 or 5 items that pushing a button the pilot could easily and rapidly cycle thru to check it as I fly.

That's exactly what I'd like to have, too. You can't make use of the data when it isn't readily available. Generally, I can set up my PDA to show me the vario data, but if I'd like to use the vario as standby navigation instrument (e.g., "find my way home" function), I'd need to be able to switch to this without having to go into some configuration menu.

When the "SC" button is set up as a momentary switch, it could reasonably cycle through modes. Or one could activate the info screen by holding the SC switch for a little longer.

This sort of thing could be easily done via a software update, so here's hoping.

RAS56

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Jun 5, 2012, 5:31:02 PM6/5/12
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On Wednesday, June 6, 2012 5:39:56 AM UTC+9, David Reitter wrote:
> On Tuesday, June 5, 2012 2:24:19 PM UTC-4, RAS56 wrote:
>
> > If I had a wish list, it would be that I wish I could "temporarily" access some of the other
> > wealth of data buried inside the vario...battery voltage, for example. I would not want to take up a display spot on the vario permanently showing that value, but it would be nice to have a user-selectable "sub-menu" of say...4 or 5 items that pushing a button the pilot could easily and rapidly cycle thru to check it as I fly.
>
> That's exactly what I'd like to have, too. You can't make use of the data when it isn't readily available. Generally, I can set up my PDA to show me the vario data, but if I'd like to use the vario as standby navigation instrument (e.g., "find my way home" function), I'd need to be able to switch to this without having to go into some configuration menu.
>

David,

Go here:

http://www.lxnav.com/contact.html

And chime in. I just did...and as responsive, tuned in to the market and savvy as these folks have been with their products, I'm expecting good things to happen! Will let all know if I hear something back.

TONY- to quote a tired slogan.." Just Do It!" You won't regret it! Mongo likes V7!!

beens...@gmail.com

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Jun 5, 2012, 5:28:05 PM6/5/12
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Help...my thread is being hijacked! Can any of our euro friends comment on the Butterfly vario?

Richard

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Jun 6, 2012, 9:41:50 AM6/6/12
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The LXNAV V7 vario is really popular. It can be configured to work
with a variety of GPS and Displays. One of the interesting things is
the Baud rates are recommended to be set as high as possible. I am
currently running a Portable PowerFlarm to V7 to Craggy Aero Ultimate
Le. Bruno is running a NANO to V7 to Craggy Aero Ultimate Le.

http://www.craggyaero.com/lx_nav.htm


Richard
www.craggyaero.com

John Galloway

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Jun 6, 2012, 10:51:47 AM6/6/12
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There is a Butterfly vario in an ASH 26e at our club in Scotland
but the owner says that it only speaks German at present and
he is awaiting an update so that it can speak English. He is
happy with it as a vario


At 13:41 06 June 2012, Richard wrote:
>On Jun 5, 9:52=A0am, Bruno wrote:
>> On Jun 5, 8:50=A0am, beensoar...@gmail.com wrote:
>>
>> > So what is the latest on the availability of the Butterfly
vario?
>Wonde=
>r if it will "fly" in any Uvalde WGC sailplanes?
>>
>> > Also, will it deliver full featured or will the featurs dribble
in
>over=
> time?
>>
>> > Sure would like to see something on YouTube including a
sampling of
>the=
> audio. How about it Butterfly Avionics?
>>
>> I have one of the early positions for receiving a Butterfly
vario
>> (from Craggy) and plan on doing a full youtube video review
on it. =A0As
>> a side note, I took delivery of a V7 vario at this year's SSA
>> convention and have completely loved it! =A0The V7 is
beautiful, has a
>> fast and accurate response to lift, amazingly configurable,
beautiful,
>> has tons of info available in such a compact package, and
did I
>> mention enough that it is the most beautiful vario currently
on the
>> market? =A0:) =A0It will be fun to have both varios in the
cockpit to
>> compare and contrast. =A0Hopefully I will have some inflight

Bastoune

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Jun 6, 2012, 5:09:54 PM6/6/12
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V7 - It was love at first flight... I have about 6 hrs on mine and I must say that the display is great. No issues with polarized sunglasses, sharp colors and modern user interface. I must say that I also received top notch service from Craggy Aero which makes the product all the better!

I am still learning my way though the displays menus and the nav options.However, I do very much like the suggestions of RAS56 and David for future software upgrades. Using the SC buttons to scroll access a few key menus or data would be great. I use the LK8000 on a PNA and one of the great feature of that software is how one can jump from page to page by touching the lower portion of the screen. On the V7, the SC button could be use in a similar purpose to scroll though data (TAS, Netto, Alt, Battery, etc). A long "Hold" of the SC button would switch from vario to STF (and vice versa).

David A

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Jun 6, 2012, 9:24:15 PM6/6/12
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The V7 looks really impressive, saw it at the SSA convention.

A couple of questions:

1. It has a built-in G-meter. Can it use it to change from cruise to
thermal mode automatically (like the LNAV) instead of a manual switch?
2. What about vector wind calculations and headwind component? (again,
like the LNAV).

David

David Reitter

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Jun 7, 2012, 12:36:49 AM6/7/12
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On Wednesday, June 6, 2012 9:24:15 PM UTC-4, David A wrote:

> 1. It has a built-in G-meter. Can it use it to change from cruise to
> thermal mode automatically (like the LNAV) instead of a manual switch?

You can switch automatically, though this is based on IAS (configurable threshold).

> 2. What about vector wind calculations and headwind component? (again,
> like the LNAV).

What about it?
I believe that wind is used to calculate arrival altitude (because, as per manual, it can be set manually when GPS is unavailable), but wind direction and strength are not displayed. I think this makes sense as these values won't be available individually without an accurate compass, which the V7 does not have.

Despite the wealth of data, I would classify the V7 as a vario, not a primary (in the practical sense) navigation instrument. And it's a fantastic vario at that. A PDA with the right software will do the best job calculating wind and integrating the data with task and terrain.

RAS56

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Jun 7, 2012, 2:33:09 PM6/7/12
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I Emailed LxNav and Uros replied they are looking at our suggestion of adding a user selectable sub menu of choices. How to pull up the data is the question; David, I used your suggestion about using the SC switch, hopefully they'll use that or something similar.

Very quick response from them....great products and great customer service! A pleasure doing business with folks that have those attributes!

RAS56

Bruno

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Jun 7, 2012, 3:37:58 PM6/7/12
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I feel guilty about everyone having hijacked this thread - sorry
beensoaring... :) Here is a suggestion to get what we want with the
V7 but not have to install sc switches:

When you press the knob on the unit for a short period of time it
currently takes you to three glider setup pages: MC / bugs / wing
loading. Why not have the 4th screen be a page that if you turn the
knob once it opens up the secondary group of screens we are talking
about? If you don't turn the knob but click on it again it goes back
to the first MC page. So to get to our more hidden data quickly all
we have to do is press the knob 4 times and turn knob once. That
sounds like a lot but isn't if you think about it. What I don't want
to have happen is for you to press the knob and NOT be able to
immediately change the MC setting. I find I am doing this all the
time so it is great help to have it there with only one push...OK, how
about the following? Since we don't change the wing loading or bugs
very often make that 4th page I suggested to enter into the other info
pages #2 in rotation. MC, Secondary pages entry, Bugs, Wing loading.
What do you think? We need to be very careful what we suggest because
I have personally witnessed the LXNAV guys be incredibly responsive to
suggestions with changes coming within 24 hours of the first contact!
Great group to work with so far! Maybe they need a forum or location
to publicly suggest improvements/changes without it being on
beensoaring's thread. LOL :)

Bruno -B4

RAS56

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Jun 7, 2012, 4:16:52 PM6/7/12
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Bruno,

I think they are mulling over the display options, yours sounds like it has great potential...why not pitch it to Uros and see what he thinks? (Sounds like you already have a communication pipeline open to them) I like the idea of using the existing switch and maybe leaving the SC button out of it.

Like you said, they are a very user-focused company...fun to work with folks working to give us what we're asking for!

Regards,

RAS56

n...@uw.edu

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May 25, 2014, 12:49:27 AM5/25/14
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Can someone explain how the Netto setting works on the V7?

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