Hi Cath and others,
I have been using a Colibri data logger for a couple of years now. So have a
several others in my club. We find them fantastic for comparing flight data
at the end of the day. Climb rates and cruise speeds statistics are easily
compared using IGCview.
I think that they are a very good unit and have some advantages over others.
Mind you the Australian agent is a friend of mine, however I was convinced
that they were the unit to get before he bought one and became the agent. I
found that the agent Luke Dodd has been very helpful and responsive, though
of course my opinion may be coloured.
Pros:
Small unit with low current drain ( ~105 mA ) and has navigations screens.
Stores lots of data. The way I run mine, log point every 12 second with 2
seconds at sectors, gives about 75 hours of flight recording. You have no
need to clear the memory as it will write over the earliest data, unlike
some other types which stop if the memory is full. New models have
programmable sectors. The logger will also tolerate some power
interruptions. I have switched mine off while flying for short intervals up
to about 20 seconds to see what would happen. It still recorded a valid IGC
file. Flights can be verified on the logger and some statistics readout on
the logger after the flight. Declarations can be entered via software or on
the logger. The Colibri also gives wind speed and direction from thermal
drift.
Cons:
The manual and the software are not fantastic but is comparable to others
from what I have seen. The nav screens only give bearing to, track, name of
and distance to turnpoint. You have to go to a more expensive unit to get
more.
Some other general comments.
>From what I have seen the Cambridge only allows for cylindrical sectors.
Somewhat awkward for FAI flights. Also the Cambridge logs when turned on. I
had to look at a flight once from one which had been left on, in the glider,
while the glider sat on the ground for some time before flying. This
resulted in a lot of useless data. The Colibri only starts logging when it
detects movement above a certain speed.
I have seen postings from Volkslogger users trying to protect the logger
from small power interruptions. This suggests they may not tolerate small
power drops.
Mike Borgelt has poured scorn on the small connector that the Colibri uses
( a plastic telephone type). However I have not had any problem with these
after a couple of years of usage. These connectors also get used all the
time for network connectors where I work and give very little trouble even
in the dirtiest of places.
I have had one flight with a LX20. It is a very nice unit as well. It also
has a moving map and final glide calculator with a bigger screen. A bigger
and more expensive unit, however it is very nice.
I have also had experience with an older model EW logger which required an
external GPS. Very limited in comparison to the new loggers.
Regards
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