This instrument is a hopped-up version of the basic type VL100 Flyer. Here is an electromagnetic compass added, 2D flight-logger (barograph) and the instrument can calculate a polar of the wing, can measure ascending of surrounding masses of the air, a gliding rate (against the air, not a ground - only Cartesio and Graviter can measure this) and it can optimize a speed of the flight as well.
Handling
You don't need literally any user's guide even if this instrument is more complex. But you can choose an English, Czech or Poland version of the manuals included. You can always see on a display an abbreviation of the function name, which is just adjusted. That's why it's sufficient to remember that e.g. "V-up" stands for the speed of ascend, "V-dn" stands for the speed of descend, "Alti" stands for the setting of a height, etc. Naturally, Czech, Slovak or Poland people will prefer their native languages.
Feeding and Consumption
The instrument is powered by two AA cells and its electronic circuits can be powered by alkaline cells with a voltage of 1.5V or by charging cells (NiMH, NiCd) as well. Built digital voltmeter can measure a total voltage of the battery in Volts and a quantum of an energy in a percent. If you use charging NiMH or NiCd cells, you have to remember that this second piece of information (a percentage) seems to be lower. The progress of discharging is slightly different. Anyway, an automatic switching off is set to the treshold of 1.9V, which is the best limit for NiMH and NiCd cells.
The consumption varies between 23-25mA depending on a sound of an acoustic. Fully charged NiMH cells (capacity of 2300mAh) will keep for up to 100 hours, high-quality alkaline cells roughly twice more. A "Low Bat" indicator signs the last 20% of energy in cells, but it means alkaline cells. In case of using NiMH cells it will be rather less, a discharging curve is markedly steeper in its final part.
User's guide recommends to accomplish an exchange of the battery during one minute else a date and time is reset. But the tested instrument didn't reset time neither after 10 minutes and we found out the same result with the second instrument, which we pruingly tested the same way. So don't hurry please and take it easy.
Altimeter
The instrument uses three independently adjustable altimeters and you can reset two of them by pressing one button only. Maximum measurable height is 9999 meters and you can switch between meters and feet (ft). A reference atmospheric pressure of every altimeter can be adjust independently to a value of 300-1200hPa.
Variometer
An analogue variometer (a gauge imitation) measures a speed of an ascend or a descend in a range of +/-12m/s and what is more you can adjust a speed of reaction. Digifly company uses its own name "IntelliVario" but very similar function is built in Flytec 4005 and Brauniger AV-Pilot instruments. We can compare this to a car wheel hydraulic absorber, in this case we can adjust a solidity or switch it off completely.
A digital variometer measures a speed of an ascend or a descend in a range of +/-25m/s and shows it as a digital value. If you adjust its average interval to a value higher than zero the digital variometer changes itself to the average variometer, which calculates an average ascend during the adjustable time interval (1s-60s).
Acoustic
The acoustic of the instrument is as precise as that of VL100 Flyer instrument. No frequency sliding of a tone (yowling) but exactly defined frequency which changes from beep to beep and a variable length of timeout between beeps. Absolutely great!
And what is more, you can change a way of the tone modulation in four different levels (0-3). The basic frequency shifts by this and a gradient of its variation as well. A pilot can choose amonth normal thermal conditions, weak conditions, middle conditions and strong conditions. A volume of the acoustic is adjustable in two different levels or you can turn it down completely. A treshold of the acoustic is independently adjustable for an ascend and a descend. And from a zero! After setting the acoustic treshold right to zero and not watching a display you can hear and recognize flying into the area with zero descending. In fact, there is ascending there and the value of it equals the speed of wing descend in a calm atmosphere.
NetVario
This function is able to compute a real ascending (or descending) of surrounding masses of the air and what is more, independently to a speed of the flight. An airspeed probe must be connected in this case of course and a polar of the wing set as well. A pilot can use one of three pre-defined polars as well but results are less precise then.
Flight Speed Optimization (Speed To Fly)
After an airspeed probe connecting and entering parameters of a polar of the wing (or activating a pre-defined one) you can see an optimal speed of flight on the display. The optimal speed means a speed of the best gliging rate. A grafic indicator looks like two small arrows (pointers) - the smaller arrow means "go a little bit faster" (or slower) and the bigger one means "go much faster" (or much slower). Pilot can adjust tresholds of both arrows, a default setting is 3km/h and 10km/h. But this instrument isn't provided with a connector for a GPS and that's why a speed against the ground is unknown here. Instead of this important figure the pilot has to adjust an assumed speed of the wind (exactly said a projection of the speed to a line of the flight) by parameter "Wind" from +180km/h to -180km/h.
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The positive value means a tailwind and the negative vaule means a headwind.
Gliding Rate
The instrument can measure a gliding rate (with an airspeed probe connected), exactly said its average value in a time interval, which can be adjusted from 1 to 30 seconds. This average gliding rate means a gliding rate against the surrounding air because the speed against the ground is unknown. The pilot can eliminate this imperfection by setting an assumed speed of the wind by parameter "Wind".
Temperature Stability
The same way as VL100 Flyer also VL100 Runner was cooled down about 30°C. Values of all three altimeters shifted down about 15 meters while a zero value of the variometer didn't move at all. Great result!
Time Measurement
Apart from a real time clock with a complete date (day, month and year) the instrument contains a chronometer, which is started either manually or automatically depending on the setting. This will be explained in a chapter "Flight Memory" later. A spiteful experiment to set a false date (30.2. or 31.9.) was unsuccessful, the instrument refused it.
Thermometer
On the display you can permanently watch a digital value of the temperature in units of °C or °F.
Compass
Even if you can see a direction of the flight as three digits displayed (e.g. 315°), the compass can measure in steps of 45° only. It means NE, E, SE, etc. You can change the compass needle in a centre of a display into Automatic Direction Finder ("ADF") by pressing one button. ADF indicator automatically manages to hold the compass needle in a chosen direction. For example - as the pilot reaches a cloudbase, he changes a direction of the flight to a desired straight line and activates ADF function. The compass needle facing to north changes to an arrow, which points a direction fixed by pressing the button. After loosing a visibility inside a cloud the pilot simply holds a course in the direction of the ADF arrow.
Barometer
The same way as the temperature value you can permanently display a value of the surrounding atmospheric pressure (in hPa) in the same position. You can also calibrate the value of the barometer.
Calibration of Barometer
It's radically important to move the instrument to a point of a well known height above sea level (e.g. an elevation point) and to know simultaneously today's atmospherical pressure recalculated to the sea level. This value we put into the parameter "PRS1" and then we change an adjusting of a calibration parameter "Kbar" (a resolution of 0.1hPa) so that the altimeter "Alt1" shows the correct height above sea level of our point. This calibration can be faster if you know that changing the calibration parameter about +10 points (+1hPa) corresponds to -8 meters of a height.
Speedometer
After an airspeed probe connecting (not included) you can watch a speed of the flight up to a value of 150km/h. You can also adjust a treshold of the speed, which generates a low speed warning sound (a stall alarm). Besides this you can calibrate the displayed value, which is particularly useful in case of placing the probe close to a pilot's body where a stream of the air used to be decelerated.
Total Energy Compensation
An adduction of a joystick in a plane, an applaying the brakes of the paraglider or pushing away the speedbar of a hang-glider causes an ascending of the wing at the price of a slowing down the speed. As a result an ordinary varimeter indicates an ascending which is non-thermal of course. Flyer instrument can eliminate this effect if the airspeed probe is connected. The only one you have to do is adjusting a special parameter to a proper value (a hang-glider about 65). Every pilot has to set this value for his wing experimentally during a flight in the calm air. He has to increase the value gradually as long as the variometer stops to react to the ascend, which is forced by the change of the speed.
Flight Memory
The instrument can hold values of 100 flights. Values in a memory are: a maximum and a minimum height, a maximum ascend and a maximum descend, a maximum and a minimum speed of the flight, a sum of the heights gained during a flight, a duration of a flight and a date and time of the take-off.
A method of starting up the record is worked out fairly successfully. You can choose in a menu, whether the record will start immediately after switching on the instrument or after pressing a button manually or whether the instrument recognize a take-off by a change of the height in time. A default setting of this third possibility is 2 meters during 4 seconds but you can change these values to different ones.
2D Logger and Polar of the Wing
The instrument can record a tracklog of the flight in a length up to 14.000 points independently on the Fligh Memory. This doesn't mean a GPS Tracklog, because VL100 Runner can't process coordinates of a position (Cartesio and Graviter can do it). Although this record doesn't mean an ordinary baro-record. Every recorded point contains not only time and a height value, but a value of an ascend, of a speed and a course of the flight as well. Thanks to this "advanced baro-record" you can plot a polar of the wing by "Polar Software" on your PC and upload it to the instrument with a help of three special parameters. An accuracy of computing some functions (McCready, Speed To Fly, NetVario) will become much better. The airspeed probe must be connected of course. You can save great number of these tracklogs but a total length of them is limited to 14.000 points.
Connection to PC
Thanks to a PC cable (not included) the instrument can establish a communication with a personal computer. You can download a communication software "VLtool" from producer's pages free of charge and new versions of firmware for all VL100 instruments as well. You can lucidly compare characteristics of Digifly variometers in this table.
Conclusion
This instrument will suit very well all those pilots, who like flying near cloudbases (or inside them) and who want to get out as well. This instruments also offers a possibility to specify a gliding and save the whole flight information in a memory.
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