Before You Buy a Vario
When you are looking for a vario there
are certain obvious considerations like features, size,
weight, warranty, battery life, etc. that will effect your
decision, however there are quite a few other factors you
should also consider.
Number of useful features
Having
a laundry list of features is not nearly as important
as having the right useful features. Some features are
gadget features that have no real benefit for flight.
When considering a vario ask yourself about each of the
features and evaluate if they will really assist you
in climbing faster, getting higher, arriving at a goal
faster or flying further. If you are a newer pilot, you
will find that these unnecessary features will be a distraction
rather than a benefit. A good entry-level vario will
provide information that will assist your flying without
interfering.
Ease of use and ease of programming
Features are useless if you do not understand them, or they
are too difficult to program and/or utilize. Find out if
the vario you are considering is user-friendly. The best
way to do that is to talk to fellow pilots, see what vario
they are using and if it is a pleasure or a chore to use.
A good flight instrument should provide the necessary information
with little or no input from the pilot.
Customer service and tech support
This is one of the most important considerations. There is
a lot of good technology out there but what do you do when
you need help using or understanding it? What do you do
when you need a repair? Will you be able to call and email
someone experienced and knowledgable to get the help and
answers that you need in a timely fashion or will the answer
that you are looking for involve several unanswered emails,
followed by several unanswered voicemails? Once you connect
with someone will you get friendly knowledgable answers
or will you get a bunch of "maybe", "I don't
know" and "I'll get back to you"? Before
you invest in a vario find out about the reputation of
the local distributor.
Repair policy
This is also very important. After all, what good is
a vario when it is broken? Find out if the vario you are
considering has local service or if it will have to be
sent to some far off place for "you'll-get-it-when-you-get-it"
service. Products that must be sent out of the country
can take 6-10 weeks (or more) to come back from repair.
Typically there is considerable shipping cost and increased
risk of loss associated with overseas repair. This is an
easy one to check: ask your local professional HG/PG school,
dealer, flightpark or instructor about the service time
on the product you are considering. Also check with your
fellow pilots and find out what their experience has been
with the vario that they use.
Continuity and reputation of the manufacturer and distributor/importer
Many instrument manufacturers, importers or distributors
have changed hands, discontinued the product or worse,
gone out of business (some more than once). If any of these
situations occur while you need service or support, you
will find that it will be very difficult to get the service
that you need, or worse, it simply will not be available.
Before you buy a vario, do a quick check to see how long
the manufacturer has been in business, how long has the
distributor/importer been in business and check to see
if they have orphaned varios and customers in the past.
The continuity of the manufacturer and the distributor
is very important to the resale value of the vario. The
less stable the manufacture/distributor, the worse the
resale/trade-in value.
Buy from an authorized dealer
If you are buying a new (or used) vario make sure you are
getting it from an authorized dealer. Products that do
not come from authorized dealers are gray or black market.
Usually they do not include instructions in your language
and they will lack local warranty and local customer support.
Buying these products also supports illegal and unethical
business practices and is very damaging to our sport and
in the long run causes the price of these products to go
up. Authorized dealers are approved by the manufacturer/distributor
and they provide valuable service and support to their
customers. Flytec USA is the exclusive North American distributor
of Flytec Instruments and have been providing the best
flying instruments in the world with the best service in
the world for over 14 years. Flytec's customer service,
technical support, and Next Day Turnaround repair is legendary
in sport aviation. Flytec instruments are #1 in the world
and #1 in the US, they have been used for more world records
than any other instrument, they are the choice of all
the current US national champions, many world champions,
NASA, aerospace contractors and parachute designers and
the Brietling Orbiter III. They are confident that when
you consider all of the features, benefits and service
you will choose Flytec too. We encourage you to talk to
your fellow pilots and instructors about these products
and service and to call Flytec toll free (800.662.2449)
with any of your questions. |
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