$489.00

Flytec Element Speed

New!

You are just starting out as a pilot, or enjoy leisurely local flights. To fly safely and relaxed, you want to understand what the air around you is doing – in all directions. This is why, besides climb and altitude, you’re also interested in your horizontal movements and their influencing factors: Speed over ground, glide ratio and wind.

Then the Element Speed is the right vario for you.

Highlights

Altimeter and Climb/Sink indication in the unique Flytec quality
Speed over ground and current glide ratio
Wind direction and wind speed
Distance and direction to launch, and to the last thermal
Vario profiles

See the technical data for details.

Jörg’s thoughts on the Element Speed

Speed and glide

The first time I flew with a GPS was in the year 2000. Originally I’d bought it for navigation, but ultimately, the most important information delivered by the device were ground speed and glide. Suddenly I understood how I moved through the air! This helped me tremendously in my development to a cross country pilot. Even today, while free-flying, speed over ground and glide are the two values I read from my vario most often. Altitude I can judge visually, as far as necessary, climbs are indicated acoustically. But to know about speed and glide, I glance at the display every so often.

Wind information

While talking with pilots in schools, at launches or landings, every now and then I hear about somebody who found themselves “suddenly” in a situation where they were no longer able to advance into the wind with their glider. This is why to me, today, accurate wind calculation has become an important safety feature, especially for pilots with little experience.

Vario profiles

Only few pilots are aware that their vario is set up wrong most of the time for the conditions they are currently flying in. Sensitive, with fast reaction times, is really important in fall or winter, with weak thermals – then I want to be informed about even the smallest climb. In strong spring or summer conditions, this can become too much pretty quickly, distract or make me nervous. In these conditions I only want to be told about the really strong climbs, to decide whether I turn in a thermal, or pass by a bubble. To make choosing the right settings as easy as possible, we introduced the vario profiles: Presets for weak, average and strong thermals, which can be adjusted individually by the pilot if required.

Conclusion

The Element Speed combines all this in a compact easy-to-use device, and is therefore in my opinion the perfect vario for beginners and occasional pilots: It delivers exactly the information they need to enjoy long and safe flights. No more, no less. Happy flying!

Flytec Element Speed - technical data

General

Robust, shockproof ABS housing, matte black with green or red sides
Keyboard with clearly detectable, glove-friendly keys
High-contrast black-and-white screen

Dimensions: 138 x 74 x 23 mm
Weight: 178 g (including Batteries)

Power supply: 2x AA-Batteries (Alkaline or NiMH accumulators)
Battery life time: about 35 h
Operating temperature: -10°C bis 50°C

Languages: English, German, French Italian, Spanish

Altimeter

Units: m / ft
QNH: air pressure indication in hPa or in Hg

Range: 0 to 12'300 m - Resultion 1 m or 1 ft

ALT 1: Absolute altitude
ALT 2: Choice of absolute or relative altitude
ALT 3: Altitude difference or altitude above ground (in preparation)

Variometer

Units: m/s / fpm

Graphic indication m/s: ±10 m/s - Resolution 0.2 m/s
Graphic indication fpm: ±20 ft/min x 100 - Resolution 0.4 ft/min x 100

Numeric indication m/s: ±300 m/s - Resolution 0.1 m/s
Numeric indication fpm: ±300 ft/min x 100 - Resolution 0.1 ft/min x 100

Integrator: selectable from 1 s to 30 s

Acoustics

Volume: 4 levels
Five predefined, individually adjustable vario profiles: weak / regular / strong thermals, ridge soaring, balloon

Climb tone with selectable lower threshold, frequency and cadence modulation
Near-thermal tone with selectable lower threshold and volume adjustment
Sink tone with selectable upper threshold and volume adjustment
Stall alarm (with optional airspeed sensor)

Adjustments: Base frequency, modulation

GPS

GPS-Receiver with 48 channels
Position determination at 1 Hz

Navigation

Units for distance: km / miles
Units for speed: km/h / kts / mph

Speed over ground
Current glide ratio (L/D)
Wind: direction (graphic, absolute), speed
Last thermal (direction graphic and numeric, distance)
Launch (direction graphic and numeric, distance)