NAVITER's  OUDIE 2 "lite"

As many pilots well know, Naviter is a slovenian company that has achieved brilliant results during the years by delivering worldwide excellent software for free flight.

They were initially known for the SeeYou (both PC and Mobile) commercial software, and in the past two years they started also to deliver their own hardware. Since then, they have improved their product's line, and at the same time they have widely open their customers base by allowing them to choose also non-naviter's software for naviter's hardware.

Their PNA for flight is called OUDIE, and it is now at the second generation. This one has a bright sunlight readable screen, perfectly readable in the cockpit under the sun, and already very much appreciated by many thousands pilots all over the world.  It is widely known worldwide as one of the best hardware available for flight, and now it is also working with LK8000!

The special bundle from Naviter is called "Oudie Lite" , it is around 299 euro plus VAT (as of january 2014) and can be purchased online HERE .

Despite the "Lite", this bundle is quite heavy because there are also cables, wires, adaptors, serial converters, TTL converter, wall charger, car charger etc. , plus a demo version of their famous PC software SeeYou for flight analysis (a must among glider pilots).  There is an optional protective carry case for the PNA, which is absolutely worth considering.

SCREEN VISIBILITY UNDER THE SUN

This PNA is perfectly readable under the sun, which is the primary desire by any free flight pilot. In the picture, it is side by side with a super-amoled display.

Display has a resolution of 480x272 with 5" TFT touchscreen display supporting both portrait and landscape mode.

CONNECTIVITY

This is a serious flight instrument, and it has RS232 serial wired port for connection to an external variometer or instrument. The TTL converter and power supply is included, yes INCLUDED, in the bundle.

It may be worth saying that this converter, alone, is priced 49 euro if bought on cable suppliers websites.

Internally there is also BlueTooth with an SPP serial port profile allowing to connect another serial instrument wirelessy.

The internal GPS is available too, of course.

Quoting their website:

The supplied Data/Power cable has a RJ45 connector by default with standard IGC pinout. Several converters are included in the box which enable you to connect to flight recorders with RJ12 or DB9 connectors. Special cables are also available as an accessory for a very simple direct connection to selected flight recorders such as LX 7007, CAI 302, LX 1600 etc.

The complete technical specs and detailed explanations is available HERE.

The box comes full of toys as you can see:

LK8000 with OUDIE 2

Our software run smoothly and fast on this device, and we have developed full integration of Oudie's BlueTooth to pair devices and connect them directly from LK, no need to use any external system program or control panel.

Naviter has provided us also some programming code to access the internal bluetooth in order to let LK make full use of it. Thus, we call it fully supported.

Battery life is standard for these devices, around 2.5h at full throttle.

There are also some optionals, but maybe the first good optional is the PC version of SeeYou flight analysis software which is worth trying and considering to buy too, maybe with a discount buying both things.

We could not yet test the internal gps in flight, so we cannot say how good it is for gliders since the fast Atlas 500mhz CPU is also known to "smooth" tracks creating some problems for wind calculation during thermalling.

However, for paragliders this is not happening due to their low speed (the smoothing - if happening at all - happens while tight turning at about 100kmh).

This device is perfect for connection to external instrument on a glider's cockpit, using also the internal gps, where the wind is constantly calculated by LK using the airspeed provided by external sensors during normal flight, and not necessarily in thermal.

For its price, the bundle includes several necessary cables and connectors that would be quite expensive themselves.