Vario Free

A variometer for sailplane pilots. Vario Free reads the watch's barometric pressure sensor and shows how fast you are climbing or sinking, once a second, on the wrist — a cockpit instrument on the arm you already have in the cockpit. WHAT IT SHOWS Climb and sink as a number, and as a vertical tape that fills green for lift and red for sink, half a metre per second to a segment. The tape is the point: circling in a thermal you read a bar height, not a digit, and you can do that with a glance that never leaves the horizon for long. A 20-second average beside it, which is roughly one turn. That is the number that answers the only question a thermal asks — was that turn better than the last one, and is this one still worth staying in? Your altitude above mean sea level, referenced to a QNH you set yourself, and the time of day. HOW THE CLIMB RATE IS MEASURED From barometric pressure at 1 Hz, never from GPS altitude. A GPS altitude step of a few metres reads as several m/s of climb that is not there, which is worse than no vario at all. The instantaneous rate is a least-squares fit over a five-second window rather than the difference between two readings, so sensor noise does not become a needle that twitches. The 20-second average is a true mean over the full period, withheld until the window has genuinely filled rather than guessed from partial data. SETTING IT UP Altitude in metres or feet. Climb in m/s or knots. Response — how much the needle is damped — as Fast, Medium or Slow: slower is steadier in rough air and lags a little more, and which one you want depends on the day and on you. An altimeter subscale you set to the field QNH, so the altitude reads against the same datum as the panel. Set them in Garmin Connect, or on the watch by holding START — or, on a watch with a touchscreen, by pressing and holding the screen. Stopping the app: 3 x Back button WHAT IT ASKS FOR Nothing at all. Vario Free requests no permissions: no location, no activity recording, no internet, no account. It reads the pressure sensor, and no data leaves the watch. WHAT IT DOES NOT DO It does not record your flight. Vario Pro adds a FIT flight log with a GPS track, audio climb and sink tones, flight levels, and a tape that shows the average and the instantaneous rate side by side. WHAT IT IS NOT A secondary aid, not a primary instrument. It is not certified, it is not a replacement for the variometer and altimeter in the panel, and it is not a substitute for lookout. Fly the aircraft first. Support: [email protected] · shop.cubio.no https://shop.cubio.no/p/vario.html#docs FOR SAILPLANES Vario Free is built for soaring in a sailplane, and nothing else. It is not intended for paragliding, hang gliding, speed flying, wingsuits, skydiving or BASE jumping. It is a secondary readout for a glider cockpit that already has a certified variometer and altimeter. WARNING: The app is intended only as an in-flight aid and should not be used as a primary information source. If the app contains a barometric altimeter, it will not function in a pressurized aircraft and should not be used in a pressurized aircraft.