https://xcmag.com/magazine-articles/paraglider-reviews/naviter-blade-review

Luke Nicol writes:

Development of flight instruments for hang gliding has slowed in recent years. One of the reasons was the formidable Flytec 6030 (also branded as the Bräuniger IQ Compeo+) – in competitions almost every pilot had one. It was the first instrument with everything you needed for hang gliding comps: good task software; usable airspace; good total energy compensation (a must for most HG pilots); and all the fancy task-related information like glide-to-goal, height above goal, glide ratio over the ground etc. It dominated the scene for over a decade.

In that time however, paragliding instruments have developed at a pace, leaving hang glider pilots feeling a bit left behind. No longer! Enter the new Naviter Blade, a dedicated hang gliding instrument encased in a beautiful aerodynamic pod, with a variety of different mounts to clip straight on to your hang glider and all the functions you could possibly need. Naviter have put a huge amount of time and effort into making sure the Blade is perfect before releasing it to the public. So what does it offer?

Air speed indicator coupled with total energy compensation

As hang glider performance has continued to increase, with some hang gliders now boasting more than 21:1 glide angle, we now treat our glides like sailplane pilots. Dolphining in lift under cloud streets and not stopping for lift unless it makes mathematical sense. Pilots with an accurate Speed indicator and Total Energy Compensation have an advantage here, and the Naviter Blade provides both through a highly accurate pitot tube encased in the nose.

A very loud speaker

You can regularly exceed 100km/h on glide on a hang glider, and the wind noise can be very loud. On many instruments I have flown with you feel the lift before looking across to the vario to see you are climbing; you then slow down and start to hear the instrument. Quite frustrating and I could never work out why they didn’t just make the devices louder. Well with the Blade they did - it is designed for someone who needs hearing aids! I could only go as loud as 80%, and that was already a lot louder than anything else I have used. A simple but big problem finally solved.

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