snips

Maybe the guys selling these back up PDA based solid state attitude displays
for $1400 are not using these SS rate gyro's. Perhaps they are using the cheap
model airplane SS rate gyros that sell for $100.

Paul Lamar

There has been a lot of talk on the avionics list about
various solid state gyros. Consensus among those who work
with the things is that most of the inexpensive ones are
'rate' gyros & that internal drift, vibration, etc mean that
they aren't stable enough to be used as primary instruments.
I looked at several units at OSH, and one sales person of an
iPaq based unit was demonstrating the effect to someone. The
gyro box was sitting on a gimbaled table & the iPaq horizon
was following its movements. But when he picked up the unit
& slowly inverted it, the display followed, then after 2 or
3 seconds, the display slowly rotated back to an upright
indication even though the gyro box was still inverted. I
was impressed with the sales person's honesty about his
product's limitations. I regret that I forgot to try the
same trick with Greg Richter's much higher quality unit. Did
anyone else?

Even with the limitations, they seem like a good idea as
backup for very unreliable vacuum pumps.

Charlie England

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