E-Paper Vario

Varduino variometers are paragliding and sailplane flight instruments featuring e-paper displays, which provide excellent outdoor visibility. They feature a GPS, an ultra-sensitive pressure sensor, an inertial measurement unit, an SD card and Bluetooth connectivity, which provide these variometers with all the necessary functions for successful thermal flying:

  • Super sensitive variometer
  • IGC tracklog recordings
  • Cross country navigation
  • iOS and Android connectivity
  • Voice notifications

Using the configuration tool Varduino Manager, variometers are fully customizable, with a modern sound profile customization feature.

Project background

Our motivation was simply to put together an Arduino variometer with an e-paper display, which provides impressive visibility in bright sunlight during flights.

The original idea in 2017 was a pretty basic instrument, with a GPS chip, a pressure sensor and a display. After many iterations and successive improvements, the project led to a fully fledged GPS variometer, with high sensitivity and wireless connectivity, perfect for thermal or cross-country flights.

As these are Arduino-compatible devices, users willing to program their variometer themselves may request all technical details to do so. Based on ESP32, SAMD21 and SAMD51 microcontrollers, they also constitute great programming and teaching boards for beginner programmers. The project history and former development steps are still available on theformer website (in English).

The idea is to keep the instrument pricing as low as possible, while covering future hardware and software development costs.

Varduino GPS

GPS variometer

Capteur de pression ultra-sensible

High visibility e-paper display

IGC flight tracklog, FAI signed

Voice notification + vario beeps

Rescue alarm

1-clic sound profile customization

Compatible with XCSoar, XCTrack, Flyskyhy and others

Bluetooth

Arduino compatible (cortex-M0 based)

 

Varduino QT

Ultra-light instrument: 45 grams

Capteur de pression ultra-sensible

 

Flight tracklog (Altitude, vario)

Voice notification + vario beeps

Rescue alarm

1-clic sound profile customization

Compatible with XCSoar, XCTrack, Flyskyhy and others

Wifi, Bluetooth, USB-OTG

Arduino compatible (ESP32-based)

 

Varduino QT+

Ultra-light instrument: 51 grams

Capteur de pression ultra-sensible

High visibility e-paper display

Flight tracklog (Altitude, vario)

Voice notification + vario beeps

Rescue alarm

1-clic sound profile customization

Compatible with XCSoar, XCTrack, Flyskyhy and others

Wifi, Bluetooth, USB-OTG

Arduino compatible (ESP32-based)

Configuration tool

Sound profile

Listen and customize your favorite sound profile from your computer

Easy configuration

Configure all settings in just a couple of clicks

Cross country navigation

Build your navigation waypoints list

Updates

Enjoy new features with free updates

Support the project

Support the Varduino development by buying a variometer

Questions?