Gear Insight: Naviter Omni

Naviter introduced the Omni a year ago promising “the same functions as the [larger] Oudie N in a smaller and lighter package.” They are promoting it for hike-and-fly as well as XC pilots who want a compact unit that doesn’t skimp on functions. You will see it a lot this season as Naviter are sponsoring this year’s Red Bull X-Alps: all the pilots will get an Omni and it will form part of the live tracking system (of which more in a future issue).

First impressions

For a fully functioning flight instrument it is small, really small: just 97×71×25mm plus 10mm for the antenna notch (4.8×2.8×1.0inches). Placed next to the XCTracer Maxx II it is about the same size but has the Flarm aerial sticking out and is thicker. 

It’s heavier too: 220g rather than 120g of the Maxx; this is probably accounted for by the extra battery required to run the colour screen. (For reference the Omni’s “bigger brother” Oudie N weighs 430g.)

This is the big difference between the Omni and other smaller instruments aimed at hike-and-fly pilots. The Omni has a full colour screen which takes up the whole of the front of the instrument. Some have said they find this a bit too reflective but it is the same screen technology as in the bigger Oudie and I found the screen perfectly readable once I had set...